HUNTERHOUSE COLLEGE

Finaghy

Belfast BT10 0LE

Telephone No: 028 9061 2293

E-mail: info@hunterhouse.belfast.ni.sch.uk

Website: www.hunterhousecollege.org.uk

Principal: Mr A Gibson MA DipEd PQH

Chair of Board of Governors: Mr D McClay

Voluntary Grammar School  Girls’ Grammar

Non-denominational

Age Range: 11-18

Admission No: 100

Enrolment No: 710

OPEN EVENT

An Open Event for pupils and parents will be held virtually and is available on the school website.

To Parents/carers naming Hunterhouse College (“the College”) as a preference on your child’s Transfer Application.

Entrance Test Results

Hunterhouse College will consider the outcome of a pupil’s performance in either the AQE assessment or the GL assessment. On the Transfer Application parents/carers should provide details of the candidate number issued to their daughter by AQE and/or GLA when she registered for the assessment.

- Parents/carers should record the score awarded by AQE and/or the Cohort Percentile Rank attained in

the GLA on the Transfer Application.

- Parents/carers should attach/upload the AQE results form and/or the GLA results form to the Transfer Application as applicable.

Special Circumstances and/or Special Provisions

If you are making a claim for your child to be considered under Special Circumstances or Special Provisions, please note that you are required to:

- present all such material as you consider will assist the Board of Governors Transfer Panel in determining if Special Circumstances and/or Special Provisions apply;

- attach/upload all such material to the Transfer Application.

Further details can be found in Section 2 – ‘Special Circumstances’ and Section 3 – ‘Special Provisions’ below.

CAPITAL FEE

£140 per annum

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

The Board of Governors of Hunterhouse College has delegated to the Board of Governors Transfer Panel, in conjunction with the Principal, the responsibility of applying its admissions criteria to identify which applicants shall be admitted to the College in accordance with the admissions criteria set out below.

ADMISSIONS POLICY

1. ADMISSIONS CRITERIA TO BE APPLIED TO ALL APPLICANTS

The Board of Governors will consider children who are resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission to the College before those who are not.

For the academic year 2022-23, the College will continue to use academic selection in the first instance to select pupils.

The Board of Governors will consider in the first instance applications from those children who have taken the entrance assessments provided by AQE and/or GLA, subject only to the consideration of those children whose parents/carers are claiming Special Circumstances or Special Provisions as defined below.

The College will not use as a criterion the position of preference given to the College as shown on the Transfer Application; for example, a child who has chosen the College in any position on the Transfer Application will be considered in the same way as all first preference applicants.

There is no requirement that any applicant should sit both the AQE and GLA entrance assessments. However, where an applicant has sat both assessments, the College will consider whichever outcome places the applicant in the higher Band.

Applicants will be allocated to the Bands shown in the tables below.

AQE will provide parents/carers with a score. The College will allocate children to the appropriate Band as follows:

AQE Standardised Score

Band 1

106 or above

Band 2

103 – 105

Band 3

99 – 102

Band 4

94 – 98

Band 5

88 – 93

Band 6

87 or below

GLA will provide parents/carers with a Standardised Age Score, a Grade and a Cohort Percentile. The College will use the Cohort Percentile as the percentile rank to allocate children to the appropriate Band as set out below. For the avoidance of any doubt, parents/carers should note that where the Cohort Percentile is recorded as less than 30 on the GLA Results Form, their child will be allocated to either Band 5 or Band 6 depending on the actual Cohort Percentile awarded. This information is made available to the College only; parents/carers considering an application can contact the College to confirm whether their child has been placed in Band 5 or Band 6 on the basis of their Cohort Percentile.

Band

GLA Cohort Percentile Rank

Band 1

60 or above

Band 2

50 - 59

Band 3

40 – 49

Band 4

30 – 39

Band 5

20 – 29

Band 6

19 or below

In the event of there being more applicants in any of the above Bands than places available or should any further places remain to be filled, the criteria below will apply in the order shown:

(i) girls who, at the date of their application, have a child of the family1 currently enrolled or accepted for admission at the College (details to be supplied).

(ii) girls who, at the date of their application, have a child of the family1 who attended Hunterhouse College (details to be supplied).

(iii) girls who are entitled to Free School Meals2

(iv) girls who, at the date of their application, are the eldest girl3 of the family to be eligible to transfer to a mainstream post-primary school (details to be supplied).

(v) If applicants are still tied after this, then priority will be determined amongst them by a method of computer-generated random selection.

The process is carried out by means of a computer program which, for each applicant, generates a ranking number using the details from the online Transfer Application as the seed for a random number generator. The outcome, for any given applicant, is dependent only on the applicant’s name i.e. “Forename”, “Middlename” (if applicable) and “Surname”, as recorded on the online Transfer Application, and is not affected by the details of any other applicant. Although the process is repeatable, and the results may therefore be subsequently verified, it is not possible to predict, in advance of running the program, what the result will be for any given set of details. Applicants with the highest-ranking numbers will be given places up to the number of places available. Further details may be obtained from the Principal.

1 ‘Child of the family’ as defined by the Department of Education to cover: 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 or individual.

2’entitled to Free School Meals’ will mean children who are listed on the Education Authority register as entitled to Free School Meals at the date on which their parent/carer has submitted their Transfer Application, or at any date up to and including 9th March 2022 no later than 4pm.

3Twins and other multiple birth applicants will be regarded as joint eldest. The eldest child criterion will also apply in the case where a family has not had the opportunity to enrol an elder child, such as in cases where the elder child has completed their post-primary education, could not attend mainstream school (eg attends a special school) or where a family has relocated to Northern Ireland.

The College emphasises that it is the responsibility of the parents/carers to notify the College on the Transfer Application where the above criteria apply, and to furnish relevant details.

2. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

The College has academic performance as its first criterion, subject only to the consideration of medical or other problems which may have affected the applicant’s performance in the AQE/GLA and which are supported by independent documentary evidence of a medical or other appropriate nature. These ‘medical or other problems’ are commonly referred to as “Special Circumstances”.

Please Note:

- If a claim for consideration of Special Circumstances is made in respect of matters for which Special Access arrangements were granted, the Board of Governors Transfer Panel will take into account the fact that the child was granted Special Access arrangements for those matters.

Parents/carers who wish to apply to the College under Special Circumstances should complete the appropriate form obtainable from the AQE/PPTC and attach/upload it with relevant documentary evidence, as explained below, to the Transfer Application.

(i) Details of medical or other problems

Where it is claimed that a child’s performance in the AQE/GLA has been affected by a medical or other problem, evidence must be provided to the College. Where the problem is a medical one of short term duration which affected the child only at the time of the AQE/GLA process, parents/carers should be aware that the Board of Governors Transfer Panel will attach greater weight to evidence indicating that the child was examined by a medical practitioner in relation to the illness at the time of the assessment.

Where the problem is of a non-medical nature parents/carer should set out in the appropriate form precise details of the problem and attach any appropriate evidence to corroborate its existence.

(ii) Educational Evidence which could support a claim for Special Circumstances

It is the responsibility of the parent/carer in making a claim for Special Circumstances to provide the College with evidence which reflects the child’s academic ability. The Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider any material presented (and attached to/uploaded with the Transfer Application) by parents/carers. This material may include any or all of the following:

i) The score awarded by AQE and/or the Cohort Percentile Rank attained in the GLA;

ii) The results for the child in any standardised test conducted in Year 5, Year 6 and Year 7 and the results in any end of year tests in English and Mathematics in Year 5 and Year 6;

iii) Comparative information from the Primary School, including the results, without names, for other children in the child’s Year 7 class of any standardised tests conducted in Year 5, Year 6 and Year 7 and the results in any end of year tests in English and Mathematics in Year 5 and Year 6 and where available the respective AQE/GLA results;

iv) Any other relevant material.

Parents/carers are free to provide any other educational evidence for consideration by the Board of Governors Transfer Panel.

It should be noted that in all cases independent evidence will carry greater weight.

The Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider all evidence as provided. Where Special Circumstances are accepted, the Panel will determine, on the basis of the information available, and if necessary other comparative data collected by the school, and in exercising its judgement, a Band for the applicant. Such children will then be considered with all other children who have received either an AQE score or GLA Rank and the admissions criteria applied.

3. SPECIAL PROVISIONS

Eligibility for Special Provisions

Special Provisions will apply:

A. For children whose parent/carer wish them to transfer from a school outside Northern Ireland.

B. For children who have received more than half their primary education outside Northern Ireland.

C. For children who were registered to take either the AQE and/or GLA and as a consequence of medical or other problems, (including absence for all three AQE CEAs and/or GLA and GL Supplementary Assessment due to testing positive for COVID-19 or the need to self-isolate due to COVID-19) which are supported by appropriate independent evidence, were not able to sit all three AQE CEAs and / or GLA and GL Supplementary Assessment.

Those children for whom B above applies may, if their parent/carer wish, sit the AQE/GLA in which case the score/rank obtained will also be considered.

Special Provisions Process

Parents /carers who wish to apply to the College under Special Provisions should complete the appropriate form obtainable from the AQE/PPTC and attach/upload it with relevant documentary evidence, as explained below, to the Transfer Application.

It is the responsibility of the parent/carer in making a claim for Special Provisions to provide the College with evidence which reflects the child’s academic ability. The Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider any material presented (and attached to/uploaded with the Transfer Application) by parents/carers. This material may include any or all of the following:

i) The standardised score awarded by AQE in the CEA (if the child sits two or three AQE CEAs) or the ‘raw score’ provided by AQE (if the child sits only one of the AQE CEAs, due to illness, self-isolation or other unforeseen circumstances); /or the Cohort Percentile Rank attained in the GLA;

ii) The results for the child in any standardised test conducted in Year 5, Year 6 and Year 7 and the results in any end of year tests in English and Mathematics in Year 5 and Year 6;

iii) Comparative information from the Primary School, including the results, without names, for other children in the child’s Year 7 class of any standardised tests conducted in Year 5, Year 6 and Year 7 and the results in any end of year tests in English and Mathematics in Year 5 and Year 6 and where available the respective AQE/GLA results;

iv) Any other relevant material.

Parents/carers are free to provide any other educational evidence for consideration by the Board of Governors Transfer Panel.

It should be noted that in all cases independent evidence will carry greater weight.

The Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider applications for Special Provisions.

Where this is accepted the following procedure will apply:

a) The Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider any accredited assessments and may choose to commission an independent assessment.

Admissions criteria for entry September 2022

Updated January 2022 www.eani.org.uk/admissions

b) The Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider all evidence as provided. Where Special Provisions are accepted, the Panel will determine, on the basis of the information available, and in exercising its judgement, a Band for the applicant. Such children will then be considered with all other applicants who have received either an AQE score or GLA Cohort Percentile and the admissions criteria applied.

DUTY TO VERIFY

• Parents/carers should note that the College may require verification of information contained within an application that qualifies the child for admission.

• The Board of Governors Transfer Panel therefore reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any Transfer Application.

• This information will be requested from successful children on or shortly after 21st May 2022, when they have been notified of their allocation of a place at the College.

Parents/carers should also note that the provision of false information or incorrect information or the failure to provide verifying documents according to the required deadline may result in either the withdrawal of a place or the inability of the College to offer a place.

WAITING LIST POLICY

Hunterhouse College operates a waiting list policy for all year groups. For Year 8 all applications for admission that were initially refused will be automatically added to the waiting list. New applications and applications where new information has been provided will also be added to the waiting list.

If a place or places become available in the College after 21st May 2022 and there are more applicants than places available, then decisions will be made using the Year 8 Admissions criteria as outlined above.

If the application is made by a child who arrived in Northern Ireland after the transfer process has been concluded and the Board of Governors Transfer Panel determines that the child is suitable to be admitted, the College will then seek Department of Education approval to admit the child as an additional place. If such approval is given, the child will be admitted.

It should be noted that all those who have applied previously, but who have failed to obtain a place in the College, will have their application held open until 30th June 2023 when their application is deemed to have lapsed.

Applications and Admissions

Year   2019/20

Admissions No.   115*

Total Applications i.e. All preferences    234

Total Admissions    116**

Year   2020/21

Admissions No.   100

Total Applications i.e. All preferences    173

Total Admissions    100

Year   2021/22

Admissions No.    100

Total Applications i.e. All preferences    206

Total Admissions    100

*15 additional places allocated as a Temporary Variation

**Including additional places granted under Temporary Variation and students admitted under Exceptional Circumstances

Criteria for admission of applicants for Years 9-12.

The availability of a place is subject to the year group total and to the College enrolment of 710. Year group totals have been set at a maximum of 107 for Years 9-12, providing that class sizes in practical subjects are not exceeded and are in line with DENI Circular 2016/11 ‘Class sizes in post-primary school practical subjects’.

In making a decision, the Board of Governors Transfer Panel will consider evidence of past and current academic ability as evidenced by:

1. School reports from the current and previous school year

2. The results gained by the applicant in CAT testing carried out by the College

3. Any other information as provided by the parent/carer

If there are more applicants than places available in a particular year group a rank order will be created to determine the allocation of places.

Where the total number of applicants applying for places in all year groups (9-12) is likely to cause the total College enrolment number to be exceeded, it is the role of the Board of Governors Transfer Panel to determine which year groups shall have priority in the allocation of places.

Further details, including an application form, may be obtained from the Principal’s PA, Mrs Claire Sloane, Hunterhouse College, Finaghy, BT10 0LE.