St Mary’s Senior National School is a co-educational primary school under the patronage of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. The school aims to promote the full and harmonious development of all pupils: cognitive, intellectual, physical, cultural, moral and spiritual, including a living relationship with God and other people and promotes a Christian philosophy of life.
There are 10 mainstream class teachers, 3 Resource/Learning Support teachers, 2 Special Needs Assistants and an administrative Principal. The school caters for pupils from 3rd to 6th class.
Children enrolled in St Mary’s SNS are required to co-operate with and support the schools Code of Behaviour as well as all other policies. Parents/Guardians are responsible for ensuring that their child(ren) co-operate with these policies in an age appropriate way. When enrolling a pupil a copy of the Code of Behaviour will be issued to all parents and each Parent/Guardian will be required to sign an undertaking to uphold the school Code of Behaviour and policy.
St Mary’s operates under the Rules for National Schools and Departmental Circulars and is funded by grants and teachers resourced by the Department of Education and Skills. The school is subject to The Education Act (1998), The Education Welfare Act (2000), the Education for Persons with Special Education Needs Act (2004) and all relevant equality legislation. St Mary’s follows the curricular programmes laid down by the Department of Education and Skills.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Parents seeking to enrol a child in St Mary’s SNS should return a completed application form (available in the office or on-line) by 30th March each year. Parents/Guardians of children enrolled in 3rd Class will be invited to a meeting in the school in June each year.
DECISION MAKING
Decisions in relation to applications for enrolment are made by the Board of Management. Parents/Guardians will be notified of the decision by the Board within 21 days of March 30th each year, and as a general principle, children will be enrolled on application provided that there is space available.
To assist the school in circumstances of over-crowding, the Board of Management reserves the right to determine the maximum number of children in each separate classroom, bearing in mind Department of Education and Skills guidelines in relation to class size and staffing provisions.
Other factors that may be considered are:
- Size of and available space in classrooms
- Educational needs of children of a particular age
- Multi-grade classes
- Presence of children with special educational/behavioural needs
In the event of the number of children seeking enrolment in any given class/standard exceeding the number of places available the following criteria will be used to prioritise children for enrolment:
- Children from St Mary’s Junior National School
- Catholic children living within the parish boundary and sisters and brothers of the pupils currently in the school
- Children of current staff
- Catholic children living outside the parish boundary who do not have a Catholic school within their own parish boundary
- Other children living within the Parish boundary
In the event that all children from a particular category cannot be accommodated priority will be given to older children.
Other pupils may be enrolled during the school year if newly resident in the area. Pupils wishing to transfer from other schools are enrolled subject to the Rules for National Schools, the Education Welfare Act and the school’s enrolment policy.
CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Children with special needs enrolling in St Mary’s SNS will be resourced in accordance with the level of resources provided to the Board of Management.by the Department of Education and Skills
The Board of Management may request a copy of the child’s medical and/or psychological report or request that the child be assessed immediately in order to assist the school in establishing the educational needs of the child and to profile the support services required. The Board of Management will endeavour to have all resources and support in place before the child is admitted to the school. This may include visiting teacher service, resource teacher, special needs assistant, specialised equipment or furniture, transport services etc. The school will meet with Parents/Guardians of the special needs child to discuss the schools suitability for the child. If necessary a full case conference may be called including parents, class teacher, learning support teacher, resource teacher and psychologist or social workers as appropriate.
The school reserves the right to refuse enrolment to a child in exceptional cases, such an exceptional case could arise where either:
- The pupil has special needs such that, even with additional resources available from the Department of Education and Skills, the school cannot meet such needs and/or provide the pupil with an appropriate education.
- In the opinion of the Board of Management, the child poses an unacceptable risk, to other pupils, to school staff or to school property.
Notwithstanding the availability of such resources, Parents/Guardians who are unsatisfied with the level of educational provision in our school are advised to consider a Special School which is designed and resourced specifically to cater for the needs of children with special educational needs.
APPEALS PROCEDURE
Parents who wish to appeal an enrolment decision may do so to the Board of Management. It must be addressed, in writing, to the Chairperson of the Board, stating the grounds for appeal, and lodged within ten days of receiving the refusal. Parents, if unhappy with the result of this appeal, may appeal to the Department of Education and Skills under Section 29 of the Education Act on the official form provided by the Department. This appeal must be lodged within 42 days of receipt of the refusal from the school to enrol. A copy of the Appeals Procedure and an explanatory leaflet are available to download from the school website under Enrolment Policy.
This policy will be subject to review by the Board of Management in January 2014.