The P1 admissions criteria used by each school will be published on the EA website in December each year. 

Below you will find the 2024-25 admissions criteria that will be used for the September 2025 P1 intake. 

The Board of Governors draws up the admissions criteria and delegates to an Admissions Sub-Committee, which includes the Principal, the responsibility for applying these criteria. Admissions criteria are applied only if the number of applications received exceeds the number of places available.  The Board of Governors will be responsible for applying the admissions 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 2025 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 24 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application. 

An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 24 January 2025 and up to 4 pm on 29 January 2025 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 29 January 2025 no applications will be processed until after the close of procedure on 9 April 2025.

Compulsory School Age

Any child who reaches their 4th Birthday on or before 1st July 2025 is of Compulsory School Age. Under the School Age (NI) Act which became law in Northern Ireland in April 2022, ‘compulsory school age’ also includes those children who deferred commencing Primary 1 in September 2024 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.

It is essential to note that it is the responsibility of parents to ensure that all relevant information regarding the criteria for admission is included on the application or provided to the first preference school.

In the event that there are fewer applicants complying with a particular criterion than there are places available or remaining, those applicants complying with that criterion will be admitted and the next criterion will be applied to the remaining applicants.

In the event that there are more applicants complying with a particular criterion than there are places available or remaining, those applicants complying with that criterion will go forward to be considered under the next criterion and those not complying with that criterion will be eliminated.

Preference will be given to those children in the order set down below:

1. Children who have a child of the family* currently enrolled in Castle Gardens Primary School. Please list name(s) and current class(es).
2. Children  whose parent is a permanent employee or a Governor of Castle Gardens Primary School.
3. Children who have Castle Gardens Primary School listed as their first preference on their application.
4. Children who attended Castle Gardens Pre-School in the 2024/2025 academic year.
5. Children who have had a child of the family* enrolled in Castle Gardens Primary School. Please list name(s) and year(s) of leaving.

Supplementary Criteria (for Y1 and Y2-Y7 intake)

In the event of over-subscription following the application of the above criteria in order, the following sub-criteria will be applied:

1. priority will be given to applicants on the basis of the proximity of the child’s home to the school as measured in a straight line from the front door of the school to the front door of their home. Distances will be determined on the basis of measurements taken from Google maps. The measure distance tool will be used to determine straight line distances. Priority will be given to pupils living closest to the school.
2. in the event that supplementary criteria 1. is identical, the initial letter of the surname recorded on the child’s birth certificate using the randomly selected set of letters below and the application of the order of these letters. M F N G K O H T W L I A B S V Y P C J X Q U R D Z E

In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter the subsequent letters of the surname will be used in alphabetical order. In the event of two identical surnames the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames will be used as listed on the Birth Certificate.

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. 

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 is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.

Waiting List Policy

Should a vacancy arise after placement letters have been issued, all applications that were initially refused, new applications, late applications and applications where new information has been provided will be treated equally and the published criteria applied.

The waiting list will be in place until the end of the academic year applied for. Your child’s name will automatically be added to this list. Please contact us directly if you wish for your child’s name to be removed from the waiting list. 

Castle Gardens Primary School will contact you directly if your child gains a place by this method.  Parents must reply to the offer within 48 hours otherwise the next child on the waiting list will be offered the place.

Admission To P2 – P7

In considering applications for admissions to Year 2 to Year 7 classes, the Board of Governors will apply the same criteria in the same order, 1 to 4, as listed for Year 1 intake.