Transfer 2010

Saint Andrews Agreement

For a ban on academic selection to come into force there would have to be cross-party agreement at the Assembly.

There has been no cross-party agreement and therefore it remains lawful to include academic selection within admissions criteria.

Unregulated System

Since the Minister of Education has not put forward proposals on which the Executive can agree we now have an unregulated system.

DENI Guidance

The Minister of Education has issued Draft Guidance to schools on Transfer in 2010.

Boards of Governors are required to give due regard to the Guidance but they can decide not to follow the Guidance.

Guidance in Draft

At present we have only seen the draft version of the Guidance which has been issued for a consultation to which we have responded.

The final version of the Guidance may not be issued until the summer or later.

Final decisions about admission criteria can only be made after Board of Governors have considered the final version of Guidance.

Down High School

Having given due regard to the draft Guidance the Board of Governors have decided to:

operate academic selection;

use the Common Entrance Assessment (CEA) produced by the AQE.

CEA

based on the NI (revised) curriculum

English & Maths only (no Science)

three 1 hour papers

best 2 scores to count

pupils may sit 2 or 3 papers

available in English or Irish language

Dates

November 14th

November 28th

December 5th

October 17th (Familiarisation Morning)

Location

The CEA may be sat in any one of the schools listed on the registration form.

CEA does not need to be sat at a school to which the pupil will apply for admission.

3 locations can be nominated in order of preference.

Cost

£35 (regardless of number of tests sat)

waived if child receives Free School Meals

AQE

The Association for Quality Education is responsible for setting and marking the tests as well as the registration process.

For more information about the AQE and the tests please visit the website.

www.aqe.org.uk

Registration

May 18th to September 18th

guidance notes provided with forms

forms can be downloaded from AQE website and from our website

forms available as you leave this morning

Registration Form

to be returned to AQE

submit with 3 passport photographs and a copy of birth certificate

payment by cheque, postal order or bankers’ draft or ELB letter confirming receipt of free school meals

Access Arrangements

indicate on the registration form if child will need access arrangements to sit the CEA

AQE will send out Access Application Form

AQE Access Panel will indicate to parents and the grammar school the arrangements to be made

school will make these arrangements

Arrangements at

Down High School

Special Circumstances

Boards of Governors will continue to consider evidence of how special circumstances affected performance.

Special Provision

in some exceptional cases pupils may not be able to sit the test

in past Board of Governors have considered reports produced by ELB psychologists

no indication that this will change

Statemented Children

at present statemented children are outside the transfer process and are not included in admissions numbers

placed in an appropriate school by the ELB

no indication that this will change

You will be sent

name of assessment centre

child’s assessment number

information about the tests

details of familiarisation day

Marking

marked by a panel of AQE markers

overseen by a chief examiner

scores are adjusted to take age into account

Results

sent to parents and to schools

Saturday 6th February

score out of 100 to 2 decimal places

parents may apply for a re-mark

Admissions Criteria

final decisions after consideration of final version of DENI Guidance

published by ELBs as normal

Open Evening will also take place as normal

Down High School

Down High School Board of Governors have considered the Draft Guidance

not possible to make a final decision at present

currently it is their intention to use rank order in the CEA as the first criterion for all 128 places

Transfer Form

completed by parents

meetings with Primary School Principals held in February

forms sent to ELB / ESA

centralised admission procedure as at present

Completion of Process

schools apply their admissions criteria

parents informed by ESA of allocated school

normal appeals procedure operates

Useful Websites

www.downhighschool.org.uk

www.aqe.org.uk

www.deni.gov.uk