DOMINICAN COLLEGE MUCKROSS PARK
ADMISSIONS POLICY & PROCEDURE
Approved by the Board of Management on 5th July 2011
A. GENERAL
Dominican College, Muckross Park is a privately owned, second-level, girls-only school with a Catholic/Dominican ethos. Muckross Park College is a non-fee paying school and is publicly funded.
The purpose of this document is to describe the school’s admissions policy and procedure.
In accepting a place in Muckross Park an applicant and her parents/guardians are deemed to accept the following:
- The school’s Catholic/Dominican ethos
- The school’s academic curriculum, co-curricular and extra curricular activities
- The school’s policies
Information on all of the above is available on the school’s website (www.muckrossparkcollege.com) and directly from the school.
B. PRE-ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Muckross Park College welcomes applications from everyone, subject to the following two requirements.
(i) Age
Applicants must be at least 11 years of age on 1 January of the year in which they wish to enter the school.
(ii) Gender
Muckross Park College is a girls-only school
C. APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Application Forms for entry to the school are available to download from the school’s website (Click Here) or on request from the school’s office. Applications are not accepted in any form other than by way of the school’s official Application Form, fully completed. When the school receives a completed Application Form together with the applicant’s long-form birth certificate, the applicant’s name, and the date of receipt of the completed Application Form and birth certificate, are placed on the list of candidates seeking places in the year specified on the Application Form. The birth certificate is returned along with an acknowledgment of the receipt of the Application Form.
D. ADMISSIONS POLICY AND PROCEDURE
The maximum number of places available each year in First Year is 120.
The list of applicants for First Year closes on 15 September in the year three years before the proposed year of entry to the school. The list is then divided into two lists – the Priority List and the Standard list. Within each priority category in the Priority List, and in the Standard list, applicants are listed in the order in which their completed Application Forms and birth certificates were received.
Priority Categories
In order to be included in a priority category, an applicant’s Application Form and birth certificate must be received by the school on or before 1 September in the year six years before the proposed year of entry. (For example, an applicant for entry to First Year in 2019 will be included in a priority category only if her Application Form and birth certificate are received on or before 1 September 2013).
The priority categories, in order of priority, are:
D (i) sisters of current pupils or past pupils: for this purpose ‘current pupils’ includes girls who have been offered, and have accepted and not declined, a place in First Year but who have not yet started First Year in the school.
D (ii) girls who are pupils of the Donnybrook parish national school St Mary’s, Belmont Avenue, on 1 September in the year the place is being offered
D (iii) daughters of current staff: ‘current’ is defined as a member of staff on 1 September in the year the place is being offered who has been a member of staff for at least one full academic year prior to that date
D (iv) daughters of past pupils of Muckross Park College secondary school.
It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to inform the school in writing on or before 15 September in the year three years before the proposed year of entry that their daughter falls into one of the above categories and, in the case of category D (iv), to specify the years of attendance of the parent/guardian at Muckross Park College secondary school. Failure to comply with this responsibility will result in the exclusion of the candidate from a priority category.
Offers
On 1 October of the year three years before the proposed year of entry the Principal will offer places to applicants. Places are offered first to applicants on the Priority List in the order in which they appear on that list. For the avoidance of doubt, places are first offered to all applicants in priority category D(i); if all places are not taken by applicants in that category, the remaining places are then offered to applicants in priority category D(ii) and so on through each succeeding priority category. Any places remaining after offers are made to all applicants on the Priority List are offered to applicants on the Standard List in the order in which their names appear on that list.
When 120 offers of places in First Year have been made a new list (the Waiting List) of 50 names is created, replacing the Priority list and the Standard list for that year of entry. The names of any applicants who were on the Priority List but did not receive an offer are placed on the Waiting List first, in the order in which they appeared on the Priority List. The names of applicants from the Standard list who did not receive an offer are then placed on the Waiting List, in the order in which they appeared on the Standard List, until the Waiting List has 50 names.
Unsuccessful applications
At the same time as offers of places are made the Principal will write to the parents/guardians of all applicants who are not receiving an offer of a place. The parents/guardians of applicants whose names are placed on the Waiting List are informed of the applicant’s place on that list. All others (“unsuccessful candidates”) will be informed that they have not qualified for an offer of a place or a place on the Waiting List. The Application Forms of all unsuccessful candidates and any other related documentation held by the school will then be destroyed.
Responding to an offer
An offer of a place in the school will be accompanied by an Acceptance Form which will specify the date (“the Acceptance Date”) by which the offer must be accepted and the amount of the non refundable booking fee. In order to secure the place offered (subject to the school’s right to refuse enrolment, referred to at Section F below) parents/guardians must ensure that the fully completed Acceptance Form together with the non-refundable booking fee are received by the school on or before the Acceptance Date. Parents/guardians who are not in a position to pay the booking fee are invited to contact the Principal before the Acceptance Date. Failure to return the completed Acceptance Form so that same is in the hands of the school on or before the Acceptance Date will result in the place offered being deemed to have been declined. Completed Acceptance Forms will not be accepted after the Acceptance Date.
Declining a place
It is understood that parents/guardians may apply to more than one second-level school for a place for their daughters. Parents/guardians who no longer seek a place, or who no longer wish to take up a place that has been offered and accepted, are asked to inform the school in writing as soon as possible. If a place has been offered and accepted and the candidate subsequently decides not to attend the school the booking fee will not be refunded.
The Waiting List
If any offer of a place at the start of First Year is refused or not taken up, or if in exceptional circumstances the school refuses to enrol an applicant who has accepted an offer of a place (see Section F below), that place will be offered to the first name on the Waiting List, and so on until the place is accepted.
In addition, if a place becomes available in a year group at any time after the start of First Year, the place will be offered to the first name on the Waiting List for that year group, and so on until the place is accepted.
The name of any applicant on the Waiting List who accepts or refuses an offer of a place will be removed from the Waiting List.
Communication
It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to ensure that the school is made aware of any changes in address or in any other details included in an Application Form. All correspondence will issue to the address appearing on the Application Form or as otherwise notified in writing to the school.
Change of Entry Year
If a parent/guardian wishes to alter the proposed year of entry for his/her daughter a new Application Form must be submitted to the school on or before 15 September in the year three years before the newly proposed year of entry to the school.. The date of receipt of the first Application Form for that applicant will be the date used when the Prioirty List and Standard List are being created.
E. SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS
The school welcomes applications from parents/guardians of candidates with special educational needs, unless the nature and degree of those needs is such that to enrol the student would be inconsistent with the effective provision of education for the student concerned and/or the other students with whom she is to be educated.
F. RIGHT TO REFUSE ENROLMENT
The school reserves the right to refuse to enrol an applicant who has accepted an offer of a place in the school in exceptional circumstances. Such an exceptional case could arise where either:
- the candidate has special needs such that, even with additional resources available from the Department of Education & Skills, the school cannot meet the needs and/or provide the candidate with an appropriate education;
or
- in the opinion of the Board of Management, the candidate would pose an unacceptable risk to other students, to the school staff or to school property.
Any refusal to enrol an applicant will be in accordance with Section 15(2)(d) of the Education Act 1998.
G. APPEALS
Under Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 parents/guardians have the right to appeal a refusal by the school to enrol an applicant. Any such appeal must be made within 42 calendar days of the date on which the school’s refusal is notified to the parents/guardians.
H. EFFECTIVE DATE AND POLICY CHANGES
This Policy comes into force on the 5th July 2011 and applies to applications for enrolment in First Year in September 2014 and thereafter. Offers of places in the school other than at the start of First Year will be made in accordance with this Policy from 1 September 2011 onwards. The Board of Management reserves the right to amend or replace this Policy at any time, whether in response to legislative requirements or otherwise. However, subject to any changes imposed by legislation or regulation, offers of places in the school already made at the date of any such amendment or replacement will not be affected.
5th July 2011
The Board of Management
Dominican College,
Muckross Park
Dublin 4
Download Expression of Interest Form Here
For copy of Admission Policy Click Here
(Note from Principal: The 2009 Policy still applies for pupils entering in 2012 and the 2010 Policy applies for pupils entering in 2013)
For copies of the 2009 or 2010 policy click HERE