Educate Together primary and second-level schools welcome all children, and no child or young person is treated less favourably in any way due to their background, beliefs or worldview. This reflects the child-centred and equality-based principles of Educate Together’s Charter. Educate Together’s admissions policies reflect this charter, as well as adhering to the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018.
Educate Together schools do not give priority to children of staff members or past students, or to siblings of students no longer in the school. Many schools have enrolment policies which prioritise siblings of children already attending the school, and/or families living in the school planning area, followed by children who live further away. Where Educate Together schools are oversubscribed, as they are in many areas, Educate Together endeavours to expand existing school provision and propose new schools so that more children can gain access.
- Check with individual schools for a copy of their admissions policy
- Find contact details for Educate Together’s campaign groups here
- Read about Educate Together’s campaign for a national network of equality-based schools
Information for Boards of Management
All Educate Together schools must have an admissions policy drawn up in accordance with current legislation and current Department of Education regulations. Legislation requires that enrolment policies must be approved by Educate Together as patron. Educate Together has a clear set of policies and procedures relating to the responsibilities of the Board, the principal and the patron – detailed in the Educate Together Patronage Manual which can be accessed below.
Due to the further commencement of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 from 1 February 2020 schools can no longer accept pre-enrolments or place new students on waiting lists for the 2021/2022 school year and subsequent school years.
Schools with existing waiting lists will honour these up until 31 January 2025 (five years after the commencement of this section of the Act).
All applications for enrolment to a school will be by an annual admissions process. Schools cannot open this process until after 1 October of the year prior to the intake, they must publish the notice at least 1 week prior and must have the process open for at least three weeks. Any complete applications which meet the criteria, received in this time are eligible to be offered a place in accordance with the schools Admissions Policy.
Universal template policies have been developed with variations, for example for schools with specific school planning areas, these will be based on a random selection or age within each category for oversubscribed schools.
In addition schools can apply for additional variations in their policy based on a reduced catchment area within a planning area and/or the proximity of the school to a pupil’s home and/or feeder primary schools within the planning area that are located in a reduced catchment area, noting that all primary schools in that reduced catchment area must be offered equality of access based solely on geographical proximity.
If you are a board member and have any queries on admission policies, please contact Adrienne in the national office: admissionpolicies@educatetogether.ie. If you wish to find out about an individual schools’ policy, please contact the school directly.
