Respective Functions of the Board of Governors and the Principal in relation to admissions.

The Board of Governors will determine the Admissions Criteria. The criteria will be applied by the Principal who may, if necessary, refer to an admissions sub-committee.

Admissions Criteria

A timetable of pre-school admissions procedures setting out the dates by which an application is to be submitted is available at www.eani.org.uk/admissions under ‘Pre-School Admissions’. During the admissions procedure when applying the criteria punctual applications will be considered before late applications are considered.

The application procedure opens on 9 January 2024 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 26 January 2024 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application. An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 26 January 2024 will be treated as a late application.

As the pre-school admissions procedure is in two stages the timetable also specifies the relevant dates at Stage 2 which will determine if an application is to be considered as punctual or late.

Admissions criteria to be used in the event of the school being oversubscribed. The criteria are listed in order of priority.

Children will be admitted according to the following statutory criteria:

Statutory Criteria
1. Children from socially disadvantaged circumstances in their final pre-school year who were born:
on or between 2 July 2020 and 1 July 2021 (inclusive) and whose parents have not exercised their right to defer their child’s entry to primary school; or,
on or between 1 April 2020 and 1 July 2020 (inclusive) or were due to be born on or between those dates but were born earlier; and,
have not attended or are not currently attending a funded pre-school setting under the Pre-School Education Programme as a target aged child; and,
that child’s parent has completed a request to defer their child starting P1 until September 2025.
Note: Children from ‘socially disadvantaged circumstances’ means a child whose parent has an entitlement to (i) Income Support, or (ii) Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or (iii) Income related Employment and Support Allowance, or (iv) Universal Credit. When parents apply for places for their child on this basis they must provide Benefit Verification to confirm that they have an entitlement. The application procedure for Pre-School will outline how Benefit Verification can be submitted.
2. Children not from socially disadvantaged circumstances (as defined above) who are in their final pre-school year (as defined by Criterion 1).
Sub-Criteria
If there are more children satisfying the last criterion above, which can be applied, then selection for the remaining places will be on the application of the following sub-criteria in the order set down below:
a. Children whose parents cite Whitehouse P.S. Nursery Unit as their first preference setting. (Second preferences will be selected before third or subsequent preferences etc.)

b. Children who have a sibling (half sibling, step sibling, foster sibling) attending Whitehouse Primary School (Primary 1 to Primary 7) when applications are being processed. Names of siblings must be listed on the application.

c. Children who have a sibling (half sibling, step sibling, foster sibling) attending Whitehouse Primary School Nursery Unit when the applications are being processed. Names of siblings must be listed on the application.

d. Children with a sibling (half sibling, step sibling, foster sibling) applying for, or been offered, a place in the Primary Department in September 2024. Names of siblings must be listed on the application.

e. Children with a sibling (half sibling, step sibling, foster sibling) who were former pupils of Whitehouse Primary School (Primary 1 to Primary 7). Names of siblings must be listed on the application.

f. Children who live nearest to the school as decided by a digital measurement using the post code address of their normal residence to the post code address of Whitehouse Primary School & Nursery Unit. Whitehouse Primary School & Nursery Unit will use the Northern Ireland Portal for Geographical Information (GI) decision making tool, Spatial N.I., to
determine distances. ** (see duty to verify)
g. In the event of two or more children living the same distance from the school, rank order will be determined on the basis outlined below:
i) Final selection will be on the basis of the initial letter of the surname as it appears on the birth certificate with pupils being selected in the order set out below. The order was determined by a randomised selection of letters generated by www.miniwebtool

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

Where surnames begin with the same letter, the second and, if necessary, subsequent letters will be used for admission using the same randomised selection of letters.

ii) Where children have the same surname, the initial letter of the first forename, as it appears on the birth certificate will be used for admission using the same randomised selection of letters.
iii) Where no priority can be established by this means (e.g. ‘Alan’ ‘Alanna’) the child with the shorter first forename will be prioritised for admission.

h. Children of staff members and school Governors.

When considering which children should be selected for admission, the Board of Governors will only take into account information which is detailed on the application form, uploaded online or submitted to the school by the deadlines given. Parents should therefore ensure that all information pertaining to their child and relevant to the school’s admissions criteria, is stated on the application form, uploaded online or submitted to the school by the deadlines given.
Non-statutory criteria
Note: Applications falling under Criterion 3 are processed only during Stage 2 of the admissions process, after final pre-school year (Statutory 1 and 2) applications.

 

3. Children who were born:
•on or between 1 April 2020 - 1 July 2020 (inclusive), or were due to be born on or between those dates but were born earlier; and,
•and have attended or are currently attending a funded pre-school setting under the Pre-School Education Programme as a target aged (not penultimate aged) child; and,
•that child’s parent has completed a request to defer their child starting P1, or
•on or between 2 July 2021 and 1 July 2022 (inclusive); or,
•on or between 1 April 2021 and 1 July 2021 (inclusive) or were due to be born on or between those dates but were born earlier; and that child’s parent has completed a request to defer their child starting P1 until September 2026.

Tie Breaker – Non Statutory Criterion 3

Children within Criterion 3 will be selected in Chronological Order of Age – eldest child first. In the event of two or more children having the same DOB the above random selection of letters listed above will be used.
Address Verification – If applying in January these documents must be submitted by 4pm on 31 January 2024.
** In order to verify a child’s address, any two of the following must be provided at the time of application (these documents should not be more than six months old):
•A bank or building society statement which shows the address at which the child is resident
•A utility bill (eg electricity, gas, telephone, TV licence) which shows the address where the child is resident
•A letter awarding Child Benefit to the child or another letter relating to this benefit which shows the address at which the child is resident.
•An addressed payslip which shows the address at which the child is resident.
•A mortgage statement, rental agreement or Land and Property Services rates demand issued within the last year which shows the address at which the child is resident.

*Please note that these verifying documents are in addition to the standard requirement to provide the child’s birth certificate and proof of social disadvantage, if relevant, at the time of application. Please note that original documents are required and all documents, including birth certificates, must accompany your application either by uploading the documents online with the application or by providing the documents to the first preference Nursery by Wednesday 31 January 2024 at 4pm.

Duty to Verify
The Board of Governors reserves the right to require any supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any applicant’s application form.

If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place. Similarly, if information that appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.

Waiting List Policy
The school’s policy on the consideration of applications after the Open Enrolment Admissions procedure concludes on 11 June 2024 is available directly from the school. Should a vacancy arise, the above criteria will be applied to select pupils from our waiting list.