School Admissions Guidance
Timetables for School Admissions
This circular provides the timetables for nursery, primary and post primary school procedures under Open Enrolment for admissions to take place in September 2013.
Circular 2012/17 should be read in conjunction with Circulars 2012/13 (Open Enrolment in Nursery Schools), 2012/13 (Open Enrolment in Primary Schools), 2012/14 (Transfer from Primary to Post Primary Education) as appropriate.
Pre-School / Nursery Admissions
The Department has published a revised Nursery Admissions Circular. Please note pre-school settings are no longer required to give priority in their admissions criteria to children born in July or August.
Uimhir chiorclain 2012/13 - Rollu Oscailte i Naiscoileanna PDF 359 KB
Circular 2012/13 - Open Enrolment in Nursery Schools PDF 321 KB
This circular advises Principals and Boards of Governors of schools of the arrangements for the application of Open Enrolment procedures to Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes in primary schools which will apply for the 2013/14 school year. A timetable for the 2013/14 arrangements has been published in Circular 2012/17.
Circular 2012/13 should be read in conjunction with Circular 2011/20, which adv/ises principals and Boards of Governors on the duty to verify information contained within applications for admission.
Schools in the North are currently required by law to give priority to children resident in the North. This requirement is currently under review.
Primary School Admissions
This circular sets out for Principals and Boards of Governors of schools the arrangements for admission of pupils to grant aided primary schools.
Uimhir chiorclain 2012/12 - Rollu Oscailte i mbunscoileanna PDF 653 KB
Circular 2012/12 - Open Enrolment in Primary Schools PDF 593 KB
A timetable for the 2013/14 arrangements is available in Circular 2012/17.
Circular 2012/12 should be read in conjunction with Circular 2011/20, which advises principals and Boards of Governors on the duty to verify information contained within applications for admission.
Schools in the North are currently required by law to give priority to children resident in the North. This requirement is currently under review.
Post-Primary School Admissions (Transfer 2013)
Guidance for parents
The Department has published an advice leaflet for parents setting out the main steps in the post-primary transfer process for September 2013 admissions (Transfer 2013). Parents of children in Year 7 should have received a hard copy of this leaflet from their child’s primary school before Christmas 2012.
Advice for parents 2013 (Irish) PDF 712 KB
Advice for parents 2013 PDF 2 MB
Guidance for Schools
The Department has published the post-primary admissions circular that provides all schools with operational guidance on the arrangements for the Transfer 2013 process. Primary schools in particular should note the content of Annex 2 of this circular which describes arrangements for the provision of advice to parents. All schools should note that there have been a number of amendments to the Transfer 2013 timetable (with effect from 11 September 2012) and the revised timetable is included in Annex 1 of the circular below
Schools planning to use the FSME criterion as recommended by the Department should note there is an error in the text in the boxed section on page 15 of the circular. The two dates quoted should be 10 May 2013 (not 8 May), and 27 March 2013 (not 29 March).
Circular 2012/14 should be read in conjunction with Circular 2011/20, which advises principals and Boards of Governors on the duty to verify information contained within applications for admission.
Circular 1996/24 (amended) provides guidance about and explains the procedures for the approval of pupils transferring from Primary to Post-Primary education, either a year early (underage pupils) or a year later (overage pupils) than they would normally be required to transfer.
Duty to Verify Admissions Information
Procedure for Requesting Extra Sixth Form Places For 2012/13
Circular 2012/08 (published in English and Irish) outlines the procedure for the year 2012/13 for requesting extra sixth form places. Schools who wish to use this process must contact the Department by 31 May 2012, following the guidance provided in the circular.
Guidance on waiting lists for school admissions
This Circular provides advice for Principals and Boards of Governors in relation to waiting lists used for the admission of pupils to grant-aided schools.
Uimhir an chiorclain 2012/10 - Treoir do scoileanna maidir le husaid na liostai feithimh PDF 180KB
Guidance on admissions for schools with an Irish Medium Unit
This circular provides advice for Principals and Boards of Governors in relation to the admission of pupils to schools with an Irish Medium Unit.
Circular Number 2012/11 - Guidance on admissions for schools with an Irish Medium Unit PDF 116 KB
Appeals Against Admissions Decisions
There are three routes by which admissions decisions may be challenged other than by means of a judicial challenge
Parental right of appeal against a school with places available that has refused admission to an application for a place in a year group other than Year 1 or Year 8
Revised Procedures for Admissions Complaints to DE Post-Years 1 and 8 PDF 358KB
Irish version of complaint letters and forms PDF 179KB
English version of complaint letters and forms PDF 150KB
Parental right of appeal to an independent admissions appeal tribunal where it is claimed by a parent that a school has not, or has not correctly, applied its admissions criteria
This right of appeal applies where a primary or post-primary school is oversubscribed with applications and has to apply its admissions criteria to determine which children to admit. Details of how to appeal are available from the relevant Education and Library Board.
Parental right of appeal to the Exceptional Circumstances Body
The Department has established an independent Exceptional Circumstances Body (ECB) to consider applications from parents where it is claimed that a child must attend a specified post-primary school, and no other post-primary school, for exceptional reasons. Further information and an application form can be found on the nidirect website
The Body is required to present the Permanent Secretary of the Department with an annual report describing its activity.
