Admissions Criteria
A timetable of pre-school admissions procedures setting out the dates by which an application is to be submitted is available at www.eani.org.uk/admissions under ‘Pre-School Admissions’. During the admissions procedure when applying the criteria punctual applications will be considered before late applications are considered.

The application procedure opens on 10 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 24 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application.

An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 24 January 2025 will be treated as a late application.

As the pre-school admissions procedure is in two stages the timetable also specifies the relevant dates at Stage 2 which will determine if an application is to be considered as punctual or late.  In the event of there being more applications than places available, the following criteria will be applied, in the order set down, to select children for the available places.

Statutory Criteria

1. 
   Children from socially disadvantaged circumstances in their final pre-school year who were born:
   • on or between 2 July 2021 and 1 July 2022 (inclusive) and whose parents have not exercised their right to defer their child’s entry to primary school; or,
   • on or between 1 April 2021 and 1 July 2021 (inclusive) or were due to be born on or between those dates but were born earlier; and,
   • have not attended or are not currently attending a funded pre-school setting under the Pre-School Education
   Programme as a target aged child; and,
   • that child’s parent has completed a request to defer their child starting P1 until September 2026.        Note: Children from ‘socially disadvantaged circumstances’ means a child whose parent has an entitlement to (i) Income Support, or (ii) Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or (iii) Income related Employment and Support Allowance, or (iv) Universal Credit. When parents apply for places for their child on this basis they must provide Benefit Verification to confirm that they have an entitlement. The application procedure for Pre-School will outline how Benefit Verification can be submitted
2. Children not from socially disadvantaged circumstances (as defined above) who are in their final pre-school year (as defined by Criterion 1).

Sub-criteria
In the event of the Nursery Unit being over- subscribed in any of the above criteria, preference shall be given to:
(a) Children with a child of the family enrolled in Killowen Primary School at the time of application– name(s) and year group(s) must be stated on the application form. *
(b) Children with a child of the family who previously attended Killowen Primary School – name(s) and year group(s) must be stated on the application form. *
(c) Children with a child of the family intending to be enrolled in Killowen Primary School in September 2025 – name(s) and year group(s) must be stated on the application form. *
(d) Children whose application form names Killowen Primary School Nursery Unit as first preference will be selected before those whose form indicates a second or subsequent preference. Second preferences will be selected before third preferences.
(e) Children who, at the time of application, are the eldest or only child of the family eligible to apply for admission.
(f) Children of transient parents or who are Looked After Children (LAC).

Admissions criteria for entry September 2025
Updated November 2024 www.eani.org.uk/admissions
(g) Children whose parent(s)/guardian(s) are employees of the school.
(h) On the basis of proximity as measured from the child’s home to the front door of the Nursery Unit. Measurement will be carried out using the following programme – OSNI – Map Shop – Map Console – Digital measurement. If two pupils are equidistant the oldest child will be given priority.
If a child meets any of the criterion (a), (b), (c), (e), (f) or (g) it MUST be stated on the application form.
*Child of the family as defined by the Department of Education and includes siblings, step siblings, fostered, orphaned or adopted children.

A copy of the child’s birth certificate MUST accompany the application.

If a child meets any of the criterion (a), (b), (c), (e), (f) or (g) it MUST be stated on the application form.
*Child of the family as defined by the Department of Education and includes siblings, step siblings, fostered, orphaned or adopted children.
A copy of the child’s birth certificate MUST accompany the application.

Non-statutory criteria
Note: Applications falling under Criterion 3 are processed only during Stage 2 of the admissions process, after final preschool year (Statutory 1 and 2) applications.

3. Children who were born:
• on or between 1 April 2021 - 1 July 2021 (inclusive), or were due to be born on or between those dates
but were born earlier; and,
• and have attended or are currently attending a funded pre-school setting under the Pre-School
Education Programme as a target aged (not penultimate aged) child;and,
• that child’s parent has completed a request to defer their child starting P1, or
• on or between 2 July 2022 and 1 July 2023 (inclusive); or,
• on or between 1 April 2022 and 1 July 2022 (inclusive) or were due to be born on or between those dates but were born earlier; and that child’s parent has completed a request to defer their child starting P1 until September 2027.
Tie Breaker – Non Statutory Criterion 3
Children within Criterion 3 will be selected in Chronological Order of Age – eldest child first. Where 2 or more children havethe same date of birth final selection will be by lot.

Duty to Verify

The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application form.
If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place. Similarly, if information is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.

Waiting List Policy
The school’s policy on the consideration of applications after the Open Enrolment procedure concludes is available directly from the school or can be accessed on our school website: www.killowenps.co.uk.
Should a vacancy arise, the above criteria will be applied to selected pupils from our waiting list.
The Waiting List is only applicable until 31 August 2025. Anyone wishing their child to be kept on the waiting list after
1 September 2025 should inform the school in writing.