Loreto to adopt hybrid selection process for pupils

PUPILS currently in primary six who are hoping to attend Loreto Grammar School in Omagh will have two possible routes to gain entrance.

The school has announced that they will be introducing a new system for selection.

The Board of Governors said that they would be basing admission to the school for September 2022 on 50 per-cent academic selection and 50 per-cent non-academic selection.

In a statement, they added that applicants can apply for both sets of admission routes and that their full admission criteria for new Year 8 pupils will be published in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Education Authority.

“The Board of Governors is confident that GL Assessments this year will provide mitigations which are appropriate for the current P6 pupils, taking account of the disruption to their formal education during part of P5 and part of P6,” they said.

“The decision on the admissions criteria for 2022 has been reached to provide equality of opportunity and choice for all pupils and we trust this offers clarity which parents and pupils seek at this time.”

The decision was made after the Board of Governors considered what they described as ‘all of the implications’ for admissions to Year 8 and that it has the support of the Loreto Trustees.

The Loreto move comes just weeks after Omagh CBS decided against academic selection.

Boys currently in primary six and hoping to attend the Kevlin Road school will not have to undergo a transfer test to gain entry.

They said the decision had been taken to provide early clarity for families.

It is the second year running that academic selection in grammar schools across the North has been severely disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic.