Due to Covid-19 The Transfer Test did not take place in 2020 and special criteria where used that year. 

These Admissions criteria reflect those used in previous years for entry in the following  September.

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

 

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 Form parents should provide details of the candidate number issued to their daughter by AQE and/or GLA when she registered for the assessment.  

-    Parents should record the Standardised Score awarded by AQE and/or the Cohort Percentile Rank attained in the GLA in section C of the Transfer Form. 

-    Parents should attach the original AQE results form and/or a copy of the GLA results form to the Transfer Form 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 all such material to the Transfer Form. 

Further details can be found in Section 3 – ‘Special Circumstances’ and Section 4 – ‘Special Provisions’ below. 

  

The Capital Fee is £140 

 

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 pupils who are resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission to the College before those who are not. 

 

In the academic year 2019-20 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 pupils who have taken the entrance assessments provided by AQE and/or GLA, subject only to the consideration of those children whose parents 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 Form; for example, a child who has chosen the College in any position on the application form 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.  

 

AQE will provide parents with an age-adjusted Standardised Score.  The College will allocate pupils to the appropriate Band.

 

GLA will provide parents with a Standardised Age Score, a Grade and a Cohort Percentile. The College will use the Cohort Percentile as the percentile rank to allocate pupils to the appropriate Band as set out below. For the avoidance of any doubt, parents 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 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. 

 

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

 

(iii) children who are entitled to Free School Meals.2 

 

(iv) children who, at the date of their application, are the eldest child3 of the family to be eligible to transfer to 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. 

 

1. ‘Child of the family’ as defined by the Department of Education to include, for example, halfsisters, together with females who are adopted or fostered. 

 

2. ’entitled to Free School Meals’ will mean girls who are listed on the Education Authority register as entitled to Free School Meals at the date on which their parent or guardian has signed their post-primary Transfer Form, or at any date up to and including 1st May 2019. 

 

3 Twins and other multiples who are the eldest in the family are treated as joint eldest children.  

 

The College emphasises that it is the responsibility of the applicants to notify the College on the Transfer Form 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 who wish to apply to the College under Special Circumstances should complete the appropriate form obtainable from the AQE/PPTC and attach it with relevant documentary evidence, as explained below, to the Transfer Form. 

 

(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 / guardians 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 parent / guardian 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 / guardian 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 the Transfer Form) by parents/guardians.  This material may include any or all of the following: 

 

i)   The Standardised 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 Years 5 and 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 Years 5 and 6 and where available the respective  AQE/GLA results; 

 

iv)   Any other relevant material. 

 

Parents/guardians 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 pupil. Such pupils will then be considered with all other pupils who have received either an AQE Score or GLA Rank and the admissions criteria applied. 

 

 

3.  SPECIAL PROVISIONS 

 

Special Provisions will apply for: 

 

A.   Children whose parent / guardian wish them to transfer from a school outside Northern Ireland. 

 

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

 

C.  Children who, as a consequence of medical or other problems, which are supported by appropriate independent evidence, were not able to sit the AQE/GLA. 

 

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

 

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

 

It is the responsibility of the parent / guardian 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 the Transfer Form) by parents/guardians.  This material may include any or all of the following: 

 

i)   The Standardised 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 Years 5 and 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 Years 5 and 6 and where available the respective  AQE/GLA results; 

 

iv)   Any other relevant material. 

 

Parents / guardians 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. 

 

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 pupil. Such pupils will then be considered with all other pupils who have received either an AQE Score or GLA Rank and the admissions criteria applied. 

 

Parents / guardians, who are applying for Special Provisions under category A, as explained above, must do so by 20th April 2018. 

 

DUTY TO VERIFY 

 

• Parents 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 application form/Transfer Form.   

• This information will be requested from successful children on or shortly after 1st June 2019 when they have been notified of their allocation of a place at the College. 

 

Parents 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 31st May 2019 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 2020 when their application is deemed to have lapsed.