Admissions FAQs

Many Pre-Schools or Primary Schools may at this stage of the year have filled their places.  You can contact a pre-school or primary school directly to find out if they have places available.  If you need further help contact Admissions Helpdesk.

All schools will require the birth certificate to verify a child’s name and date of birth. Either a full (long) or short birth certificate may be used or an amended birth certificate or an adoption certificate, where appropriate, is acceptable. If a birth certificate is not available you should consult the school to determine what alternatives may be acceptable e.g. a biometric card, passport, medical card etc.

You should refer to the admissions criteria to find out if other supporting documents are required by each of the schools you have chosen e.g. proof of address.

• Gather all the required documents (in some cases this may be the birth certificate only). 
• For GDPR purposes you may wish to remove personal/sensitive/private information from your documents before uploading e.g. financial details in bank statements.
• You can attach multiple documents under each category of document type if required.

Do not upload documents unless they are required by the admissions criteria of any of the schools listed on your application.

Socially Disadvantaged Circumstances (applicable to Pre-School)

For information on what socially disadvantaged circumstances means when applying for a funded pre-school place and how to provide proof of benefit entitlement if applicable to you, visit Pre-School Admissions Guide

As the definition of eldest child may differ from school to school you should carefully read and check if there is any particular definition of eldest child in the admissions criteria of all the schools you are applying, e.g. some schools may place a particular definition which includes children who are the eldest eligible child to transfer. 

If your child is the eldest or only child of the family you should tick the relevant box when adding your child’s details on your application.  Please note that when this box is ticked, the box for ‘Eldest girl/boy in family (applicable for single sex schools) is also automatically ticked.

If your child is not the eldest child, but rather is the eldest boy or eldest girl of the family, you should tick the appropriate box on the application as this may be relevant to the admissions criteria where you are applying to single-sex schools.

If appropriate, include any information which may be relevant to your child’s circumstances in the text box for each individual school preference as well as ticking the relevant eldest child/eldest boy/eldest girl box when making your application.

You need to outline how your child meets the admissions criteria of each school listed.  The information you provide in this box will only be considered by the school named above the box.  Therefore, if there are reasons relating to admissions criteria which are also relevant to your other school preferences you will need to indicate these again in the application when you list those school preferences.

It is extremely important that you provide all relevant details on your application as this information will be used by individual schools to determine which children will be selected for admission.

If you list an integrated school(s) as a preference, please ensure you complete the ‘Additional Information’ section on the application form as this information is required by integrated schools to apply their balance, as stated in their published admissions criteria. 

If applying online this information will only be visible to integrated schools that you list on your online application.  You will be presented with an additional question at the end of the application to select your child’s community background from the options Protestant community, Roman Catholic community or None/Other.  You may also provide any additional information relating to an individual school's admissions criteria in the ‘Your School Choices’ text box for each school listed e.g. if you are in a mixed religion marriage.

If applying using a paper form, all information you provide, including that relating to your child’s community background, may be visible to any school listed as a preference on your paper form which considers the application.  If, when applying on a paper form, you wish to keep your community background private from other schools, you should contact the integrated school(s) you wish to apply for, to find an agreed alternative method of providing this information e.g. some integrated schools may have a separate pro-forma that you can complete and submit directly to the school.

You can only make one application for your child.  Otherwise, you will have made a false declaration.  In the event that a parent is discovered to have lodged more than one application for a child, then the first application lodged will normally be treated as the formal expression of parental preference and their other applications will not be considered.

You should not create your child’s details more than once in the ‘My Applications’ section.  An on-screen prompt will alert you if you attempt to create the same child name more than once.  If you have made an error and/or need to amend your child’s details simply click ‘Edit Child Details’ and make the changes as necessary.

By exception to the above position, should duplicate applications be submitted by parents/or those with parental responsibility where agreement on a child’s application has not been reached, the EA will process the applications and make contact with all parties as set out in the section below ‘Parents disagree on which schools to apply to/priority order for preferences’.

Please note that schools are required to give priority to children residing in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission.

If your child’s date of birth is outside the normal age range for transfer to Primary 1 or Year 8 in Northern Ireland, you should complete an application for the appropriate year group for your child’s age.  See Transfer Between Schools for more information on applying to other year groups.

You can still make an application for a school place, however, priority is given to children residing in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission.

When completing the application, you must use your child’s current address as at the time of making application.  Boards of Governors can only use a new address once your child is residing at the new address.  You should notify the Education Authority and the school in writing, preferably via email, when you have moved.  You may need to provide verification of your move.

See Transfer Between Schools for the application form and more information on applying.

Only one application can be processed for your child. The system will highlight where 2 applications have been made and you will be contacted by EA Admissions to withdraw one of these applications.

In the case where there is disagreement between parents/guardians and two applications are lodged with different preferences and/or addresses, the Education Authority’s Admissions Service will contact both parties asking them to agree on a single application to go forward for processing. 

In cases where parents cannot agree on the preferences for their child they should endeavour to do so as soon as possible.  If mutual agreement is not possible ultimately you may need to obtain a Specific Issues Order from the court.  If an agreement on a valid application form to be processed is not received separate applications will continue to be processed until an agreement is made or a court order is provided.  If you require further advice you should contact the EA Admissions Helpdesk.

• Every mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child, as does every father who is married to the mother at the time of the birth.
• A father of a child acquires parental responsibility if his name has been put on the child’s birth certificate (applies to children born after 15 April 2002).
• Both parents can enter a parental responsibility agreement.
• The Court can make a Parental Responsibility Order in favour of the father.
• Parental responsibility may also be acquired under the provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
• Step-parents may acquire Parental Responsibility by way of Court Order.
• If the court makes an order for the child to reside with someone who does not already hold parental responsibility, that person will obtain parental responsibility by virtue of that order as long as the residence order remains in force.
• Social Services acquire Parental Responsibility on the issuing of a Care Order or Interim Care Order. Where a child is made subject to a Care Order, the Local Authority/Trust is given Parental Responsibility and will share it with current Parental Responsibility holders, for example, the child’s parents.  However the Trust can exercise Parental Responsibility above that of the current Parental Responsibility holders insofar as necessary to safeguard the welfare of a child.
• An adoptive parent when an adoption order is made.
• An individual can acquire Parental Responsibility on the foot of an appointment as a guardian by the court in certain circumstances such as the death of a parent.
• There are situations where a parent can lose Parental Responsibility by way of court order, for example where step-parents hold an order for Parental Responsibility for a child who is subsequently adopted.

The address you use on your child’s application must be the home address at which they are currently resident.  It cannot be that of a childminder or grandparent’s home, or any other address which is not their normal residence.

If you are planning to move house before the beginning of the school year, you should indicate this on your application for each school you are applying to, giving as much information as possible about the planned date of moving and address, if known.

If you move house after the closing date, during the selection process, you can change your address and your child’s address (if appropriate) on EA Connect.  Please note it will be for the school(s) to determine the address to be used when applying the admissions criteria, if your child’s address is relevant to the criteria.  You may also be asked for documentation to verify your move.

If you have submitted a late application, you should email the relevant admissions service with your child’s details, old address and new address.

Legislation requires pre-school providers to give priority to children in their final pre-school year who are from socially disadvantaged circumstances.

The Department of Education has defined socially disadvantaged circumstances when applying for a funded pre-school place as a child whose parent has an entitlement to one of the following benefits:-

• Income Support; or
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; or
• Income related Employment and Support Allowance; or
• Universal Credit.

Note:  Tax Credits are not a defined benefit under the socially disadvantaged criterion when applying for a funded pre-school.

If you have an entitlement to any of these benefits you must provide verification to show an entitlement to the benefit.  When you complete a pre-school application you will be asked to tick a benefit and upload verification to show an entitlement to the benefit you ticked.

Pre-School Education is not compulsory although good quality pre-school education has important benefits.  Parents make application for a funded place on the understanding that their child will attend 5 days per week if offered a place.  This will enable their child to benefit fully from a quality pre-school experience.

Exceptions

Special Educational Needs Applications

If your child is undergoing statutory assessment you still need to apply for a Pre-School place.  However, you should not complete an application if your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs. Your child’s placement will be arranged through the EA’s Special Educational Needs Department.

A funded pre-school place is provided under the Pre-School Education Programme.

• It normally consists of five sessions per week, each lasting 2½ hours per day during the school year.
• In nursery schools and primary schools with nursery units, attendance takes the form of full day (4½ hours per day) or part-time (2½ hours per day, either morning or afternoon sessions).
• Nursery schools and Primary schools with nursery units can offer either full time or part time sessions which can be either morning or afternoon. 
• A few Nursery schools and Primary schools with nursery units have both full-time and part-time sessions.
• Voluntary/Private Playgroup providers only offer part time sessions (at least 2½ hours per day).

All funded pre-school education centres must follow common pre-school curricular guidance to plan and organise the children's learning.

No and even if you have given your name to a provider, you will still need to apply for admission.

No. Only one application can be processed for your child. The system will highlight where 2 applications have been made and you will be contacted by EA Admissions to withdraw one of these applications.

In the case where there is disagreement between parents/guardians and two applications are lodged with different preferences and/or addresses, the Education Authority’s Admissions Service will contact both parties asking them to agree on a single application to go forward for processing.   In cases where parents cannot agree on the preferences for their child they should endeavour to do so as soon as possible.  If mutual agreement is not possible ultimately you may need to obtain a Specific Issues Order from the court.  If an agreement on a valid application form to be processed is not received separate applications will continue to be processed until an agreement is made or a court order is provided.  If you require advice you should contact the EA Admissions Helpdesk.

No.  A child is only entitled to one funded place in a nursery school/unit or playgroup or private nursery e.g. a child may not have a funded place in a playgroup in the morning and attend a nursery school/unit in the afternoon.

Pre-School legislation enables parents to list full-time or part-time preferences, it does not recognise morning and afternoon sessions as preferences.  The admissions criteria will inform you if a pre-school offers a morning and afternoon session.  You can mention a morning or afternoon session when listing your reasons for preference in your application.  The allocation of a morning or afternoon session is a decision taken by the respective pre-school and there is no guarantee that you will be offered a morning session over an afternoon or vice-versa.

No, if your child is under the age of 2 you can make contact with the Early Years Organisation or Family Support NI for further advice 

Early Years Organisation

Family Support NI

If you wish, you may contact any private or voluntary provider of your choice directly with regard to a fee paying place for your child.

None.  All pre-school settings deliver to the same curricular guidelines and are inspected to the same educational standards.  Pre-schools provide important opportunities for indoor and outdoor play in a stimulating environment and also enable your child to socialise regularly with other children.  More detail on pre-school education is available on the CCEA website at CCEA - Pre-school.

Use our 'Find a school’ section to search for schools in your area and read their admissions criteria.

The EA Connect Portal is now open for new late P1 applications  EA Connect

A list of Primary Schools with Primary 1 Places available and information on how to apply for September 2023 admission is available on our Placement Notification page.

If you wish to apply for a Primary School place in Years 2-7 please complete the AP1 form available here Transfer between Schools

If your child was born between 2 July 2018 and 1 July 2019 they will be due to start primary one in September 2023 and as they will be of compulsory school age you must apply for a place in a primary school. 

The EA Connect Portal is now open for new late P1 applications  EA Connect

A list of Primary Schools with Primary 1 Places available and information on how to apply for September 2023 admission is available on our Placement Notification page.

Exceptions

Special Educational Needs Applications

If your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs, placement will be arranged through the EA’s Special Educational Needs Department.

Children currently enrolled in a Reception Class

If your child is currently enrolled in the Reception Class of a primary school and you wish for them to continue their primary one education at the same school then a new application is not required.  However, if you wish to apply for your child to be admitted to a different primary school then you must complete an application for consideration.

Preparatory Departments and Independent Schools
For information on making application to the Preparatory Departments of grammar schools or to Independent Schools you should contact the schools directly. 

Special Circumstances and Special Provisions are relevant only to those schools which use SEAG Entrance Assessment results in their selection process.  Brief generic descriptions are accessible on the Post Primary Year 8 Applications section of the EA website (see Transfer Tests).  For more detailed information read carefully the admissions criteria of your preferred schools to determine if you need to make a claim for your child on their application.  The particular definition of these terms may differ from school to school.  If you are unsure of the meaning of something you have read in a school’s admissions criteria, you should contact the Post Primary school directly for clarification. 

If you list any school that considers claims for Special Circumstances and/or Special Provisions within the admissions criteria, you will be presented with a ‘Yes/No’ question on your child’s application.  If you consider that Special Circumstances or Special Provision may apply to your child then you need to indicate this on your application and you must upload all relevant documentation to support your claim, as required by the individual school’s admissions criteria.

Ensure you provide all relevant evidence as schools will only consider the information that you supply at the time of application.

The tables below provide a breakdown of the number of applications for Year 8 places received and considered by each post primary school during the admissions procedure and the number of children admitted, by preference.  The figures are collated by Constituency and reflect the position at the end of the timetabled admissions procedure in each of the last three years, according to records held by the Education Authority, which administers the procedure.

Schools, as part of their admissions criteria, also publish application and admissions information.  The figures contained in the information provided by individual schools may differ as they may be from a different point in time.

Children entitled to free school meals (FSME) may be prioritised for admission to some Post-Primary schools. You should tick the box on the application if your child is currently registered with the EA as being entitled to free school meals. 

*The above does not apply to Pre-School, Primary 1 or Reception Applications.

If your child has a statement of special educational needs, you do not need to register or apply online. Your child will have a separate admissions procedure and you should contact the Special Education Department of your local EA office or the SEN Helpline: 028 9598 5960 (Monday to Friday from 9am - 5pm) if you have any queries regarding their admission for September 2023. 

Check for an email from the Education Authority, which is sent automatically when you register, usually within a few minutes.  However, it may take longer in peak periods. Please check in your ‘spam’ or ‘junk’ folders. If you are unable to find it, please contact the Admissions Helpdesk email on digital@eani.org.uk  

Try copying and pasting the link directly into your internet browser. If you continue to experience difficulties contact the Admissions Helpdesk email on digital@eani.org.uk 

If your address does not appear, click ‘Enter address manually’, fill out the appropriate fields and click ‘Save Address’. A prompt will be displayed to remind you to update your child’s address in ‘Edit Child’. Please ensure to do this, if appropriate.  Click ‘Save’, you will then receive an on-screen message telling you that your details have been updated. 

You can request to reset your password on the login screen by clicking “Forgot Password?” and entering the email address you used to register the account. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. You will need to click on the link within two hours. Please note, an automated email will only be generated if the email address is registered on EA Connect. 

If you change your email address, you will need to complete the verification process before you can use your account. Please note you will have to use your old email address to log in to EA Connect. When you log in click on ‘My Information’ to view your registered details. Under ‘New Email’ enter the email address you wish to change to. You will receive a verification email with a link to verify your account.  Once you have verified your account, you can log in to EA Connect. 

To change your personal details e.g. home address or contact details, log in to EA Connect, click on ‘My Information’, change your details and click ‘Update’.

Check that you have not navigated back to the EA website.

Within EA Connect if you cannot find a school on the list please ensure you have spelled the name correctly or check if it is an independent school or a special school.

Carefully select those schools that you wish to nominate as some schools have similar names e.g. St Mary’s High School, Downpatrick, St Mary’s High School, Newry etc

You can add and change the order of your preferences by dragging and dropping from the three lines or preference number to the left-hand side of the pre-school or school name. 

Once you have submitted your application you will receive an email confirmation from the Education Authority.  If you do not receive the email, please check your Junk or Spam accounts.  Also check to make sure you have clicked the ‘Submit’ button on you application. 

I cannot access the files or photos on my device – Check the permissions setting on the browser you are using. This varies on different devices. On an Android device go to your device Settings > Apps > click on the internet browser app you are using (Chrome or Microsoft Edge) > Permissions > Camera (and Files and Media) > Allow only while using the app. You can go back through this sequence to turn off permissions when you have submitted the required documents.  

Unable to select a saved document – Check that the document is saved on your device correctly. Check that the document has a suitable extension (Supported file types are pdf, jpeg, img, doc, docx, png, txt, rtf, odt, ppt, pptx, odp, xls, xlsx, ods, heic). If the problem persists, contact digital@eani.org.uk 

Document fails to upload – Check that the document has the correct extension and try saving as a document with the appropriate extension. If using a device with the ability to take a photo, try taking a photo of the paper document and submitting this. If the problem persists, contact the Admissions Helpdesk. Telephone 028 9598 5595 or email digital@eani.org.uk 

If you are at the Documents Upload section of the application, click the down arrow to the right of the document you wish to delete and click ‘Delete’ Click ‘Yes’ to confirm deletion. You may then click on ‘Add Document’ to upload an alternative document, if required.  

If you are at the ‘Application Summary’, scroll to the ‘Supporting Documents’ section and click ‘Edit’ to open the ‘Documents Upload’ section of the application. Once in the ‘Documents Upload’ section, click the down arrow to the right of the document you wish to delete and click ‘Delete’, click ‘Yes’ to confirm deletion. You may then click on ‘Add Document’ to upload an alternative document, if required.  

If you have already completed and submitted your application and have logged out of the system, then you will need to log in again. Once in the ‘My Applications’ screen click on ‘Edit Application’, which will take you to the ‘Application Summary’ screen. Scroll down to the Supporting Documents section and click on ‘Edit’ to open the Documents Upload section of the application. Click the down arrow to the right of the document you wish to delete and click ‘Delete’, click ‘Yes’ confirm deletion. You may then click on ‘Add Document’ to upload an alternative document, if required.