1 Citation and commencement
These Regulations may be cited as the Secondary Schools (Admissions Criteria) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 and shall come into operation on 2nd October 1997.

2 Interpretation
In these Regulations—
“assessment arrangements” has the meaning given by Article 7(3)(c) of the 1989 Order;
“the Department” means the Department of Education;
“key stage 2” means the key stage as defined by Article 5(6)(b) of the 1989 Order;
“preference” means a preference expressed by a parent as to the school at which he wishes education to be provided for his child by virtue of Article 9 of the 1997 Order;
“relevant assessment” means an assessment of a pupil required by Article 6(3) of the 1989 Order;
“school year” means a year beginning on 1st August and ending on 31st July, both dates inclusive;
“the 1997 Order” means the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997;
“the criteria” means the criteria to be drawn up under Article 16(1) of the 1997 Order; and
“transfer procedure test grade” means the grade achieved by a child on his performance in an examination which is a relevant examination under Article 21(12)(c) of the 1989 Order.

3 Application
These Regulations shall apply to the admission of children to all grant-aided secondary schools, commencing with admissions in the school year ending on 31st July 1999.

4 Matters to be included in the criteria
The criteria to be applied in selecting children for admission to a school shall include the following matters—
(a) the order of priority in which children in the relevant age group shall be admitted to the school at the beginning of the school year, where the number of applications for admission exceeds the school’s admissions number for that school year;
(b) the order of priority in which children in the relevant age group shall be admitted to the school at any later time in the school year, where the number of applications for admission exceeds the number of vacant places;
(c) the order of priority in which children not in the relevant age group shall be admitted to the school, where the number of applications for admission exceeds the number of vacant places;
(d) where a grammar school includes in its criteria the transfer procedure test grade achieved by children, a provision that, subject to regulation 6 and to the consideration by the Board of Governors of medical or other problems which may have affected a child’s performance in a transfer procedure test and which are supported by documentary evidence of a medical or other appropriate nature,—
a child who achieved the transfer procedure test Grade A shall be admitted in preference to a child with any other grade;a child who achieved the transfer procedure test Grade B1 shall be admitted in preference to a child who achieved a transfer procedure test Grade B2, C1, C2 or D;a child who achieved the transfer procedure test Grade B2 shall be admitted in preference to a child who achieved a transfer procedure test Grade C1, C2 or D;a child who achieved the transfer procedure test Grade C1 shall be admitted in preference to a child who achieved a transfer procedure test Grade C2 or D;a child who achieved the transfer procedure test Grade C2 shall be admitted in preference to a child who achieved a transfer procedure test Grade D.

5 Matters not to be included in the criteria
The criteria to be applied in selecting children for admission to a school shall not include the following matters—
(a) provision for the selection of children of compulsory school age by reference to ability or aptitude, except in the case of—
(i) a grammar school;
(ii) a school which on 5th September 1994 was recognised by the Department as one which selects some of its pupils by reference to ability or aptitude; or
(iii) a school for which a development proposal is approved by the Department under Article 14 of the 1986 Order and which enables that school to select some of its pupils by reference to ability or aptitude;
(b) in the case of the admission of children in the relevant age group to a grammar school, the outcome of any relevant assessment which may be conducted by the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment unde Article 21(1)(b) of the 1989 Order in relation to a pupil in key stage 2;
(c) in the case of the admission to a grammar school of children in the relevant age group who have the same transfer procedure test grade, provision for selection on the basis of information provided by a primary school principal about a child’s classroom performance other than information which is—
(i) relevant to the consideration by the Board of Governors of medical or other problems which may have affected a child’s performance in a test; and
(ii) supported by documentary evidence of a medical or other appropriate nature.

6 Boarding pupils in grammar schools
1 This regulation applies to a grammar school which includes in its criteria the transfer procedure test grade achieved by children and which has a boarding department on the day on which these Regulations come into operation.
2 A school to which this regulation applies may also include in its criteria a provision that priority shall be given to children who intend to board at the school without regard to the transfer procedure test grades which they have achieved, but such a provision may be included in the criteria only so long as the number of pupils enrolled in the boarding department of the school does not exceed the relevant number.
3 In paragraph (2), “the relevant number” in relation to pupils enrolled in the boarding department of a school, means the number so enrolled on 21st September 1990 or on 2nd October 1997, whichever is the greater.

7 Revocation and transitional provision
1 Subject to paragraph (2), the Secondary Schools (Admissions Criteria) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 are hereby revoked.
S.R. 1995 No. 303
2 The Secondary Schools (Admissions Criteria) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 shall continue to apply in relation to the admission of pupils to all grant-aided secondary schools in the school year ending on 31st July 1998 as if these Regulations had not been made.
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Education on
J. S. Smith Assistant Secretary 2nd October 1997.