Single parent and birth cert

[dickens]

I need this info purely for a novel I'm writing. I describe a scene in about 1990, when a little girl is being brought to school for the first time. The mother, a single parent, is asked for the child's birth cert.
Questions: Would she be asked for the cert on the first day or would this have been sent into the school earlier?
Must the father's name appear on the short form of the cert?
In this case can the child be called by the surname of the mother?
In a catholic school would the baptismal cert be requested?
Perhaps all this varies from one school to another. A teacher might be able to throw some light on this for me.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Thirsty]

Can only speak from my own experience.

Most schools would sort out administration issues before the first day of school; generally when the place is confirmed.

Father's name does not have to be completed on the birth certificate. At the time you are speaking of, if the mother was married, there was a legal assumption that her husband was the father of her child.

In the old form of birth certificate there was no place to record the child's surname.

If it is part of their enrolment policy schools can request baptismal certificates to ensure the children gaining preference are indeed of the required religion. In my experience, this only tends to happen if there is pressure on places being offered.

However, I don't believe either teacher or school would have batted an eyelid at a lone parent in 1990s Ireland.