can i send child to any primary school.in dublin

gamer

i,m asking for friend ,shes living in dublin 2,,can she send her child male to any primary school.shes living in dublin 2 ..is there a rule re,,catchment area.do u have to live within a certain distance of school?

Nevyn

Primary schools are still orgainised on the bases of the local catholic parish,
(unless it is a church of Ireland school or an educate together school).

Traditional (catholic) primary school give preference to children on the baptismal register in their parish, baptised children from outside the parish that live in the area and then children of other religions. The class sizes for the year to come
is usually estimsated off the parish baptismal records from four years previous.

Yes our schools are slowly becoming less church run, but it can happen that
a non catholic child will not get a place, or a child that is baptised but not from that parish will not get a place.

Educate together schools and Church of Ireland schools have different
enrollment proceedures and both usually have waiting lists. A letter to either of these types of schools in the area asking about thier proceedures would be the best way to find out.

Children are entitled to education but not in a parents school of choice or
the nearest school in many cases.

There are some schools that are prefered to others out where I am, that have
'Baby Murphy' on the waiting list, and the child in question is still in the womb.

If you friend has a school of choice she should get intouch with them asap
and find out what thier requirements for enrollment are.

Oh and if it is an all girls primary school , I doubt she will get her son in there

ArthurDent

Every school is entitled to write its own enrolment policy. As Thaed says above most denominational schools give priority to members of the denomination and typically parish too. Educate Together schools predominantly operate a first come first served policy ( although some do have some discretionary places and one or two have a sibling policy).

You can find the e-mail addresses and contact details of primary schools in your area at www.education.ie.

As each school can write its own policy - your best bet is to contact all those schools you are interested in individually and ask for them to send you their policy (they are obliged to have it in writing and to send it to you).

Usually the only reasons you can take a challenge if you are not given a place in the school of your choice is
(a) - the school has not followed its own enrolement policy
(b) - the school has room to take more pupils that it has accepted.

It is not easy to challenge on either of these grounds, but can happen.


Also a point that I found interesting when looking at this area - the Education Act only obliges students to be in education from the Septmeber before you turn 6 - so the Dept can chose not to find a place for your child if they are younger than that.