RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND 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. Applications are invited from children of compulsory school age at time of proposed admission.
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 or provided directly to the school. Parents/Guardians should therefore ensure that all information pertaining to their child and relevant to the school’s admissions criteria is stated on the application or provided directly to the first preference school. Examples of such information include whether the child has brothers/sisters attending the school, or is the eldest child in the family.
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
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 and up to 4 pm on 31 January 2024 will be treated as a late application, this is also the last date and time for processing a change of preference in exceptional circumstances. After 4 pm on 31 January 2024 no applications will be processed until after the close of procedure on 25 April 2024.
Priority will be given to children who will have attained compulsory school age at the time of their proposed admission, including those children whose parents deferred their admission to primary school in September 2023 as defined by the new School Age (NI) Act (both groups to be treated equally). *See duty to verify.
Priority will be given to children resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission to the school before those who are not so resident.
Admissions criteria to be used in the event of the school being oversubscribed. The criteria are listed in order of priority.
1. 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.
2. Children who Whitehouse Primary School is their nearest primary school as decided by a digital measurement using the post code address of their normal residence to the post code addresses of surrounding primary schools. 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)
3. Children with a sibling (half sibling, step sibling, foster sibling) applying for, or been offered, a place in the Nursery Unit in September 2024. Names of siblings must be listed on the application.                                        4. Children of staff members and school Governors.
5. 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.
6. 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).
7. In the event of two or more children living the same distance from school, rank order will be determined on the basis outlined below:
a. 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 Mini Web Tool Website

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

b. 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.
c. 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.
d. where no priority can be established by this means, final selection will be on basis of age as established by the date of birth as it appears on the birth certificate. Children who are the eldest will be given priority.
ALL INFORMATION RELEVANT TO THE ABOVE CRITERIA MUST BE SUBMITTED ON/WITH THE APPLICATION FORM.

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 application form.
All documentation must be uploaded online or submitted to the first preference school by Wednesday 31st January 2024 at 4.00pm. If the evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadlines given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place or the inability to offer a place. Similarly, if the information supplied appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn or a place will not be offered.
**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 (e.g. 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 at the time of application. Please note that all documents, including Birth Certificates, must be either uploaded online or presented in person to the first preference school by Wednesday 31st January 2024 at 4.00pm. Failure to provide this evidence by the deadline, or the provision of false or incorrect information will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place or the inability to offer a place.

WAITING LIST POLICY
The school’s policy on the consideration of applications after the Open Enrolment Admissions procedure concludes on 25th April 2024 is available directly from the school. Should a vacancy arise, the above criteria will be applied to select pupils from our waiting list.
ADMISSION TO P2 – P7

Pupils will be admitted to P2-P7 provided their admission does not lead to the enrolment number being exceeded. The same admissions criteria will be applied as for admission to P1.
Applications and Admissions to Primary 1

Year	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Total Applications	55	49	52
Total Admissions	55	49	52