Victoria College Belfast

Admissions Criteria

The number of places available in Year 8 is limited to the admissions number set by the Department of Education and is currently 130 places. The cut-off for admission will therefore be the 130th place. In the event of there being more Candidates than places available, the criteria outlined below at 2i to 2viii will apply in the order stated.

• Those Candidates who were registered to sit the entrance assessments anywhere in Northern Ireland provided by the Association for Quality Education (AQE) and/or GL Assessment(GLA); (N.B. For Candidates who were registered for the entrance assessment, the College will verify registration and will require Applicants to upload a copy of either the AQE or GLA Registration Card showing the registration number of the relevant Candidate. For Candidates who were not registered for the entrance assessment because they would have been entitled to apply for Special Provisions, please see the further detail set out in Section 4 below). Applicants who are entitled to Free School Meals (FSME): Priority to be given so that the proportion of such children admitted is not less than the proportion of first preference FSME applications received within the total number of first preference applications received. The calculation of this proportion will be on the basis of first preference applications received by the Secondary Department on or before the 12 April, no later than 4 pm.
• Candidates who, at the date of application, are enrolled in the Preparatory Department of the College;
• Candidates who, at the date of application, have a Child of the Family currently enrolled in the Secondary Department of the College;
• Candidates who, at the date of application, are the Eldest Child of the Family eligible for admission to the Secondary Department in September;
• Candidates who, at the date of application, have another Child of the Family accepted for the Secondary Department of the College for the forthcoming academic year;
• Candidates who, at the date of application, have another Child of the Family attending the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI) or any other male single sex post-primary school;
• Candidates who, at the date of application, attend a primary school that is a recognised feeder school for the College. A recognised feeder primary school is one from which pupils have transferred to the College over the preceding three-year period. Feeder primary schools will be ranked according to the average number of pupils who have transferred to the College over the preceding three-year period and those with higher numbers will have precedence.
• Tie-Breaker: If more than one Candidate is eligible for the final College place, Candidates will be ranked for acceptance on the basis of a computer-based process which will make use of the names of Candidates as shown on their Transfer applications. The process will be carried out by means of a computer programme which, for each Candidate, will generate a ranking number using details from the Transfer application as the seed for a random number generator. The outcome for any given Candidate will be dependent only on the name of the Candidate (as written on the Transfer application) and will not be affected by the details of any other Candidate. Although the process is repeatable and the results may be subsequently verified, it is not possible to predict, in advance of running the programme, what the result will be for any given set of details. Candidates with the lowest ranking numbers will be awarded places up to the number of places available. Further details may be obtained from the Principal.

The schools listed below are the primary schools (excluding the Preparatory Department of Victoria College Belfast) which sent most pupils to the College in the previous three years, ranked in accordance with the actual number of pupils sent. Parents should note that, in addition to those schools listed below, the College admitted pupils from a further 54 primary schools in.