FOYLE COLLEGE

67 Limavady Road

Londonderry BT47 6LR

Telephone: 028 7126 9321

Email: info@foylecollege.derry.ni.sch.uk

Website: www.foylenet.org.uk

Principal: Mr P W J Allen BSc., PGCE., PQH(NI)

Chairperson of the Board of Governors: Archdeacon R Miller

Co-Educational, Non-Denominational, Voluntary Grammar SchoolAge 

Range: 11-18

Admissions No: 126

Enrolment No: 850

Roll: 879

Open Evening

Due to guidance in relation to COVID-19 Foyle College will be holding a Virtual Open Night this year.

Further details are available on the school’s website and provided to all Primary Schools for distribution.

To: Parents/Guardians naming Foyle College, Londonderry as a Preference on your child’s Transfer Application.

Entrance Test Results:

Please ensure that you provide the following information in the appropriate section of your child’s Transfer Application:

• Attach/upload an image of the original Common Entrance Assessment (CEA) score notification sheet provided by AQE to the Online Transfer Application

• Record/upload/enter their AQE score on the Online Transfer Application

Special Circumstances and/or Special Provision

Specific information required for each of these is detailed in the relevant paragraphs below.

• Information for a claim for Special Circumstances, as detailed below, should be attached/uploaded to the Transfer Application and sent to the school with that application.

• Information for consideration under Special Provisions, as detailed below, should be received by the school by 4pm, 9th March 2022.

AIM

Foyle College is an academically selective, co-educational, non-denominational Voluntary Grammar School. It is the aim of the Board of Governors, through the application of their Admissions Criteria, that Foyle College will be:

• a school where everyone can feel valued and secure in a caring, happy and healthy community.

• a school where pupils develop academically, athletically and artistically to fulfil their potential and be the best that they can be.

• a school that links with our community and society as an historic, but evolving, institution which values service and inclusion.

FEES

Parental Contribution – This is used to meet the shortfall in funding between what we receive from the Department of Education and we feel must be spent in order to maintain the standard of education offered by Foyle College. The fee is £10 per month by Standing Order for each child you have in school. If you pay Income Tax, this contribution can be Gift Aided which allows the school to claim Basic Rate Tax Relief from HMRC.

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

The Board of Governors has delegated the task of applying the criteria to ‘The Selectors’ - a committee consisting of the Principal, a Vice-Principal nominated by the Principal, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Board of Governors and one other member of the Board of Governors, nominated by the Principal, except where a conflict of interest arises with any of the forenamed, in which case another Governor would be nominated by the Principal.

The Board of Governors has determined that, in the event of the number of applicants being greater than the Admissions Number for the school that the Admissions Criteria set out below will be applied in the order shown. Applicants who will be resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission will be considered before other applicants.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA 2022

The Selectors will, on the basis of all of the documented evidence available to them at the time of making their decision, admit pupils using the following criteria: -

1 Applicants will be admitted in relation to their standardised score in the CEA, as reported by AQE Ltd., as amended under Special Circumstances, or allocated under Special Provisions, in rank order, highest mark first. If there are more applicants with a particular mark than places remaining, then pupils at that mark will be selected by applying the following criteria in the order set down:

2 Applicants who are transferring from the school’s traditional contributory primary schools:

Artigarvan

Ashlea

Ballougry

Bready Jubilee

Culmore

Cumber Claudy

Donemana

Drumahoe

Ebrington

Eglinton

Fountain

Greenhaw

Londonderry Model

Lisnagelvin

Newbuildings

Strabane

Oakgrove Integrated

3 Applicants of whom a child of the family is a pupil in the school or will be in the academic year under consideration;

4 Applicants who are the eldest child in the family, as evidenced on the Online Transfer Application.

(The term eldest child of the family being defined from Article 2(2) of the Domestic Proceedings (NI) Order 1980 which covers

• a child born to a married couple or to a couple in a civil partnership

• a child born to a co-habiting couple

• a child born to a single parent

• a child of either/any of those people by a previous marriage, civil partnership or relationship

• A child living with a couple who has been treated as a “child of the family” whether there is a marriage or a civil partnership or not

• a child living with an individual, who has been treated as a “child of the family”

• an adopted or fostered child

• a situation where for example an orphaned cousin is being brought up with a family)

5 applicants who are entitled to Free School Meals;

6 other applicants ranked by Date of Birth - eldest first. Note: Should two or more such applicants have the same Date of Birth, the initial letter of the surname in alphabetical order as it appears on the Birth Certificate will be used.

In the event of there being fewer applicants for admission with CEA marks than the school’s Admissions Number, the above criteria will also be applied to applicants who did not sit the test. The Selectors reserve the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any Application Form/Transfer Application. The provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide information within the deadlines set by the school can result in the withdrawal of a place and the inability to offer a place on the part of the school as nominated on the applicant’s Transfer Application.

When applying the above criteria, should the number of pupils who satisfy the requirements of any criterion exceed the number of places remaining, then the candidates will be listed by Date of Birth, eldest first, and admitted in that order. Note: Should two or more such applicants have the same Date of Birth, the initial letter of the surname in alphabetical order as it appears on the Birth Certificate will be used.

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 applicant’s Online Transfer Application.

In the case of an applicant whom it is claimed is the eldest child in the family, a letter of confirmation must be attached or uploaded to the Online Transfer Application. This letter must state that the child is the eldest in the family and that the child and family are known to the verifier. The letter must be written on headed notepaper and signed by one of the following who is not a member of the applicant’s family and who has known the applicant for at least two years:

a. a primary school Principal

b. a medical practitioner

c. a solicitor

d. a member of the clergy or PSNI

“Entitled to Free School Meals” will mean pupils who are listed on the Education Authority register as entitled to Free School Meals at the date on which their parent or guardian has submitted their post-primary Online Transfer Application, or at any date up to and including no later than 4pm on 9th March 2022.

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

Candidates not admitted at this stage will be held on a Reserve List for consideration should places become available and will be admitted by application of the above criteria.

Parents/Guardians should be aware that the school’s Admissions Number is fixed by the Department of Education and that extra places cannot be awarded by Governors.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

The purpose of a claim for Special Circumstances is so that a child who has sat the AQE CEA, and whose performance may have been affected by medical or other problems, can be assigned a score, by the Selectors, equivalent to that which he/she would have obtained in the AQE CEA under normal circumstances.

Applicants claiming under Special Circumstances i.e. that medical or other problems affected the performance of their child at the time of the test(s) should complete Form SC22 available from AQE Ltd. or the school. The Selectors will expect that parents/guardians will provide medical or other evidence which would set out the likely impact of the problem or difficulty on the child’s performance in the test(s). Parents/Guardians should also supply documentary evidence, e.g. drawn from results of any standardised tests conducted in P5, P6 or P7 that would indicate that the child’s academic ability is greater than the outcome of the CEA would suggest. 

The Selectors will consider whether there is sufficient material to permit a child to be considered as having Special Circumstances. Such consideration requires an educational judgement to be made on the totality of material presented to the school so that a Score equivalent to that which the child would have obtained in the AQE CEA under normal conditions can be awarded. Where Special Circumstances are accepted, the Selectors will determine, on the basis of the information provided, the score for the pupil. Such pupils will then be considered with all other pupils who have received a CEA score, and the Admissions Criteria will be applied.

It is the responsibility of parents/carers to present all such material as they consider will assist the school in performing both parts of the consideration described above. It should be noted by parents/guardians that both parts of the consideration referred to, involve an exercise in judgement and not precise calculation.

SPECIAL PROVISION

Applicants claiming under Special Provision should complete Form SC22 available from AQE or the school. Special Provision applies to (i) children whose parents/guardians wish them to transfer to grammar schools from schools outside Northern Ireland; (ii) children who have received more than half their primary education outside Northern Ireland; (iii) children, entered for the Common Entrance Assessment (CEA), who because of serious medical problems, were unable to participate in the Common Entrance Assessment. Please note that it is expected that all those seeking admission to a grammar school which has the result of the CEA as an Admissions Criterion should sit the CEA, with the exception of those applicants who take up residence in Northern Ireland after the start of the Year 7. The school will also require parents/guardians to supply information to demonstrate the pupil’s academic ability.

Please note that it may not be possible to process claims for Special Provisions after 4pm on the 9th March 2022. The Selectors will consider the application for Special Provisions. Where Special Provisions are accepted, the Selectors will determine, on the basis of the information available, an appropriate score for that pupil. Such pupils will then be considered with all other pupils who have received a CEA score and the Admissions Criteria applied.

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/Transfer Application. The provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide information within the deadlines set by the school can result in the withdrawal of a place and the inability to offer a place on the part of the school as nominated on the applicant’s Transfer Application.

Parents/Guardians should be aware that the school’s Admissions Number is fixed by the Department of Education and that extra places cannot be awarded by Governors.

NUMBERS OF APPLICATIONS AND ADMISSIONS

Year    2019/20

Admissions No.    126

Total Applications All Preferences    173

Total Admissions    *132

Year    2020/21

Admissions No.    126

Total Applications All Preferences    175

Total Admissions    *133

Year    2021/22

Admissions No.    126

Total Applications All Preferences    155

Total Admissions    *128

* Total admissions include pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Need and those pupils admitted under the Appeals process.

ADMISSION CRITERIA FOR ENTRY TO YEARS 9 - 14

• Class sizes permitting, pupils may be admitted into Years 9-14 up to, but not exceeding, the school’s maximum enrolment number of 850.

• Preference will be given to pupils applying for a place at Foyle College from outside the school’s traditional catchment area especially those families relocating to the area for employment reasons.

• Preference will be given to pupils who have sat the AQE Common Entrance Assessment and whose score would place them within the cohort for which they are seeking admission.

• Pupils who have not sat the Common Entrance Assessment must be able to demonstrate evidence from their previous school of academic ability commensurate with the cohort for which they are seeking admission.

• Pupils seeking admission to 6th Form must have met the criteria for Foyle College’s own pupils i.e. a minimum of 10 Points at GCSE (A*=4, A=3, B=2, C*= 1½ , C=1) including Maths & English plus B grades preferably in at least two of the subjects to be studied at A-Level. If a subject is over-subscribed criteria may be enhanced.

• Entering, or returning to, Sixth Form is dependent ona pupil’s disciplinary and attedance records.