St Mary's Primary School

When there are more applications than places for 2026-27 (P1), places are offered in this order of priority. Meeting a higher criterion beats meeting a lower one.

1. 1Children of compulsory school age who, at the date of application, have brothers/sisters (half- brothers/sisters, step brothers/sisters, including those fostered, adopted or with permanent guardian) in attendance during the 2025/2026 school year and reside in the Parish of Donaghmore.
2. 2Children of compulsory school age who, at the date of application, have brothers/sisters (half- brothers/sisters, step brothers/sisters, including those fostered, adopted or with permanent guardian) in attendance during the 2025/2026 school year who do not reside in the Parish of Donaghmore.
3. 3Other children of compulsory school age resident in the Parish of Donaghmore. St Mary's Primary School (Barr) 3 School Road Jerrettspass Newry Maintained Primary School
4. 4Children of permanent employees at the school.
5. 5Children with special circumstances (social, medical or security). The special circumstances must be made known at the time of application. Any application to be considered under this criterion must be clearly identified using the term, ‘special circumstances’. It must provide names and addresses of statutory bodies from whom the Board of Governors reserve the right to seek confirmation of the existence of the special circumstances.
6. 6Other children of compulsory school age.
7. 7Children of compulsory school age whose brothers/sisters (half-brothers/sisters, step brothers/sisters, including those fostered, adopted or with permanent guardian) have previously attended the school. In the event of any of the above criteria (1-7) being oversubscribed, the following methodology will be used: To allocate those places remaining the initial letter of the surname (as entered on the Birth Certificate) will be used in the order set out below: Q, M, T, B, E, Z, A, L, D, P, H, Y, J, V, S, N, R, C, F, W, G, I, K, O, U, X This order was determined by a randomised selection of the letters of the alphabet. In the event of surnames beginning with the same initial letter the subsequent letters of the surname will be used in alphabetical order. In the event of two identical surnames the alphabetical order of the initials of the forename will be used and if necessary the subsequent letters of the forenames. When considering which children should be selected for admission, the Board of Governors will only take into account information which is detailed on the application or provided directly to the school. Parents/Guardians should therefore ensure that all information pertaining to their child and relevant to the school’s admissions criteria is stated on the application or provided directly to the first preference school. Examples of such information include whether the child has brothers/sisters attending the school, or is the eldest child in the family. Examples of such information include names of brothers and sisters in attendance or who previously attended St Mary’s PS Barr.

Northern Ireland open-enrolment admissions criteria, as published by the Education Authority for entry in September 2026.

Published by the admission authority. Meeting a criterion never guarantees a place — it sets the order places are offered in. Full detail, other entry points and previous years are on the Admissions tab.