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Wyndham Park Nursery School

Admission Policy

Wyndham Park Nursery School

 

Admissions Policy

Demand for places at Wyndham Park Nursery School is traditionally high.  When considering applications, the Headteacher and Governing Body will use the criteria outlined in this policy to allocate places fairly and transparently.

All children are entitled to access free nursery education on a part-time basis (15 hours per week) from the beginning of the term after their third birthday.  2-year-old can get free childcare if they live in England and get one of the following benefits:

-Income Support

-income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)

-income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

-Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments

-tax credits, and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax

-the guaranteed element of Pension Credit

-the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

2-year-olds can also get free childcare if they:

-are looked after by a local authority

-have a statement of special education needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan or

get Disability Living Allowance

-have left care under an adoption order, special guardianship order or a child arrangements order

 

Some children will be entitled to 30 hours of Early Education and Childcare the term after they turn three.  Parents of three and four-year olds will need to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare and education:

  • They earn or expect to earn the equivalent to 16 hours at National Minimum or Living Wage over the coming three months.
  • This applies whether you are in paid employment, self-employed or on zero hours contract.
  • The parent (and their partner where applicable) should be seeking the free childcare to enable them to work.
  • Where one or both parents are on maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave, or if they are on statutory sick leave.
  • Where one parent meets the income criteria and the other is unable to work because they are disabled, have caring responsibilities or have been assessed as having limited capability to work.
  • Where a parent is in a ‘start-up period’ (i.e. they are newly self-employed) they do not need to demonstrate that they meet the income criteria for 12 months.
  • If a non-EEA national, the parent must have recourse to public funds.

A parent will not meet the criteria when:

  • Either parent has an income of more than £100,000
  • Either parent is a non-EEA national and subject to immigration control (and has no recourse to public funds)

If a parent loses eligibility:

  • They will receive a “grace period” – this means they will be able to keep their childcare for a short period.
  • Once the “grace period” has lapsed, the parent may be entitled to the universal 15 hours entitlement.

To apply for a place parent/carers need to return an ‘Registering your interest for a place at WPNS’ form.  This is available on our website or by ringing Nursery.  

Session timings and options will be reviewed each year to reflect the needs of our community.  Details of options available will be published on our website or can be gained through contacting the school directly.

If the school has enough places for all of the children applying, then they will all be offered a place.  However, if there are more applicants then places the following process will be followed.

2-Year-Old Places

If there are not enough places available then funded children will receive priority over fee paying children. Any remaining places will be offered to fee paying children using the criteria below.

If there are still not enough places available for funded children then places will be allocated using the following criteria:

 

  1. All looked after and all previously looked after children
  2. Children who have an Education and Health Care plan
  3. Children with a ‘Child in Need Plan’ or a ‘Child Protection Plan’
  4. A brother or sister attending Wyndham Park Nursery school at the time of application who will still be attending at the expected time of admission
  5. Closest distance from home to Wyndham Park Nursery School (measured using google maps driving distance)

3 and 4-year-old places

Applications will be split in to 30 hours and 15 hours applications.  The number of spaces available will be evenly split between these two application groups.  For the purposes of this exercise children that are entitled to 30 hours but only wish to take the 15 hours option at Wyndham Park Nursery School will be considered ‘15 hours children’.

Both the 15 hours applications and the 30 hours applications will be allocated places in the same order using the following priority criteria:

  1. All looked after and all previously looked after children
  2. Children who have an Education and Health Care plan
  3. Children with a ‘Child in Need Plan’ or a ‘Child Protection Plan’
  4. A brother or sister attending Wyndham Park Nursery school at the time of application who will still be attending at the expected time of admission
  5. Children who will be taking either a full 15 hours or a full 30 hours entitlement with us
  6. Closest distance from home to Wyndham Park Nursery School (measured using google maps driving distance)

Once all 15- and 30-hours places have been allocated, if any spaces remain they will be offered to the outstanding applicants in the other group continuing to use the criteria above until all applicants have a place or the school has reached its maximum admission number.  If distance is not sufficient to distinguish between applicants for the last place then a lottery will be conducted.

In the event that one 15 hours session (e.g. mornings) has more applicants than places but we still have other 15 hours sessions available, children who meet criteria 1-3 will be offered a place first then all remaining children will be entered in to a ballot for the remaining available places.  This gives each and every child an equal chance of being allocated a place for the session that they requested.  All applicants names will be placed in a box and will be drawn out and recorded one by one until all session places have been filled.  Twins/triplets will be treated as one application for the purposes of the ballot to ensure they can attend the same session times.  The ballot committee will consist of the Head teacher, Senior Administrator and a member of the Governing Body.  Applicants who were not successful in the ballot will receive an offer of a place in the alternative available session.

We will retain a list of unsuccessful applicants and in the event of spaces becoming available during the academic year, they will be offered from the waiting list in line with the admissions criteria given above. 

Should parents/carers turn down an offer of a place due to it not being their preferred session, their child’s name will go on a waiting list for consideration if a vacancy arises during the year.  However, if a child is already attending the Nursery (having accepted a place even though it was not their preferred session) then that child will be offered the vacant place first.

If there are places remaining after the initial allocation for the start of the school year in September, these can be offered to children who become two or three years of age on or after September 1st and will be offered in line with admission criteria as set out in this policy.

  • Children born between September 1st and December 31st may be offered a place from January.
  • Children born between January 1st and March 31st may be offered a place from April.

Once we have made an offer we can consider withdrawing the place in the following cases:

  • Where a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application led to an offer of a place.  For example, a false address was given which denied a place to a child with a stronger claim.
  • Where parents/carers do not respond to our offer or any of our follow-up letters.
  • Where an error has led to an offer of a place.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

 

The Governors and Head teacher of the school are responsible for publishing this policy.  Parents and carers should contact the school for more details.

 

There is no legal requirement that nursery children must have a place in a class or school and as such, there is no right of appeal against a decision not to offer a child a place at a particular nursery school or class.

 

Attendance at the nursery will not guarantee admission to any Reception class and does not give advantage to the child’s application to any Reception class.

 

A separate application for admission to Reception class will always have to be made.

 

Lincolnshire County Council has an inclusive education policy and children will not be discriminated against as laid down by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, The Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, The Human Rights Act 1998 and The Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Act 2002.  This includes reasons such as:

 

  • Developmental delays, e.g. a child’s self-help skills are delayed affecting activities such as dressing, feeding or toilet training. 
  • Additional educational needs, including emotional or behavioural difficulties.
  • Physical or sensory impairment.

 

Looked after and post looked after: Definition

Sometimes referred to as child in public care, a looked after child is a child in the care of the local authority or is provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in accordance with section 22(1) of the Children’s Act 1989, at the time of application. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order.

 

Children in Need: Definition

 

Section 18 (10) Children Act 1989 says that a child is defined as being in need if:

 

  1. he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a Local Authority under Part III of the Children Act 1989, or
  2. his health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services, or
  3. he is disabled.

 

In practice any child who meets the following criteria should be regarded as a Child in Need:

 

  • Those referred by Social Services, with particular reference to those considered to be at risk in terms of child abuse
  • Those with a Child in Need Plan
  • Those with a Child Protection Plan

 

Brother or sister attending the school at the time of application, or who will be attending the school at the expected time of admission.

 

In all cases both siblings must live at the same address.

A sibling is defined as;

  • a brother or sister who shares the same biological parents
  • a half-brother, half-sister, step-brother or step-sister
  • a legally adopted child,
  • a child legally adopted by a biological or step-parent

 

Home Address

 

By home we mean the address where the child lives for the majority of term time with a parent as defined in section 576 of the Education Act 1996 who has parental responsibility for the child as defined in the Children Act 1989.

 

Where a child lives normally during the school week with more than one parent at different addresses, the home address for the purposes of school admissions will be the one where the child spends the majority of term time.  If a parent can show that their child spends an equal amount of time at both addresses during school term time, they can choose which address to use on the application.