Nursery Admissions

The next round of admissions for Nursery is September 2019:

If your child was born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016, you will be able to make an application for a nursery school place to start in September 2019.

Children are accepted into Nursery in the September before their fourth birthday. 

Applications for Nursery are made directly with the school. 

Nursery Admissions September 2019 - Information

Responsibility for Admission into the Nursery Class

Responsibility for making decisions regarding nursery admissions to the school lies with the Headteacher and Governors of the school. The Headteacher is also responsible for the day to day administrative arrangements that need to be made to ensure the requirements of this policy are followed.

Age Range

The Nursery class at Flamstead Village School provides 15 hours free nursery provision for a maximum of 15 children from the term following their third birthday, if there is an available place. The nursery pupils will be expected to join the school at the beginning of the Autumn term each year. The Nursery class operates 0900 to 1200 Monday to Friday (term time only).

Application Process

Parents and carers must apply for a Nursery place by completing an application form, available on the school website. The application form must be returned to admin@flamsteadjmi.herts.sch.uk and an  acknowledgement will be sent following receipt. Applications must be received by 10am on Friday 15th March 2019.

The Headteacher will keep a list of children’s names and the names and addresses of the parents who have requested a nursery place. This is called the Nursery Admissions List. The Headteacher and governors will allocate places according to the criteria below. Copies of supporting documents must be submitted with the application form for criteria 1 and 2. Failure to submit supporting evidence will result in the criteria not being considered. Parents and carers will receive a letter via email on 29th April 2019 if they have been allocated a place. Parents/carers are obliged to accept the place in writing by Friday 3rd May 2019 or the place will be withdrawn automatically and offered to the first child on the waiting list. Failure to accept the place by 3rd May 2019 may mean a place is no longer available.

NB: Allocation of a nursery place does not guarantee a place in Reception. Applications for Reception are managed by Hertfordshire County Council and it is the responsibility of parents/carers to apply separately. Parents/carers of children born between April and August may choose to defer their Reception application and keep their child in Nursery. In this case, parents/carers must notify the Headteacher in writing before 31st March.

30 Hours Funded Childcare

Parents and carers may use 15 of their 30 hours entitlement for their Nursery place at Flamstead Village School. For many years we have worked closely with Apple Trees Nursery and Pre-School, and Flamstead Pre-School to ensure that families who need full time childcare can access all types of provision. Further information about other providers in the local area can be found on www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/nurseryadmissions

Admission Criteria

Admission to Nursery is based on the expression of parent/carer preference. If there are more applications than places available, the following criteria will be applied (in order of priority):

1. Children looked after by the local authority, including children who were previously looked after but were then adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order. (Evidence must be submitted with the application in order to be considered.)
2. Children with exceptional social, educational or medical needs which can only be met by Flamstead Village School, as identified by professionals; such as a child protection plan or education health care plan. (Evidence must be submitted with the application in order to be considered.)
3. Children with siblings in the school at the time of application.
4. All other children in order of distance (as measured using the distance calculator on Herts Direct.)

Evidence for criteria 1 and 2 must be submitted with the application. Failure to do so will result in the criteria not being considered. The school will not send any reminders.

If more children qualify under a particular rule than there are places available, a tiebreak will be used by applying the next rule to those children. If more children qualify under criterion 3 than there are places available, priority will be given to those who live nearest to the school as identified by the distance calculator on Herts Direct. Where there is a need for a tie breaker where two addresses measure the same distance from the school, for example in the case of a block of flats, the lower number shall be deemed closer. If there are two equidistant addresses of separate applicants, the tie break will be random.

Waiting List

If there are more applications than the number of places available, parents/carers may request for their child’s name to be added to the waiting list. Any places which become available will be allocated according to the criteria above.

Right of Appeal

As nursery provision is non-statutory, the school’s decision will be final and there is no formal right of appeal.

Data Security

We take our data security responsibilities very seriously. We will only communicate with the first parent/carer named on the application form. Application forms for successful applicants will be stored in hard copy in the child’s educational record. Applications from unsuccessful parents/carers who wish to be on the waiting list will be kept for a maximum of 12 months or until a place becomes available.

Any personal data collected will be treated as confidential under the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. We will not use the data for any other purpose, nor will we share data with any third party other than the Department for Education (for statutory reporting), Hertfordshire County Council departments who may from time to time send parents/carers advice, guidance and information relating to changes to early years provision and educational services that are relevant and/or benefits a child, and our local children’s centre who support the local authority by assisting families to access the services that children are entitled to.

Nursery Admissions 2019: Timeline

Nursery Open Mornings

We are holding several Open Mornings for you to visit our school.  Please contact the school office if you would like to make an appointment to visit.