Admission to nursery at XX school

Children can be admitted in the term after they become 3 years old.  We admit children at the beginning of each term in September, January and April.

We try our best to meet parents’ request, however sometimes there may be more applications for a particular intake than there are places.  If this happens we will use the oversubscription criteria to decide who is offered a place.

Oversubscription criteria

Priority 1	Looked after children or children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order).

Priority 2	Children living in the catchment area of the school (catchment areas can be seen on the council’s online maps link)

Priority 3	Children who will have an older brother or sister attending the school at the same time. (See notes for definition of a sibling)

Priority 4	Children living outside the catchment area based on their distance from home to school measured using the council’s online maps.

The order of priority is your choice.  You may wish to give a higher priority to siblings, for example.  Faith schools may wish to replicate their oversubscription criteria for reception.

How to apply

Contact the school for a form, which you should fill in and return to us by the Friday before half term for a start date at the beginning of the following term

Closing date	Offer date	Start date	
24 October 2019	22 November 2019	1 January 2020	
14 February 2020	13 March 2020	20 April 2020	
22 May 2020	19 January 2020	1 September 2020	

These are suggestions only - you may wish to set your own dates or have an earlier application process for September start.

Outcome

Parents will be notified of the outcome of their application 4 weeks after the closing date (again this is up to you) by letter or email (whichever you choose).

Accepting your place

Parents will have to accept the place within 2 weeks of the offer.  Places that have not been accepted will be offered to the next child on the list. 

Notes

1.	Attendance at the nursery will not guarantee admission to our reception class or give any advantage to your child’s application for reception.  Parents must apply for a reception place through their home local authority.

2.	Children with an education, health and care plan that names the nursery will be offered a place.  This may reduce the number of places available to other applicants.

3.	Definition of a sibling:
	A brother or sister must live at the same address and could be:
•	A brother or sister sharing the same parents;
•	a half-brother or half-sister, where two children share one parent;
•	a stepbrother or stepsister, where two children are related by a parent’s marriage or civil partnership (a formal arrangement that gives same-sex couples the same legal status as married couples);
•	the separate children of couples who live together; or
•	an adopted or fostered brother or sister.

4.	The home address is the place where the child is permanently resident with his or her parents.  When a child lives between two addresses we will use the address of the parent who is in receipt of Child Benefit.

5.	If we cannot distinguish between two applicants because the criterion and distance is the same, for example, children in the same block of flats then the child or children who will be offered will be randomly selected by drawing lots.

6.	Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in priority order according to the oversubscription criteria.  If a place becomes available the child at the top of the list will be offered the place.

7.	There is no statutory right of appeal for admission to a nursery setting.  Any disputes over the administration of the policy will be dealt with by the school’s complaints procedure.