Chai Brady
The Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) have said that while they support siblings attending the same school, the objective should be getting children into school “at an appropriate age”.
This comes as Catholic primary schools in the greater Dublin area are being told by the Archdiocese of Dublin to stop giving priority enrolment to siblings of pupils currently attending the school. Each school will have to update their admissions policy and have it approved by the archdiocese.
IPPN’s CEO Páiric Clerking told The Irish Catholic: “We would support the concept of siblings attending the same school but the objective of the school admissions policy is to get all children to school at an appropriate age and ensure that they can all attend a school as close to home as possible.”
‘Fair means’
Oversubscribed schools must have a “fair means” to choose pupils, he said, “so the older children are offered first and the younger children are asked to wait until the next year.
“I would certainly be supportive of siblings and residents of the parish being on an equal footing. It wouldn’t be fair if a sibling who’s just barely turned four on September 1 got a place in front of a child who’s living across the road from the school and is five and a half, that wouldn’t be fair.”
A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said: “The diocesan policy on schools’ admissions has been the same for many years and has not changed – children of the area and siblings are both in category one for admission.
“I understand a small number of schools are updating their policies to reflect this and are in contact with our education office regarding same.”