Fee-paying schools deny cherry-picking brightest pupils

Fee-paying schools today denied they are cherry-picking bright students ahead of youngsters with special education needs or from poorer backgrounds.

Senators told the Oireachtas Education Committee that ’snob’ attitudes existed towards lower socio-economic groups but principals insisted all pupils were treated equally.

The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents 400 secondary schools in Ireland, told politicians that home addresses or parents’ jobs didn’t influence enrolment.

Principals said they were bound by legislation to welcome all pupils but they added that they must ensure they have specialist facilities and staff to cater for them.

Independent Senator Ronan Mullen said: “There are undoubtedly towns in this country where some schools have certain snob attitudes and are not inclined to take children from a certain socio-economic background.”

Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames added: “There isn’t a level playing field out there. I know many parents who would tear their hair out trying to get their kids into a school.”

The principal of fee-paying Wesley College in south Dublin, Christopher Woods said: “It simply would not be acceptable to exclude some people.”

Belvedere College principal Gerry Foley said his central Dublin school was oversubscribed every year but it didn’t discriminate in favour of bright pupils.

“There would be as many high-flyers out there not getting a place as there would be kids with special needs not getting a place.

“If you take a family with three boys, you couldn’t guarantee that they will all be academic high-flyers.

“If your policy is to take brothers you will end up anyway with children with special needs,” he said.

He told the committee that the home address of the pupils or the occupations of their parents didn’t influence enrolment policy.

Sr Eileen Randles of the Loreto Education Trust argued that a school could be irresponsible and doing a disservice to pupils with specific special needs if it didn’t have the facilities to cater for them after enrolment.

“It would be our wish to admit every child that applies but there is the problem of resources being made available. Unfortunately we will always need special schools for a particular cohort of pupils,” she said.

She added: “In no way do we want to exclude them but we want to ensure we can serve the needs of all our pupils.”

Noel Merrick, who has been principal of Naas CBS for 17 years said he has never tried to persuade pupils to go to other schools.

“We were set up by the Christian Brothers to do our very best for everybody who came in the door.”

The JMB said fee-paying schools are very aware of their obligation to address the issue of inequality.

It said some fee-paying schools run scholarships and discount schemes to support some children from poorer background

The JMB told the committee that fee-charging schools hire learning support teachers from their own resources to support students who require extra help.

Labour TD Ruairi Quinn called for more post-primary schools to be built in busy commuter areas of Greater Dublin.

Sr Randles said Loreto schools decided to stop a first-come-first-served policy on enrolment after queues were beginning two days beforehand.

She said parents disliked the random selection system but it was fairer to all families.

“The address or profession or who they are is of absolutely no importance and won’t get them up the queue,” she added.