Maintained nursery school admissions

Determining the admissions policy for community and voluntary controlled maintained nursery schools and classes is the responsibility of the local authority. The local authority delegates the responsibility for administering the admission process for nursery schools and classes to the governing bodies of these schools. This means that you apply for a place direct to the nursery school. Places in nursery schools and classes usually become available when the oldest children enter a primary school. Places may become available at other times if children leave nursery.

Part-time free nursery education

Children are entitled to access free nursery education on a part-time basis at the request of the parent/carer and in the best interests of the child, from the beginning of the term after their third birthday. Whilst the local authority works within six terms for maintained schools, for the purposes of nursery education the term dates are defined by central government as follows:

• 1 April to 31 August
• 1 September to 31 December
• 1 January to 31 March

Parents/carers may request that their child attend on a part time or full time basis until compulsory school age. Approval is subject to the recommendation of the school following discussion with the parent and the nursery/pre-school (if appropriate) and is in the best interest of the child.

Admission criteria

Each maintained nursery school and class has a limited number of places available depending largely on the physical capacity of its buildings. The number of places available is called the published admission number (or PAN for short). In the event that the number of applications to a maintained nursery school or class exceeds its PAN, the following admission criteria will be applied in order of priority. Children who reside within the school's catchment area will always be considered first.

1. A looked after child (a child in the care of a local authority)
2. A child known by the local authority (Early Years Forum) to have additional educational needs and whose needs can be best met at the preferred nursery - applications made under this criterion would need to be supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional;
3. A vulnerable child with a Common Assessment Framework - applications made under this criterion would need to be supported by evidence from the child's social worker and/or health visitor explaining the advantage of the child attending the preferred nursery as opposed to any other;
4. A child with a serious ongoing medical condition, where Services for Children and Young People (Early Years Forum) is satisfied that attendance at the preferred nursery will meet the needs of the child's medical condition rather than any other nursery. Parents/carers or their representatives will have to demonstrate that only the preferred nursery can meet the exceptional medical needs of the child. This can be in the form of a testimony from a medical practitioner, social worker or other professional who can support the application on an 'exceptional' basis;
5. Children who will have an elder sibling attending the nursery school or class at the time of entry. Children must reside at the same home address;
6. Any remaining places will be allocated to those children who live closest to the preferred nursery. Measurements are taken by a straight line on a map using the City Council's electronic mapping system - the nearer to the school the child lives the higher the priority. Measurement points will be from an internal point of the building concerned (usually the visual centre of the building). Flats are therefore taken to be the same measurement point regardless of floor of location.

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Notes

Sibling: children are siblings if they are a full, half, step or adoptive brother or sister, and live in the same family unit and household.

Home address: a child's home address is defined as the address at which the child is normally resident or, where a child lives at more than one address, the address at which the child lives for the majority of the time. Where the home address is unclear, the home address will be the address to which the Child Benefit Allowance is payable. In the absence of qualification for Child Benefit payment, other factors will be taken into account for example location of the registered GP.

Oversubscribed nursery schools and classes are advised to ask parents to provide proof of residence before admitting the child.

Tie-breaker: where a choice has to be made between two or more children in the same category as each other, priority will be determined on the basis of distance between home and nursery. Measurements are taken by a straight line on a map using the City Council's electronic mapping system – the shorter the distance the higher the priority.

Measurement points will be from an internal point of the building concerned (usually the visual centre of the building). Flats are therefore taken to be the same measurement point regardless of floor of location. In the event of there still being a tie, there will be a random ballot using an electronic random number generator.

Multiple births: defined as children of multiple birth (including those born within the same academic year cohort). We understand that parents/carers would like to keep twins, triplets and other children of multiple birth together. Where the admission criteria is applied and it is not possible to offer places to all children of the same multiple birth family we would work with the family to find the best solution for them and their children.

Waiting list: unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in accordance with the criteria given above. Places will be offered from the waiting list in line with the admissions criteria. Applicants may also request in writing that their unsuccessful application be reconsidered by the governors, giving detailed reasons for the request. If the governors agree that a child should have been given a place then the child should be offered the next available place.

Attendance: attendance will be for five sessions per week, up to 15 hours.

Extended services: full time nursery places will only be offered in very exceptional circumstances and on a time limited basis. If a nursery is considering offering a full time place they must consult the local authority who will make the final decision, depending on the reasons given by the parents and in liaison with other appropriate agencies. Where nursery schools/units are considering offering parents the opportunity to pay for additional childcare sessions contact should be made in the first instance with the Early Years Team.

Application for primary school: attendance at a nursery class attached to a primary school gives no guarantee that a child will continue into the school where the nursery is located. A separate application to a primary school will always have to be made.

A list of maintained nursery schools can be found below:

Maintained nursery schools directory [69KB]

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