Admissions

Respective functions of the Board of Governors and Principal in relation to Admissions to the school

The Board of Governors of Markethill High School draws up the admissions criteria and delegates to the Principal responsibility for applying the criteria.

The lodging of an application is interpreted by the Board of Governors as an indication that the parents and the child concerned accept and is in agreement with the ethos, philosophy, aims, policies and regulations of the school including any code of conduct or discipline policy of the school. Information in relation to these may be obtained from the school.

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application/Transfer Form.

It is the responsibility of the parents/guardians to ensure that all relevant information is given on or attached to the Transfer Report Form.

The provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide information within the deadlines set by the school can result in the withdrawal of a place and the inability to offer a place on the part of any school nominated on the applicant’s Transfer Form.

Admissions Criteria for entry of pupils to Year 8 in September 2020 or during the course of the 2020/2021 school year

In the event that there are fewer applicants complying with a particular criterion than there are places available or remaining, those applicants complying with that criterion will be admitted and the next criterion will be applied to the remaining applicants.

In the event that there are more applicants complying with a particular criterion than there are places available or remaining, those applicants complying with that criterion will go forward to be considered under the next criterion and those not complying with that criterion will be eliminated.

Criteria

1. Pupils from the following local contributory primary schools:

Armstrong Hamiltonsbawn Markethill Saints and Scholars

Bessbrook Hardy Memorial Mountnorris

Clare Kingsmills Mullaglass

Derryhale Lisnadill Poyntzpass

2. Sibling of a child of the family* in attendance at the school in the 2019/2020 school year;

3. Eldest eligible child of the family**;

4. Children of permanent members of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school;

* ‘Child of the family’ refers to Article 2(2) of the Domestic Proceedings (NI) Order 1980.

** ‘Eldest eligible child of the family’ includes applicants who, although not chronologically the eldest in the family, are to be treated as the ‘eldest eligible child of the family’ in circumstances set out below:

a. The applicant is the first in the family to transfer to a mainstream post primary school in Northern Ireland;

b. Where the applicant is more than five years younger than the next eldest sibling (by birth date);

c. Where the applicant’s family has moved residence so that the applicant is the first child of the family to have an opportunity to apply to the school.

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information as regards ‘eldest child of the family’.

Tie Breaker

In the event of the school being oversubscribed and the above criteria having been applied, priority will be given to pupils whose permanent place of residence is closest to Markethill High School as measured using the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) online Distance Measuring Tool, using 6-figure northings and eastings grid references to identify distance from the front gates of school to individual houses.

In the unlikely event that the (OSNI) Distance Measuring Tool is not available, a hard-copy 1:50000 Ordnance Survey map will be used instead to measure distance.

In the event of equal distance between two permanent places of residence and the school, applicants will be selected for admission on the basis of the initial letter of the surname (as it appears on the Birth Certificate) using a list of randomised letters in the order set out below:

Q B J F N L H A C S O U V Z X P G I K R W M D E Y T

In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter the subsequent letters of the surname will be used in alphabetical order to establish priority.

In the event of two identical surnames the alphabetical order of the initials of the forename (as it appears on the Birth Certificate) will be used to establish priority.

Where the forename begins with the same letter, the second and if necessary, subsequent letters will be used to establish priority for admission using alphabetical order.

Where no priority can be established by means of this direct alphabetical comparison the child with the shorter first forename will be prioritised for admission (e.g. “Alan”, “Alana”).

Duty to Verify

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any Transfer Form.

It is the responsibility of the parents/guardians to ensure that all relevant information is given on or attached to the Transfer Report Form.

Notes:

It is the responsibility of the parents/guardians to ensure that all relevant information is given on or attached to the Transfer Form.
Inaccurate or misleading information provided on or attached to a Transfer Form may prejudice an offer of a place and may lead to the withdrawal of a place awarded to an applicant who has thereby gained an improper advantage.

APPLICATIONS AND ADMISSIONS TO YEAR 8
Year Admissions No Total Applications All Preferences Total Admissions

2017/2018 93 123 104*

2018/2019 93 113 97*

2019/2020 93 124 103*

*Includes statemented pupils

Admissions Criteria for entry of pupils to Years 9-12

A pupil will be admitted provided that the following conditions are met:

(a) The school’s enrolment number is not exceeded,

(b) The admission of the pupil would not, in the opinion of the Board of Governors be prejudicial to the efficient use of resources in the school.

In the event of over-subscription the following criteria will be applied in the order stated.

In selecting pupils for admission:

Pupils for whom Markethill High School is the closest post-primary school to the child’s permanent home address.
Other pupils.

If there are more applicants in either criteria than places available the following sub-criteria will be applied in the order indicated below:

(i) Children of permanent members of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school;

(ii) Sibling of a child of the family*, in attendance at the school in the 2019/2020 school year or eldest eligible child of the family**;