Thank you for taking the time to visit our Primary 1 Admissions page. Why should you choose Groggan Primary School for your child?

We were rated ‘Very Good’ in our most recent ETI inspection and ‘Outstanding’ in our Pastoral Care inspection. 
We are an inclusive school, the staff work hard to meet the needs of all our pupils. We want each child to achieve their true potential and do this with differentiated work, extension work in  Literacy and Numeracy activities, online learning platforms and interventions for our pupils who need a little help.

We have a dedicated team of staff, assisted by a team of Classroom Assistants. Your child will be nurtured, and cared for in a school with a real  family atmosphere. The older children act as Buddies to our younger pupils, supporting them in their first few weeks at ‘Big School’.

We are a progressive school, using Technology to enhance our pupils’ learning experience. Each classroom is well equipped with iPads, the latest Interactive Whiteboards and coding resources. Staff attend regular training, and work hard to embrace the latest educational ideas. We moved swiftly to online learning in March and supported our families with the loan of Technology to help the children access their lessons and doorstep IT support when any problems arose.

Our Primary 1 room is bright and welcoming and is well resourced with play materials. There is always a buzz in Primary 1 with lots of fun learning activities taking place.

We have recently been awarded the Social Schools award, we are only one a few schools in Northern Ireland to achieve this. We are an ECO School, having been awarded our 7th flag. Our school is a Sustrans Bronze School, awarded for the school’s work on Road Safety, and is a Healthy School, having been awarded the Bronze level. 
We have Safe Place status and the staff have all recently been given an Dyslexia Awareness award. Our ICT coordinator is a Microsoft Ambassador and our Principal has SeeSaw Ambassador status. 
We have invested heavily in the last few years in our Literacy and Numeracy schemes, resources, and Reading books.

We have beautiful grounds, with our own Football pitch, large playground and a wonderful Outdoor Playground which we continually add to and develop. 
The children enjoy trips to enhance their learning and P1 enjoy going to the farm, the town and even the seaside! We have a strong Shared Education partnership with Millquarter Primary School and benefit from shared classes, trips and staff training. 
Our Primary 7 pupils are well prepared for the Transfer process and move onto schools in Ballymena, Antrim and Magherafelt. 

Please take some time to look round our website and visit the class pages, they will give you a sense of what happens in each class, but in no way replaces a visit to our school.

If you would like a prospectus or want further details, or to speak to a member of staff, please contact the school and we would be happy to help. 
Please come back and visit this page often as we will be updating it with details about the admission process once the Education Authority release these. 
Thank you for your time.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRINCIPAL IN RELATION TO ADMISSIONS

The Board of Governors will formulate, apply and review the Admissions Criteria, while the Principal will administer the criteria.

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 10 January 2023 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 27 January 2023 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application.   An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 27 January 2023 and up to 4 pm on 31 January 2023 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 2023 no applications will be processed until after the close of procedure on 27 April 2023.

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 2022 as defined by the new School Age (NI) Act (both groups to be treated equally).

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 attained compulsory school age at the time of their proposed admission, i.e., born on or between 2^nd July 2018 and 1^st July 2019, and those children who have deferred entry in September 2022.
2. Children with siblings currently enrolled in the school.
3. Children who are the eldest or the only child in the family eligible to attend Primary School.
4. Children whose current home address is closer to the front gate of the school, measured by the shortest reading on Google Maps.
5. In the event of two or more children living the same distance from school, rank order will be determined on the basis of the initial letter of the surname as it appears on the birth certificate, either pupils being selected in the order set out below. The order was determined by a randomised selection of letters, drawn by an independent witness:

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

1. 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. 

1. 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. 

1. Where no priority can be established by this means (e.g. John, Johnny), the child with the shorter first forename will be admitted before the child with the longer name. 

DUTY TO VERIFY

Applicants should note that they may be required to provide documents verifying information pertinent to the school’s admission criteria.

WAITING LIST POLICY

The school does not operate a Waiting List Policy.

ADMISSION TO P2 – P7

The Principal will organise the admissions on a day to day basis. A child will be admitted provided that:-

• The school will not exceed its enrolment number as determined by the Department of Education;
• The class size of 30 pupils for Years 2-4 as determined by the Department of Education will not be exceeded and
• Their acceptance will not prejudice the efficient use of resources.

In the event of the number of applications for the admission exceeding the number of vacant places the same admissions criteria will be applied as for admission to P1.