Other Years
Bangor Grammar School
Admissions criteria for Years 9 – 12
2011 – 2012
(These criteria are in draft form awaiting review by the Admissions Committee and formal adoption by the Board of Governors)
Rôle of the Board of Governors
The Board of Governors draws up the admissions criteria for entry to Years 9 to 12 on the advice of the Headmaster and delegates the responsibility for their application to the Headmaster and such other senior members of staff as the Headmaster deems necessary and appropriate. The Headmaster will report to the Admissions Committee of the Board of Governors, which will have the responsibility on the Board’s behalf of ensuring that the process has been carried out fairly and transparently in compliance with the published criteria. The Admissions Committee will review the criteria and report to the Board of Governors annually to allow for a full review and evaluation of the admissions process.
Principles
The Headmaster, on behalf of the Board of Governors, will ensure that:
(i) the admission of applicants to Years 9 – 12 will not cause the total number of pupils in the School to exceed the authorised enrolment number; and
(ii) the admission of applicants to any individual year group will not cause the Department’s guidelines on the maximum numbers of pupils in practical classes to be exceeded or in any other way compromise the School’s resources or ability to deliver the curriculum.
Those wishing to apply for a place at the School in Years 9 – 12 in the academic year immediately following, beginning in August / September, should in the first instance fill in an application form, which may be downloaded from the School’s website or obtained from the School, by May 31st in any calendar year.
Method of Selection
Admission to Years 9, 10 and 11 will normally take place at the beginning of the academic school year (i.e. end of August or beginning of September as appropriate). Where circumstances exist which make a move from another school necessary or are deemed by the Headmaster to be in the best interests of the pupil, applications for admission to the School in-year may be entertained. Because of the difficulties in matching GCSE specifications and the diversity between schools in the scheduling and co-ordination of controlled assessments, applications for admission to Year 12 will not normally be considered.
On receipt of the application, the applicant will be asked to attend an interview with the Headmaster and / or another designated senior member of staff as the Headmaster deems necessary or appropriate.
If a place is / places are available, and the number of applicants exceeds the number of places available, the Headmaster will employ the following criteria in the following order of priority to determine the award of a place.
1. Applicants whose standards of attendance, behaviour and punctuality in their previous school are considered by the Headmaster on the evidence provided (normally school reports or their previous school’s verification) to be satisfactory.
2. Applicants who can demonstrate a consistent level of co-operation in class and the ability to meet deadlines (as evidenced in their school reports or as verified by their previous school).
3. Applicants who can provide evidence of their productive contribution to their previous School’s extra-curricular programme.
4. Applicants who have an older brother at the School.
5. Applicants whose older brother or father were former pupils of the School.
Tie Breaker
Where there are more applicants who satisfy the criteria above than there are places available, priority will be given to those who live nearer to the School, as measured by straight line distance on the OSNI website from his home to the main entrance of the School.
Notes
1. The definition of ‘available place’ or ‘available places’ is entirely at the discretion of the School within the constraints of the enrolment number and the Department of Education’s guidelines on maximum numbers in practical classes.
2. Applications for admission to the School at the beginning of the academic year immediately following received after May 31st may be considered, but only after the process specified above has been completed for applicants who have applied before May 31st.
3. By the use of the criteria outlined above in conjunction, where necessary, with the tie-breaker, all applicants for an individual year group will be put in rank order, highest to lowest, and a place or places offered to those who most closely meet the criteria specified or who, on the operation of the tie breaker, live closest to the School. Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on the School’s waiting list until April 30th in the year following the application. In the event of a place in any given year group becoming available before that date, the applicant who is first in the rank order may be offered a place. If no place has become available up to and including April 30th, the applicant will be contacted and asked if he wishes to remain on the waiting list. If the answer is yes, his application stands and in the event of a place becoming available for the following academic year, his application will then be considered with all other applications as set out in the criteria above.
4. All applicants will be interviewed by the Headmaster or another senior member of staff. The object of the interview will be to determine whether and how the applicant meets the criteria specified.
5. It is the responsibility of the applicant and his parents / guardians to supply all the relevant documentation to support his application and to allow the School to determine whether he meets all or some of the criteria specified. All documentation should be available at the time of the meeting with the Headmaster or senior member of staff.
6. The School is not obliged to offer a place at any stage in the process if it considers that an applicant does not adequately meet the criteria outlined above.
7. The School reserves the right to contact the applicant’s previous school to verify the information provided.
8. Applicants will be informed as soon as possible, normally and preferably on or before 30 June following the receipt of the application, but when necessary, the School reserves its right to delay notification until after the publication of GCSE results in August, so allowing confirmation of numbers in the Sixth Form to determine the number of places available in Years 9 – 12 without the School exceeding its authorised enrolment number.