Schools facing 10% cap on children of past pupils

Schools will be able to reserve a maximum of 10 per cent of places for children of past-pupils under a plan for reforming admissions procedures to be announced on Tuesday by Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan.

In an address to the INTO conference in Ennis, Co Clare, Ms O'Sullivan is to set herself firmly against a number of mainly fee-charging schools which have been campaigning to retain a right to guarantee places for children of alumni.

The restriction on past-pupils forms part of the Admission to Schools Bill, which is being published by the Minister on Tuesday.

All primary and post-primary schools will be obliged to comply with the Bill, although its biggest impact will be on the 20 per cent of schools that are over-subscribed.

One of its key provisions is a phasing out of waiting lists, which are seen to discriminate against immigrants or parents who have relocated within Ireland.

The Bill preserves the right of denominational schools to give priority to children of their religion. However, it also compels them to publish a policy on arrangements for students who do not wish to attend religious instruction.

Other provisions of the Bill include:

• Charging fees as part of the enrolment process will be prohibited, except for private or boarding schools;
• Schools will be able to favour siblings of existing pupils as well as children of staff members in enrolment selection;
• Schools will be obliged to publish a code of behaviour specifying suspension and expulsion procedures.

The timeframe over which waiting lists will have to be phased out has yet to be decided and will be contained in regulations to be published later this year, once the Bill has passed through the Oireachtas.

These regulations will also detail the proportion of places which can be reserved for children of past pupils.

Ms O’Sullivan noted that her predecessor, Ruairí Quinn, had proposed to limit to 25 per cent the number of places that could be reserved for such children.

“A much lower exemption, of perhaps 10 per cent of all school places, is as high as such a threshold should be set,” she said.