Belvedere College SJ: 2027 admission, BCAP and costs

Belvedere College SJ is a fee-paying, Catholic Jesuit voluntary secondary school for boys. It is a day school at 6 Great Denmark Street, Dublin 1. It does not offer boarding.

The school follows the Irish national curriculum. Pupils take the Junior Cycle, complete a compulsory Transition Year, and then prepare for the Leaving Certificate. Classes are mixed ability. English is the teaching language.

First Year admission for 2027

The current annual notice covers entry in September 2027. The ordinary application timetable is:

Stage	Date
Applications open	1 October 2026.
Applications close	12:00 noon on 22 October 2026.
Decision issued by	18 November 2026.
Acceptance due by	1 December 2026.

The notice publishes 168 First Year places. Up to 16 are associated with the Belvedere College Access Programme, or BCAP.

An applicant must have reached age 12 by 1 January in the calendar year of entry. Applying early within the window gives no priority. The school says applications outside the stated dates will not be processed as ordinary on-time applications.

The general application charge is €100 and is non-refundable. The board may waive it for a BCAP applicant. An offer is not secured until the family returns the acceptance documents and required deposit.

The acceptance deposit is €1,500. It is non-refundable but is credited against the next academic year’s school fees. Families should not mistake this deposit for the annual tuition charge.

How oversubscription works

Belvedere usually receives more applications than it has places. The annual notice records 446 applications for 168 places in the preceding 2026/27 cycle.

The policy gives priority to defined groups. In practical order, these are:

1. places allocated through BCAP;
2. brothers of current pupils and brothers of former pupils;
3. sons and then grandsons of former pupils, subject to a 25% overall cap;
4. sons of permanent staff members;
5. exceptional compassionate cases; and
6. all remaining eligible applications.

Random selection is used when a priority group has more eligible applicants than available places. It is also used for the remaining places when necessary. The process is observed by two independent monitors.

The waiting list follows the policy’s selection order. The published First Year list remains active only until 31 May in the year of entry.

There is no admission interview used to assess academic merit. The board may meet a family only to clarify which application category applies.

After accepting a place, incoming pupils take a common assessment. The results help the school create mixed-ability classes; they do not decide whether the pupil keeps his offer.

BCAP bursary route

BCAP is a means-tested access programme for boys who could not otherwise attend the school because of financial barriers. It is not an academic, sporting or music scholarship.

The BCAP bursary application is separate from the ordinary First Year form. The current bursary page asked September 2027 applicants to submit financial evidence and school information by 30 April 2026. That bursary window is now closed.

The form says a bursary is assessed through family means, school reports and an interview. It lists these current maximum family-income figures:

Dependent children	Maximum family income
Fewer than 4	€48,811.
4 to 7	€53,637.
8 or more	€58,230.

Meeting a threshold does not guarantee a bursary. Preference may also be given to pupils from listed primary schools, although the committee can consider other schools.

BCAP covers annual tuition but not every cost of attending. The current form labels its additional-cost figures as based on 2025:

School year	Additional school cost shown
First	€118.
Second	€608.
Third	€488.
Fourth, including Transition Year	€843.
Fifth	€540.
Sixth	€568.

It also estimates the uniform, PE and rugby kit at about €400. First Year books are estimated at about €450. These are dated estimates, so a successful family should request a current itemised budget.

Curriculum and language

All pupils follow the Junior Cycle before the compulsory Transition Year. Senior pupils then work towards the Irish Leaving Certificate. This is not an IB programme.

The school says each pupil studies at least one modern European language. Its published options include French, German and Spanish.

Irish is part of the national curriculum unless a pupil holds a valid exemption under Irish rules. Families arriving from another education system should ask how previous schooling affects subject placement and any exemption application.

Additional educational needs

The school publishes a three-level Continuum of Support for additional educational needs. It covers whole-class measures, small-group or short-term work, and more individualised support for pupils with the greatest need.

Incoming First Year pupils complete literacy screening and CAT4 testing after admission. The school combines these results with information from the primary school and family to plan support.

The AEN page says some support for the middle tier depends on staffing resources. The admission material also describes a traditional curriculum and mixed-ability classes. A family needing substantial curriculum modification should therefore discuss the exact provision before accepting a place.

Published services do not establish the hours, specialist therapies or adjustments available to a particular pupil. Ask for a written discussion of current capacity and the proposed support plan.

Later-year entry

The live site still links to a form for entry from Second to Sixth Year. That document is dated 2023 and says applications should arrive before 1 May with a €100 administration fee.

Do not assume those details apply to the current cycle. Ask whether the relevant year has a vacancy, which records are required, and whether a current form or deadline replaces the older document.

Costs and practical limits

Belvedere does not publish a current general tuition table on the reviewed pages. The admission policy says fee information is provided during the parent information process.

This is a day school. It does not advertise accommodation, guardianship or visa sponsorship. A relocating family must arrange housing, adult care and immigration compliance separately and confirm that the daily commute is workable.

The Dublin school guide compares the city’s main day and boarding routes. The Ireland guide explains the wider admission and curriculum system.

Friendly orientation, not an application. Dates, fees, and programme details move. Confirm everything with the school.