A new post-primary schools' applications system for five towns opens this morning.
From today, instead of applying to schools individually, families in Athenry, Celbridge, Clonakilty, Greystones and Tullamore will fill out just one form, online.
However, parents have expressed disappointment that the new system stops short of allowing them to list the schools they want their child to go to in order of preference.
A common application system in operation in Limerick city and in a small number of other towns does allow for this.
Population growth has led to extreme pressure for second-level school places in many parts of the country, including these five towns.
Under the new system parents or guardians have until Wednesday 22 October to apply for first-year places, including places in special classes, by filling out the form at applytoschool.ie.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee said the pilot scheme was a "first step to introducing a more streamlined approach for families and schools including those looking for a special class placement, and will offer valuable insights as we work towards a nationwide roll-out".
Given the shortage of second-level places, parents in an area such as Greystones are currently advised to apply to all three schools in the town, to maximise their chances of securing an offer.
"Everyone's impression was that you would be able to put your preferences down, but in the end it’s not that"
Under the new system parents continue to be advised to list all three schools on the new online application form. Each individual school will then apply its own enrolment criteria to each individual application that it receives.
As is the case currently, some families may receive several offers of a school place, and others none.
Families who accept several offers will then be asked to choose their preferred option, and after that a second round of offers will be made to children who received no initial offer.
While the new system should help the Department of Education to plan, and has a number of other administrative benefits including more easily identifying duplicate accepted places, parents have expressed disappointment that it does not go far enough.
"Everyone’s impression was that you would be able to put your preferences down, but in the end it’s not that," said Fiona Toolan, chair of Greystones Community National School Parents’ Association.
"It’s just that instead of three applications, you only do one. That’s the only difference, so I don't think it's going to change anything, which is very stressful for everyone."
"We all thought it was going to be a preferential system."
In Greystones, a month into the school term, three children still have no place in any local post-primary school.
"You have kids travelling across the town from one end of Greystones [to attend school] and vice versa"
For the past number of years the school admissions process in the town has been fraught. "It's seriously stressful for the kids," Ms Toolan said. "I guarantee you that first thing [this] morning most parents will be online putting in applications."
Ms Toolan will be doing just this. Her daughter has a brother already in their post-primary feeder school and she feels that the school's siblings policy will ensure that her own child receives an offer of a place in the school she wishes to attend.
But the concern for others is that, because they are not able to list their school choice in order of preference, little will change.
"You have kids travelling across the town from one end of Greystones [to attend school] and vice versa," Ms Toolan said.
There are reports of parents from different families approaching schools together and asking can they swap their school place offers with each other.
'Heartbreaking and exhausting'
Sinead O'Reilly is the mother of one of the three children in Greystones who are still without a school place.
Because the family had lived abroad until recently her son did not attend a local primary feeder school and so, when they applied last October to all of Greystones' three post-primary schools, his name was "really, really far down the list for all three," she said.
"Literally, since November I have been contacting Simon Harris, other local TDs, Minister for Education Helen McEntee, councillors, and since May, Tusla. But he is still at home. I have a 13-year-old child who still does not have a school place and we are being ignored. It is heartbreaking and exhausting," she said.
Her son has been offered a place at a school in the next town, Bray, but she says because they have returned home from abroad "he needs to go to school locally, it's so important for him to make local friends".
While there are three children in Greystones with no school place, she says "the reality is there are far more" because other parents have opted to send their children to schools far away from the town because they failed to secure one locally.
"The common enrolment policy was sold by Government to the local parents as a solution to these problems", said local Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.
"The only proper fix is to ensure that there are sufficient school places in the town to accommodate all the local children.
"They know the numbers of children coming through the primary schools, they know the numbers of children receiving the child benefit. They need to able to forward plan and resource schools properly," she added.
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'A first step'
The Department of Education has said the new system will streamline the admissions process, support its planning, and ensure fairer access for all students. It said a key element was standardising the timeline for the admissions process.
Round one offers will be made on 12 November and round two offers will go out on 4 December.
Characterising the scheme as a "first step", the Department said "learning from this, and from other co-ordinated admissions processes in place at various locations across the country, will inform the development and implementation of the Programme for Government commitment".
The Programme for Government promises to roll out common school application systems nationwide.
15 schools across the five towns will participate in the pilot. They are;
Athenry:
Clarin College
Coláiste an Eachréidh
Presentation College
Celbridge
Celbridge Community School
Salesian College
St Wolstan's Community School
Clonakilty
Clonakilty Community College
Sacred Heart Secondary School
Greystones
Greystones Community College
St David's Holy Faith Secondary
Temple Carrig Secondary School
Tullamore/Killina
Coláiste Choilm
Killina Presentation Secondary School
Sacred Heart Secondary School
Tullamore College
