Admission to the Nursery Policy

Our setting is open to all children and families. We take 3- and 4-year olds, from the start of term following their 3^rd birthday. Generally, children will start at nursery at the beginning of a term. Most children will start at the nursery at the start of the term. Other children join us at other times. This may be because they are new to the area or would like to transfer from another early years provider.

Eligibility for all three-years-olds to receive the Early Years Funding is at the start of the term following their third birthday. This funding will be paid up until the time when the child reaches statutory school age.

All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to a funded early years place for 570 hours a year over no fewer than 38 weeks of the year (this is called the Universal 15-hour offer). Some children whose parents are working, will be entitled to 1140 hours a year (the 30-hour extended offer).

When you express an interest in your child attending our nursery, they will be placed on our waiting list. Three weeks into the term before they are due to start nursery, you will be contacted and asked which sessions you would like your child to attend. We aim to be as flexible as possible and we will do our best to give you the sessions you would like, however, this may not always be possible.

Criteria for over- subscription

In the event of over-subscription, the following criteria will be used: –

A child with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school will be admitted.

1. Looked after Children or those who were Looked After but ceased to be because they were adopted, made the subject of a child arrangements order or made the subject of a special guardianship order.
2. Children with an exceptional medical or social need to attend this nursery.
3. Children who live in the school’s designated area who have a sibling at the school.
4. All other children who live in the designated area.
5. Children who live outside of the designated area with a sibling at the school.
6. Other children.

Following the allocation of nursery places the school will retain a waiting list. Waiting lists will be kept in order of the oversubscription criteria above.

Please note, places on lists will not be prioritised according to how long a child’s name has been on that list or by the age of the child or by whether the sessions are funded or bought. It is possible that a child’s name could go down on a list as well as up.

Sessions at Nursery

We are required to offer the Early Years Funding in a flexible way. Our school makes a core offer for the universal 570-hour entitlement of:

• Morning sessions of 9.00am to 12.00pm and
• Afternoon sessions of 12.00pm to 3.00pm and
• All day sessions of 9.00am to 3.00pm during term time only.

The lunchtime period is 11.30 – 12.30. This time is part of the day when children continue their learning and will be funded as part of the Early Years Funding if that is what parents/carers choose. Children joining us or leaving at 12 noon will eat at home.

Families that need a longer day can take funded nursery places in our governor-run before and after school provision. This is a separate provision for Froglets only where numbers allow. These sessions are:

• 8:00am – 9.00am before school and
• 8:00pm – 6.00pm after school.

Before and after school childcare provision is available for all children.

The table below sets out our session times. When applying for a place please use the Nursery Admissions Application Form DCAF-0. We only consider requests for sessions AFTER the oversubscription criteria have been applied. 

Sessions are as follows:

• 8 – 12
• 9 – 12
• 12 – 3
• 8 – 3
• 8 – 6
• 9 – 3
• 9 – 6
• 12 – 6

If parents want to buy additional hours on top of the 15 funded hours or the extended entitlement, they can do this during any of our opening times. A 3-hour long session is charged at £13.50.

Visiting before applying

Due to the current restrictions, we are unable to offer visits during school hours but you may visit after school hours. You can also watch a promotional video of our Nursery and school on our website. If you would like to visit us, you should contact the school to make an appointment. Once restrictions are lifted, we will return to normal visits within school time. This is an opportunity for you to see what we have to offer. Visits are not a compulsory part of the admissions process and will not affect decisions on whether a place can be offered at our nursery.

How to apply for a nursery place

Parents must complete both the Nursery Admissions Application Form DCAF-0 and return it to the school.

The closing dates for applications for the nursery intake are 1 April, 1 July and 1 January. You can apply after these dates, but your application may not be considered until after all the applications that were on time. If you couldn’t apply before because, for instance, you moved to this area, you should make sure that you inform the school. If the reason for applying after the closing date is accepted, your application will be considered at the same time as everyone who did apply on time if this is still possible.

Information provided in an application 

• We would like all applications to be fully and honestly completed. It is important that where we offer places to some and refuse others we do so fairly and consistently.
• Where we have reason to believe that information is false and has been provided knowingly, we may withdraw the offer of a place. This is particularly relevant where an address is given which is not the one from which a child will actually attend nursery and this disadvantages another child.
• If you know or believe that your child’s address will change before admission, you must inform the school as this may affect your application.
• You will be asked to provide date of birth evidence so we can check your child’s age.

What happens next 

• If there are fewer applications than places, then no application will be refused.Only if there are more applications than there are places available will the governing body prioritise applications according to the oversubscription criteria.
• We will endeavour to give the hours requested on the Parent Declaration Form. It is inevitable, however, that some parents who have been prioritised will not be able to access the hours they have requested. In these instances, we will offer times (days/hours/weeks) that fall closest to the hours requested.
• We will contact successful parents to welcome them to the nursery and to plan for admission itself before half term in May, half term in October and half term in February. You will also be contacted if we do not have a place available so that you can apply to another provider.

Places will be allocated on the following dates, and you will be informed in writing whether you have been successful in obtaining a place or not.

January intake places: allocated on 1^st October.

Easter intake places: allocated on 1^st February.

September intake places: allocated at the end of the third week after the start of the Easter term (due to the flexible nature of the Easter holiday.)

Induction and transition arrangements for starting nursery 

• We offer stay and play sessions with parent and child – these are carried out in small groups. These are carried out as near to the child’s start date as possible.
• Following this, we stagger the starting dates of children so that only 2 new children attend a session at a time initially. This first session is for only half a day. Children then continue with their normal sessions, as booked. All children are therefore in the setting by the end of the first 2 weeks.
• At the stay and play session, teachers gather information from parents and carers about the child’s individual needs. Transition from other preschools/nurseries/childminders occurs through transition documents and verbal conversations with keyworker staff.