A recent change adopted by management of the CBS Secondary School to its admissions policy has led to a situation whereby 28 students who have been educated at the adjoining primary school have not been offered places in the secondary school for next September.
The decision to remove the clause in the admissions policy, which extends a first preference to students from the primary school, has sparked an outcry from the distressed parents of the affected children.
The group called an open meeting last week to discuss the fallout arising from the situation.
Representatives of the secondary school and its Board of Management were invited to attend the meeting, but declined the invitation.
During the discussion parents expressed their “frustration” and “anger” at the school’s decision to revoke the clause that previously ensured students who had completed three years of their primary education in an Edmund Rice Schools Trust (CBS) school were prioritised in the distribution of the first round of offers.
Other factors which ensure boys will secure a place at the secondary school is if they have a brother already in the school, their father was educated there or if one of their parents is a member of staff at the school. These conditions have not been altered and boys who have satisfied any one of these three criterions have been offered places as per the new admissions policy.
Parents of the 28 students who lost out on places were unaware that there was any doubt surrounding whether their sons would be able to attend the school, until principal of the primary school Jos Furlong became aware of the change in procedure and conscious of the impact it would have on his students opted to issue a letter to all parents of boys in the school’s two sixth classes informing of the change.
The letter stated: “For a number of years, one of the Admissions Selection Criteria in CBS Secondary School, in the event of the school receiving more First Year Enrolment application than there were places, has been: – “Boys who have completed three years in an ERST (CBS) Primary School”. This is no longer listed as one of the criteria.”
One mother who spoke at the meeting noted that management of the primary school had acted promptly to assist the parents and that the situation had put the primary school in a difficult position also.
“There was always this sense of a working relationship between the two schools, this has to have affected that,” she said.
Once parents became aware of the situation a petition against the prompt removal of this clause in the admissions policy was drafted.
The document called on the school’s management to refrain from engaging in a lottery for places.
The petition read: “We the undersigned parents of boys currently in sixth class in CBS Primary School wish to express our deep dissatisfaction with, and objection to, the changes to the CBS Secondary School First Year Admissions Selection Criteria, due to come into force with respect to boys applying for enrolment for the year beginning 2015.”
It continued: “For enrolment up to the year 2014, one of the stated criteria was: ‘Boys who have completed three years in an ERST (CBS) Primary School’. Many of us deliberately chose to enrol our sons in CBS Primary School Wexford or to move our sons to the CBS Primary specifically because of the link between the two schools. Indeed, many of us also put our sons’ names down for the CBS Secondary School as far back as 2009-10 and some of us did not register an interest with any other secondary school. The fact that the enrolment criterion was in place at that stage gave us each a legitimate expectation that our child would be in a preferred position with regard to admission to the CBS Secondary School”
The petition was lodged with the management of the secondary school at 3.45p.m. on Monday, November 10th. Yet the lottery proceeded as scheduled at 6p.m. on that same day.
Subsequently, letters of offer were sent to the parents of boys who were offered places on November 12th.
In total 28 boys who had not registered with any other secondary school have now been left without a place at any secondary school.
One mother of a 12-year-old boy suffering from cerebral palsy has been left devastated by the development.
“We have in some ways been so lucky. He has made such lovely friends here and he is very disappointed that he will not be able to go on to secondary school with them now,” the distressed mother said.
The parents have been informed that the St Peter’s College is completely full. It is also alleged that a large number of parents attended the Wexford Vocational College the following day in a rush to put their sons names down for the school in the wake of these revelations.
Many parents say that they are faced with the situation whereby the nearest secondary school available to them is Bridgetown Vocational College, which stands to put families based in the town under significant pressure.
The overall tone of the concerns expressed by the parents during the meeting was one of desperation as they are pleading with management of the secondary school to exercise prioritisation to the pupils of the primary school when the second round of offers are made in the first week of December.
The number of places made available in this later round will depend on how many boys turn down places offered to them in the first round of offers, to take up places in a different school.
Alternatively if the issue cannot be resolved at that stage, the group stated that it will be forced to lobby the school and Department of Education to create another class to accommodate these boys.
“28 boys is almost a full class. Creating another class is one option that we feel the school will have to look at if the issue cannot be resolved,” said one parent.
In response to the parents’ complaints, the Board of Management issued a statement to the press yesterday (Monday). It stated: “A number of appeals have been submitted on behalf of boys who did not receive a place. The first stage of the appeals process is an appeal to the Board of Management.
As these appeals are under consideration by the Board of Management it would be inappropriate to comment any further on the matter at this stage.”
It continued: “The Board of Management and the school do, however, sincerely regret that due to capacity constraints that they are unable to accommodate all of the students who wish to attend the school.”