ENROLMENT POLICY

 

The aim of the NDNSP is to provide a national school which is

All children have the right of opportunity of access to the NDNSP.

 

Ethos of the NDNSP

The aims and objectives of our ethical Core Curriculum are laid out below but the Core Curriculum is much more than this. It is at the heart of everything the NDNSP stands for. .

It is fundamental to the educational principles of the school and permeates every subject area and every social interaction. Given this wide context, it is not surprising that delivery of the Core Curriculum is a multi-layered process. Topics are planned and presented as part of a scheme of work but on top of this are issues that arise daily. These often need to be dealt with immediately and will bring work in the Core Curriculum area into a class in any subject. A follow-up programme may be necessary and this may take precedence over other planned work.

This is the strength of the Core Curriculum. It is a vibrant and living part of the school and it contains within it the flexibility to respond to situations as they arise whilst providing for a planned and structured approach.


Aims and Objectives of our Core Curriculum

* To give children an understanding of social, ethical and moral standards in the areas of honesty, respect, justice, integrity, trust and responsibility.
* To promote inclusion through the multi-denominational principles of the school and to engender in children the knowledge and understanding of difference through fostering mutual respect, and an awareness and acceptance of diversity.
* To promote equality on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, ethnicity, religion, age and class by cultivating the principle of inclusion through the knowledge and understanding of the way people live in our world.
* To enhance the children's self-awareness and self-esteem through the child-centred development of their personal skills, their understanding of themselves, their sexuality and the situations they encounter through their lives.
* To enhance the children's understanding and awareness of others and develop their ability to form relationships and manage group situations.
* To help children appreciate and value the natural beauty of the world, care for the environment and encourage aesthetic awareness.
* To develop a questioning approach to the world by observing and examining the systems and structures of communities and societies.

 

ALL ENROLMENTS FOR CHILDREN INTENDING TO ENTER THE NDNSP PRIOR TO 2014 WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING ENROLMENT PROCEDURE.

 

Pre-enrolment means that your child's name will be placed on the waiting list for the appropriate class year for the NDNSP. Places are determined and offered in the order in which these enrolment forms are returned and received subject to the implementation of the enrolment polices below. Where two or more forms are received on the same day they are placed on the list in the order they are opened.In the case of a child enrolling for Junior Infants the name of the child is placed on the waiting list for the year commencing 1st September following the year of his/her 4th birthday. Parents have the right to defer the child's name to the list for the year following the child's 5th birthday provided the child has not yet started in Primary school.

In the case of all other applicants their names are placed on the waiting list according to the class they are currently in. Thus a child currently in 2nd class in another Primary School would be placed on the waiting list for 3rd class for the next year.

 

Siblings

 

Siblings of children currently in the N.D.N.S.P shall be offered places subject to availability and provided that their applications are received within six months of their dates of birth/adoption. These children take priority over everyone on the waiting list.

 

ADOPTED CHILDREN

In line with the current policy to recognise that parents of children who are adopted are not in any position to enrol their child until they are legally theirs, the date of adoption will be treated as the date of birth for enrolment purposes in the relevant school year, thereby allowing them the same rights as birth parents. This will only apply to children who are enrolled prior to 1st October in the year before they are due to start school. 1st October is the date on which places are assigned for the following school year.

 

CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

 

We welcome the inclusion of children with special educational needs into the school and strive to ensure that their parents also feel included in the educational experience of their child/children.

 

All parents are given the option of deferring a place for one year to the class on offer or the next class up. If parents defer to the same class level for more than one year, then the form will ask them to give reasons why they wish to defer to that same class level. A statement that a child has special needs will normally be taken as sufficient reason to allow a deferral for more than one year. If parents do not have a special reason for a second deferral then this option is not open to them. Therefore, if you have already deferred your child in a previous year to Junior Infants, please take care to specify the reason for deferring to this class level again rather than to the next level.

If you would like clarification of this policy please feel free to phone the school.

FROM 2014 ONWARDS THE PRE-ENROLMENT POLICY (FOR CHILDREN ENTERING THE NDNSP ON OR AFTER 2014) WILL CHANGE TO THE FOLLOWING POLICY.

SIBLINGS

The NDNSP pre-enrolment policy requires that, in order to be considered a sibling, a child must be a sibling of a pupil currently attending the NDNSP on the day of entry.

All validly pre-enrolled siblings of children, who will be pupils in the NDNSP on the day of the sibling's proposed entry to the NDNSP will be offered places for that year, subject to there being sufficient available places - see below. In order to be validly pre-enrolled the NDNSP must have received and acknowledged in writing a pre-enrolment form for that child on or before the 20th September of the year prior to entry. (For example, a child proposing to enter the NDNSP on 1st September, 2014 must have filled a form by 20th September 2013 and have an older sibling who will still be attending the NDNSP in September 2014.) Any child who is offered a place as a sibling has the right to defer for one year only and retains the right to enter the school that following year whether or not they will have a sibling in the school that year. For the purposes of this policy a child of a permanent member of staff will be treated as a sibling.

Should there be less places than the number of siblings applying then the places will be decided by random selection (as below) and siblings who do not gain entry this year will be guaranteed a place the following year.

 

NON SIBLINGS

The remaining places (where there are less siblings than places) will be determined by random selection on third Monday in January each year (or the nearest possible date after this on which a Commissioner of Oaths is available). All remaining names validly enrolled on the Friday prior to the the third Monday in January will be placed in a drum and the names will be drawn out by a Commissioner of Oaths. All names drawn will be ascribed a number equivalent to the numerical order in which they are drawn. (For example the first name drawn will be ascribed number 1 and all names subsequently drawn will be ascribed a number in the order in which they are drawn). Parents will then be notified of the place offer or the child's place on the waiting list within two weeks of this day. As vacancies arise the places will be filled in the order given by the Commissioner of Oaths. All children who enrol after the random selection has taken place will have their names placed on a second list and, should there be any vacancies after the available places have been filled by everyone on the first list then a Commissioner of Oaths will again be asked to draw the remaining names.