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Admission and Waiting List Procedures

If you wish to join the waiting list for JOSS please fill in our online application form.

In mid/late April those currently registered with JOSS are asked to verify by email the sessions they require for the following academic year. Parents/carers are asked to respond by a given deadline which gives the manager time to determine how many spaces will be relinquished and therefore able to be offered to the incoming P1 children subject to the allocation procedures below.

Existing users are asked to discuss with the manager any changes they wish to make and where possible these changes are accommodated or names are added to the appropriate waiting lists.

The incoming P1 parents/carers are invited to attend a meeting at the church a week after the P1 Intake Meeting at the school. These meetings take place during May.

At the JOSS meeting in the church parents are issued with booking forms on which to record the required sessions and a deadline for return of the forms is noted at the bottom of the forms. We do this because the majority of parents needs have changed since they joined the waiting list.

Once all forms are returned sessions are allocated.

If places are relinquished they are offered to those on the waiting lists as follows:

Priority is given to those *currently using JOSS who wish to increase their usage. The next priority is siblings of those *currently using JOSS and then we offer places to all others. Names are added to the waiting lists in the date order they are received and offered accordingly.

*The term “currently using JOSS” is defined as follows: the child must be registered in the current year and already using and paying for a number of sessions either in full, by monthly standing order or electronically by vouchers.

Once those currently using JOSS have been allocated additional sessions the siblings of those who currently use JOSS are considered and then everyone else.

Places are allocated in early June to allow those who have not secured a place to find alternative childcare before the new academic year.

If spaces are relinquished during the academic year they are offered to the next person on the waiting list using the criteria detailed above.

Spaces are offered with the condition that they must be accepted within four weeks from the date of offer. This is to allow notification of termination of other childcare arrangements which may be in place. If the session on offer is no longer required the child’s name will be removed from the appropriate waiting list. If the offered session is still required but preferably not within the four week timescale the child’s name can remain on the list at the same position but the place will be offered to the next person on the list until it is filled. Someone declining an offer must be made aware that it could take up to a year before another space becomes available.

Places can not be kept while parents are on maternity/paternity leave unless they are paid for in full. Parents are advised to retain one or more sessions for their child which will allow them priority on the waiting list under the condition “currently using JOSS”. On the date we are informed of the pending maternity leave we will place the child’s name on the appropriate waiting list. The parents must be made aware that there is no guarantee these spaces will be available again when their period of maternity/paternity leave expires. Parents can remove their children from JOSS altogether while on maternity/paternity leave but should be made aware that they will be placed on a lower priority waiting list on which they could remain indefinitely.

In exceptional circumstances the Board may use its discretion to consider holding places.

Once places have been offered and accepted the Registration Forms are handed out. These must be updated every six months to ensure that we have up to date information and should be returned before the end of term to allow the manager to have the records in place for the new academic year. The Annual Registration fee will be added to the fees or charges incurred through using JOSS and will not be paid separately.

Please note that the Annual Registration fee covers the period August till June and is payable in full regardless of when you start using the service and can not be carried over to the following academic year. There will be no refunds of the Registration Fee unless constrictions imposed by JOSS over and above the existing waiting list system limit potential usage of the service.