A sought-after private school in South Dublin has apologised to parents for the “distress” caused after admissions offers were issued in error.
A number of parents who applied for their child to attend St Andrew’s College in Booterstown for the coming school year received a notification late last month that their application had been successful.
However, they were subsequently informed by the school’s admissions office that these offers were sent due to a “system error”.
In correspondence sent to the parents affected after the school became aware of the issue, St Andrew’s said it was unaware of the offer notifications at the time they were sent, and said it regrets the “confusion this may have caused”.
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In the correspondence, the admissions team apologised for the “inconvenience” and advised applicants who received the offer notification to disregard it.
“No offers have been issued yet, and all applications are still under processing,” applicants were told.
In an email subsequently issued to those affected, Louise Marshall, principal of St Andrew’s College, offered her “sincere apologies for the confusion caused”.
She said: “Due to an unexpected system issue in our admissions software, offers were sent automatically.
“Our software team has been working over the weekend to investigate and resolve the issue, and I can confirm that it has now been fully corrected.
“I understand how upsetting and disappointing this situation may have been, and I am truly sorry for any distress it has caused.”
The principal told applicants that their applications would be processed in accordance with the school’s admissions policy.
St Andrew’s College began accepting applications for admission to first year for the 2026/2027 school year on October 1st and ceased accepting applications on October 21st.
According to its annual admissions notice, applicants were due to be notified of a decision before November 19th.
Those hoping to secure one of the 167 places available for the coming school year received an offer in error on October 25th.
Last year, the school received 480 applications for the 167 available places, with 228 applicants being placed on a waiting list.
Founded as a boys’ school in 1894 by members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the now coeducational school currently has just over 1,000 students.
St Andrew’s College did not respond to a request for comment on the error.
