f you’ve been following Department updates, you’ll know that every school in Ireland needs to update its Admissions Policy for the 2025/2026 school year. Circular 0039/2025 and the new Information Note on Admission to Special Classes and Special Schools bring important, and very specific, changes that affects every Board of Management.
At SchoolPolicy.ie, we’ve built everything you need into one simple, compliant package. Before you open your inbox to find that email from your patron, here’s what’s changed and what you need to do. Here are the main changes:
New Requirements for Special Classes
If your school has a Special Class, this is where the biggest changes lie.
Schools must now:
- Clearly state the category of special educational need catered for (e.g. Autism, Speech & Language, etc.).
- Include the Department’s exact eligibility wording — word-for-word.
- Note that no extra eligibility criteria (like cognitive level or “ability to integrate”) are allowed.
- Confirm that all applicants must now have an NCSE letter confirming they are known to the NCSE and have the required diagnosis and recommendation for the special class.
Schools that don’t have a special class don’t need to include this section and SchoolPolicy.ie handles that automatically.
Oversubscription Criteria Must Be Clear and Lawful
The Department has tightened up what schools can consider when places are limited. You can only prioritise:
- Siblings already in the school
- Parish or catchment area
- Children of staff
- Age (eldest first)
- Religion in minority faith schools
- Independent draw if tied
We’ve created copy-and-paste HTML snippets so every school can choose the combination that fits their patron’s guidelines without breaching the law.
Updated Language Around Opting Out of Religion
Section 17 of every policy must now make it crystal clear that parents can request for their child not to attend religious instruction and that this will not shorten their school day.
We’ve prepared several approved wording options to suit different contexts from small rural schools to larger urban settings.
A New Annual Admission Notice and Application Form
Every school must publish both documents annually, by law, at least one week before the admissions window opens. We’ve built clean, Department-aligned templates with merge tags that automatically fill in your school name, address, roll number, dates, and number of places. No more copying from last year’s Word file.
What You Need to Do
- Log in to SchoolPolicy.ie.
- Open the Admissions Policy generator. The 2025 version is now live for Catholic schools and will be ready by mid-term break for other schools.
- Review your details and select whether your school has a Special Class.
- If you do, copy the relevant snippet (Autism, Speech & Language, etc.) and paste it after Section 4.
- Update your key dates in the Annual Admission Notice.
- Download or publish your updated policy directly to your school profile.
And that’s it! Your school’s Admissions Policy will now meet every single Department and NCSE requirement for 2025.
Every detail has been checked against the INTO checklist, the Department’s Information Note, and Circular 0039/2025.
Deadline Reminder
Policies and Admission Notices must be reviewed and published before opening admissions for 2026, so most schools should complete updates before then.
If you’re already on SchoolPolicy.ie, you can do this in minutes.
If not, now’s the time to join the 150+ schools who’ve already simplified their policy management.