ST BRIGID’S COLLEGE 

Glengalliagh Road Derry BT48 8DU

Tel No:  028 7135 1002 

Fax No:  028 7135 4829

Email:   info@stbrigids.derry.ni.sch.uk

Principal:  Mr Pádraig Ó Mianáin

Chairman of the Board of Governors: Mr Ciaran Brolly

Voluntary Maintained

Secondary School

Boys and Girls

Age Range 11 – 18

ADMISSIONS NO.  125

ENROLMENT NO.  720

Roll: 871

RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRINCIPAL IN RELATION TO ADMISSIONS

The Board of Governors draws up the admissions criteria and delegates to an Admissions Sub-Committee, which includes the Principal, the responsibility for applying these criteria.  Any reference herein to the term the Board of Governors includes any Committee or Sub-Committee appointed by the Board of Governors for the purposes of applying the Admissions Criteria set out herein.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA 2024

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any Application Form/ Online Transfer Application

Applicants should note that the provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide information within the deadlines set by post-primary schools can result in the withdrawal of a place and the inability to offer a place on the part of any school nominated on the applicant’s Transfer Application. The Board of Governors will only take into account information which is detailed or attached/uploaded to the Transfer Application by Thursday 22 February 2024 at 12 noon.

During the admissions procedure when applying the criteria punctual applications will be considered before late applications are considered. The application procedure opens on 30 January 2024 at 12 noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 22 February 2024 at 12 noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application. An application received after 12 noon (GMT) on 22 February 2024 and up to 4pm on 4 March 2024 will be treated as a late application.

The following Admissions Criteria have been determined by the Board of Governors of the College and will be applied in the order set down.  These criteria are to be used to select pupils in the event of the number of applicants being greater than the admissions number determined by the Department of Education.  Children normally resident in Northern Ireland at the time of the proposed admission will be selected before children not resident in Northern Ireland.  

1 Preference will be given to all children who nominate St Brigid’s College as their first preference all-ability school on the Transfer Application.

2 Pupils who have a parent who is currently a permanent member of staff at St Brigid’s College.

3 Pupils who are applying for a place in the Irish Medium Unit at St Brigid’s College.

4 Pupils who, at the date of application, have a child of the family^ currently enrolled at St Brigid’s College.

5 Pupils who, at the date of application, are the eldest or the only child of the family^^.

6 Pupils who have a parent* who was enrolled at St Brigid’s College for at least 5 years.

7 Pupils resident in one of the following parishes (not listed in priority); -

a. The Three Patrons

b. Culmore (Assumption),

c. Our Lady of Lourdes (Steelstown),

d. Holy Family, Ballymagroarty

e. St Mary’s (Creggan)

f. Templemore (St Eugene’s, St Columba’s Longtower

g. Glendermott/Waterside (St Columb’s, Chapel Road, Immaculate Conception, Trench Road, St Mary’s Newbuildings)

h. Ardmore

i. Strathfoyle, Strathfoyle/Enagh Lough

j. Faughanvale

k. Claudy (Cumber upper and Learmount)

8 Applicants from all other schools.

9 The age of the pupil as entered on the birth certificate – preference given to the older pupil(s)

The phrase “child of the family” covers:

• A child born to a married couple;

• A child born to a co-habiting couple;

• A child of either of those people by a previous marriage or relationship;

• A child living with same sex partners whether there is a civil partnership under the Civil Partnership Act 2004 or not;

• An adopted or fostered child;

• A situation where for example an orphaned cousin is being brought up with a family.

^^Eldest child of the family - This criterion is defined as children who at the date of their application, are the eldest child of the family to be eligible to apply for admission to the school.  This wording covers “only” children and is also intended to treat twins (or their multiples) as joint eldest.  The eldest includes cases where a child is more than 7 years younger than their next sibling.

*   Full name(s) and dates must be given

In the event that there is an oversubscription of applications for the number of places, once the criterion has been applied, at the criteria point that the over-subscription occurs, then criteria number 9 will be applied.

In the event of there being more applicants meeting the last sub-criterion than places available, applicants will be selected for admission on the basis of initial letter of surname (as entered on the Birth Certificate or Court Order) in the order set out below as determined by a randomised selection:

K S G W V O M P D A Q Z N C T H U Y X R L I B F J E

This order was determined by a random selection of letters, witnessed by the Board of Governors.  In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter, the subsequent letters of the surname will be used in alphabetical order. In the event of two identical surnames, the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames will be used. Should two or more applicants have the same surname and forename and thereby qualify for the last available place(s), those applicants will be placed in rank order of eldest child by date of birth as stated on their Birth Certificate and admitted in this order

A waiting list of applicants will be held until 30 June 2025. Thereafter, parents/guardians who wish their child to be considered if a place becomes available, must make a new application.

DUTY TO VERIFY

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any applicant’s Transfer Application.

If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place.  Similarly, if information is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.

The School’s policy on the consideration of applications after the Transfer Procedure concludes on 17 May 2023  and is available directly from the School.  Should a vacancy arise, the above criteria will be applied to select pupils from our waiting list.

ADMISSION CRITERIA FOR ENTRY TO YEARS 9 - 12

Pupils and parents or guardians of those considering a transfer to St Brigid’s College will complete an AP1 form.

Pupils will be considered for admission following the criteria set out below provided that:

• their admission would not cause the enrolment/admissions number set by the Department of Education to be exceeded

• their admission would not prejudice the efficient use of resources

• the school could provide them with a curricular programme that would meet their needs/abilities effectively, particularly at/during Key Stage 4

Applicants may be admitted to a particular year group (i.e. 9, 10, 11 or 12) provided that the year group to which admission is sought is not full. 

In the case where there are no available places for the year group that the application has been received for, then the application will be placed on the waiting list until 30 June 2025.