If your child is starting pre-school or primary school in September 2026, applications are currently closed. You can apply for their place online from noon on Wednesday 7th January 2026, using the Education Authority website.

The form should be completed online and the original child's birth certificate and any supporting information (if required) scanned and uploaded with your online application.  At the initial application we only require the child's birth certificate but we do reserve the right to ask for proof of address at a later point in the process.

Admissions criteria to be used in the event of the school being oversubscribed. The criteria are listed in order of priority:  

1. Children who have a Child of the Family currently enrolled in the school.  Child of the Family is defined in Annex 1 of the DE Circular 2025/13 – Open Enrolment in Primary Schools.
2. Child of a staff member currently employed in the school at the time of application.
3. Children whose permanent place of residence is within the area comprising property on both sides of the Shore Road towards Belfast as far as the Hazelbank roundabout. From there, the Belfast-Larne railway line forms the boundary as far as the Bleach Green viaducts, where the boundary becomes the Bleach Green/Belfast-Coleraine railway line as far as the Jordanstown Road bridge at Monkstown. From there the catchment area incorporates the Rosemount and Mount Pleasant housing developments, to the disused railway line between Monkstown and Greenisland. The boundary then extends along the disused railway line before turning towards Belfast Lough and incorporating all of the Hartley Hall and Shorelands developments. The catchment area is completed by Belfast Lough forming the southern boundary. Please note: A map showing the catchment area is available to download here.   

NB: Should the school become oversubscribed in any of the above Criterion, taken in order, then applications will be prioritised under the following criteria 3a to 3c taken in order:-

3 (a) children who are the first/eldest or only child in the family currently able to apply to a mainstream primary school.  Parents can provide the following documents to prove eldest or only child: a letter from a member of the Clergy, Solicitor, or Public Servant such as a Health visitor or Education professional to include a Pre-School/ Nursery Principal directly involved with the family.  

(b) children who are from families who have moved into the catchment area (Criterion 3 above) within the current academic year and have older brothers or sisters seeking admission to the school;  

(c) children who are currently in attendance at Hollybank Nursery Unit, Monkstown Nursery School, St. James’ Nursery Unit or Whitehouse Nursery Unit during the 2025/26 academic year.  

TIEBREAKER If following the consideration of applications the school remains oversubscribed in any of the above Criteria taken in order, children who live nearest to the school as decided by a straight line from the front door of their normal residence to the main gates of the school as determined by Spatial NI will be selected for admission. 

In the event of equal proximity then selection for the available places will be on the basis of alphabetical order of the initial letter of surname as per the birth certificate.  In the event of two identical surnames the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames as per the birth certificate will be used.  

4. Following selection of applications under the above Criteria taken in order, those applications not selected will be ranked for the purposes of creating a waiting list. See Waiting List Policy below.     

DUTY TO VERIFY The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application.   The provision of false or incorrect information or the failure to provide verifying documents according to the required deadline may result in either the withdrawal of a place or the inability of a primary school to offer a place.  

WAITING LIST POLICY The school’s policy on the consideration of applications after the Open Enrolment Admissions procedure concludes on 23rd March 2026 is available directly from the school or can be accessed on our school website at www.whiteabbeyps.co.uk    

Parents are invited to tour our school in early January 2026 by emailing office@whiteabbeyps.co.uk if they require admission for their child into P1 in September 2026.