The admissions policy is determined by the Education Authority and is published annually. Parents are requested to submit their preference by the October prior to transfer. The Education Authority Officers then consider applications between October and February. However, if the school receives more applicants than their standard number of 302, then the following criteria will be applied in this order:-
Late applications (including changes of preference) are dealt with only after the demand for places received by the closing date has been met. If places become available following the allocation of places for a school, the same criteria are applied to late applications and formal appeals, where the number of requests received still exceeds the number of places available.
622 applications were received for Year 7 pupils entering September 2006, of which 339 named The Ridings High School as their first preference.
An opportunity is provided early in the Autumn term for parents with children in their last year at primary school to visit The Ridings High School and inspect a cross section of work undertaken in the various faculty/subject areas. In the Summer term a whole day visit for the children, with their primary school teachers, is arranged in school time. During this Induction Day, children undertake team building activities to help them become familiar with the school surroundings, meet with their Tutor Groups and establish new friendships. In the evening, parents of the new intake are also able to attend a meeting at the school. For those parents who are unable to attend the Intake Evening alternative dates can be offered, but only at the convenience of the school and if people are prepared to be grouped together.
These tours take approximately three quarters of an hour and will not generally include visits to classrooms, in order to avoid interrupting lessons. Parents who move to the area, or wish their children to transfer to The Ridings High School during the course of the year, will be offered individual tours but these, again, will follow the same principles as above, minimising the interruption to our current pupils’ education. This policy, we believe, is in the best interests of the pupils already at The Ridings High School and utilises staff time effectively.
Parents wishing their children to enter The Ridings High School should in the first instance contact:
Mr R C Evans (Assistant Headteacher Student Support) for pupils in Years 7-11 Mr L Hewson (Assistant headteacher, Director of Sixth Form) for students in Years 12 & 13.