Organisation Information
Strategic Capacity Planning 2025 and Beyond
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From: Department of Education
- Published on: 31 May 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
Process:
- In areas that have significant enrolment pressures the Department’s approach is to work with school authorities and other key stakeholders to maximise use of existing capacity as best as possible and to put accommodation solutions in place where required.
- The Department are requesting that all post-primary schools commence their enrolment process during the first two weeks of October 2024 and do so in a coordinated manner with other schools in their town or area. The objective for each post-primary school should be to have all rounds of offers made and accepted before Christmas 2024.This approach helps to ensure that duplicate applications are identified at an early stage and any net additional accommodation requirements are identified early so that accommodation solutions can be put in place.
- Any proposed reductions in First Year intake at an individual school needs to be carefully considered by the school and Patron and notified to the Department before any decision is taken to otherschoolaccommodation@education.gov.ie . This enables any wider implications for managing enrolment pressures in a town or area to be considered.
- The need for early timelines also applies to the sanctioning of additional special classes and the NCSE will be working to engage with schools earlier in the coming school year regarding the sanctioning of new special classes for the 2025/2026 school year
- Data sharing is important in areas where enrolment pressures emerge. Schools in those areas may be requested to share data on applications for admissions with each other, with the Department or with the NCSE (in respect of applications for admission to special schools or special classes). The sharing of this data is provided for by legislation, however, as independent Data Controllers, schools should identify this potential use of personal data to applicants in their Data Privacy Statement on their Admissions Application Form and this is particularly important in respect of applications for admission to special schools and special classes. Some sample text is provided at the link below.
- To facilitate this potential sharing requirement, data on applications for admissions should be recorded by schools in a tabular format (or in a system that allows the data to be extracted into a tabular format), comprising at least PPSN, surname, first name, date of birth, and category of the applicant per the school’s oversubscription criteria. Where possible, the status of the application should also be recorded, eg offered, accepted, refused. It is expected that the systems schools have in place for recording applications for admissions already support this, however it is advised that schools verify that the data can be extracted and shared in the recommended format. A template which is recommended for use by schools is located at the link below.
