The Ministry of Education has required the Board of Trustees to put in place an enrolment scheme for applications made for entry to the College. The Board is required to work within the maximum roll under the Integration Agreement. The maximum roll is 504 students.

The Integration Agreement states that “A preference of enrolment at the School…shall be given to those pupils with parents who have established a particular or general connection with the special character of the School…”

Each year, within 60 days of the closing date for applications, the Board of Proprietors will, identify all ‘preference applicants’ whose parents/guardians have applied to enrol them in the College in the following year. 

​​​​​​​The first two priority groups set out below apply to Preferential applicants only.

First Priority:          Priority to preference applicants for whom the school is ‘reasonably convenient’. The Education Amendment Act accepts that the definition of ‘reasonably convenient’ for an Integrated School such as St Oran’s College, given that we serve the Special Character needs of the Wellington district, will be greater than for a State School. The area of ‘reasonably convenient’ is outlined on the map provided with this Enrolment Scheme, and can be described as follows:

The area of reasonable convenience encompasses students who live within the city limits of the Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua City Councils bounded by:

• Upper Hutt north ot the top of the Rimutaka Hill
• Porirua north to, and including, Pukerua Bay.

Should applications within this region exceed the number of places available, then the allocation of places will be made in the following order:

a)    Sisters of students who are currently attending the College.

b)    Sisters of students who have attended the College.

c)    The daughters of permanent staff who are employed by the College, or the daughters of Ministers who provide regular liturgy at the College

       Chapel services.

d)    Daughters of those who have or have had a role in a key school organisation/s over an unbroken period of at least three years.

e)    Other Preferential Students:

In each of categories of (a) – (e) above, girls will be listed in order of receipt of their original pre-enrolment application. St Oran’s College will use its “waiting list” which records the date at which application was received. In each of the categories, available places will be offered to girls in the order in which their names occur on the waiting list for a particular year of entry.

If at this point the number of preferential students remaining exceeds the number of places remaining, then enrolment will be determined by date at

which the original pre-enrolment application was received.

Second Priority:       Preferential students whose place of residence is outside the area decreed reasonably convenient.  If places remain for allocation to students in this   

                                 priority group, selection will be by the same means as that specified for students with first priority status.

Third Priority:          If all preferential applicants for places can be enrolled, the college is able to enrol a limited number of non-preference students (up to 5% of the maximum number of students in any one year).  Among non-preference students, priority will be selected by the same “stepped” enrolment process used for preference students.

Selection:                The selection process described for students in priority groups l, 2, and 3 above will operate at each level, depending on the number of places deemed by the Principal to be available at each year level. In any year, however, very few places are likely to be available at Year 8 – 13.   

Pre-enrolment:          Each year, applications for enrolment will be sought by a date which will be published in a daily or community newspaper circulating in the area served by

                                  the school.  Applications for places will not be accepted after this date. 

Informing Parents:    Within 90 days of the closing date for applications, parents will be informed of their daughter’s place on the waiting list.  If places become available at a

                                 later date, places will be offered to girls in the order of their place on the waiting list.

The waiting list will remain operative only until March in the year of enrolment. (No numbered waiting list will be carried over to succeeding years).

Determination of Preference is specified in the Integration Agreement as follows:

‘A preference of enrolment at the School under Section 29(1) of the Integration Act shall be given to those pupils with parents who have established a particular or general connection with the special character of the School.

The Board shall not give preference of enrolment to the parents of any child unless the Proprietor has confirmed that those parents have established a particular or general connection with the special character of the School to the satisfaction of representatives of the Wellington Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (The Board of Proprietors).’

In determining preference, the Board of Proprietors will consider the following criteria along with the information supplied by families as part of the enrolment application:

• Active involvement in a church or faith community to be supported by a letter from your minister or faith leader.
• Active involvment and commitment to the Schoo's Special Character values of Open Hand, Open Heart and Open Mind.
• Daughter of an old girl of the School.
• Families who have a significant association with the School.​​​​​​​

In respect of families who have declined to make attendance dues payments for a current or former student, the Board of Proprietors will also carefully consider whether to enrol another student from that family.

The Board of Proprietors determines preference on a case-by-case basis. The Board of Proprietors has the discretion to decide which applicants are granted preference, regardless of whether or not they meet some of the above criteria.

Step 1 - Place your daughter on our pre-enrolment waiting list system. Forms are available here. As applications greatly exceed places available we encourage you to submit this form as early as possible. 

Step 2 - In mid-February of the year that your daughter is in Year 6 at primary school we will email you an application pack. This must be submitted with any requested documentation by 4.00pm on 31st March.

Step 3 - The Board of Proprietors Admissions Committee will review all applications and determine if a student is Preference or Non-Preference. Please see the Determination of Preference section above.

Step 4 - If there are more Preference applications than places available, applications are prioritised in accordance with the Ministry of Education approved Enrolment Scheme. Please see the Enrolment Scheme above.

Step 5 - In early Term 2, emails are sent to all applicants informing them if their daughter is considered a Preference or Non-Preference applicant, and their number on the appropriate waiting list. Approximately 85 Preference students will be invited in for an interview for 72 places. Please note that an interview is not a guarantee of placement. If not invited for an interview, families will be asked to confirm that they would like their daughter to remain on the waiting list for consideration.

Step 6 - At the end of Term 2, emails are sent to families informing them whether their daughter is offered a place for Year 7 in the following year, or what number she is placed on the Preference or Non-Preference waiting list.

Step 7 - In March of the following year (in which your daughter is in Year 7) the Preference and Non-Preference waiting lists are disbanded. An email will be sent to you to confirm if you would like your daughter to remail on the waiting list for consideration for a place. As long as you reply to this email then your daughter will remain on the waiting list for Year 7 and the start of Year 8.  

Step 8 ​​​​​​​- Emails will be sent to you annually thereafter, to confirm if you would like your daughter to remain on the waiting list.