Dear Parent(s)/Guardian)s)

APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR ADMISSIONS TO YEAR 8 in SEPTEMBER 2010

Please find enclosed the information which you requested regarding the test procedure being set by a number of Grammar schools for pupils considering entry to the College in September 2010.

The setting of independent tests was not the first option for the board of Governors of this College.  Along with most partners in education, we would have preferred a procedure set by the statutory authorities.  We regret that this school – and others find – ourselves in this invidious situation as we try to find a solution to a legislative vacuum that is not of our making.

However, due to the failure of legislators to put a legal framework in place, it is with great disappointment that we have felt compelled to join with other schools in setting this test.

However, we do so in the context of a number of realities:
• The commitment from the Trustees of all Catholic schools to move beyond the current rigid system of selection at 11;
• The requirements of the Entitlement Framework;
• The Post Primary Review Process which aims to ensure that – through curricular and structural developments between schools – all pupils at the Catholic-managed sector will have access to the Entitlement Framework by 2013;
• The Department of Education Area-Based Planning process.

Thus it is intended that this testing procedure will be in place only for a very limited number of years as we seek to develop an alternative procedure for transfer of pupils from primary school.  Indeed, our use of a transition period of three years is exactly what the Minister of Education had proposed up until February 2nd 2009. The only entrance assessment that the College will accept is the G.L. Assessment.

We recognise that many people have expressed concern about the existence and conduct of these tests. However, we assure all other partners in Catholic education and in the broader education community that we remain committed to finding a better way forward in the interest of excellence for all young people in our society.

For over 175 years, St. Malachy’s College has sought to nurture each young man in its charge, to encourage them in achievement, endeavour, personal excellence and faith.  The very foundation of the College’s ethos concerns itself with the formation of the whole human person; in all his aspects:- social, spiritual, moral, academic and recreational – not separate disciplines, but a single intricate tapestry which presents the myriad-faceted individual.  We are a community, not an institution – a collaborative community in faith and learning.  This community has responded to the particular challenges and needs of particular periods of time, as it has done down through the years, using the strengths that the College currently has and using them for the benefit of the whole community – not just for our own good.

Yours faithfully,

Dr John Morrin
Principal & Secretary to the Board of Governors