Windrush C of E Primary School
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Nursery

Ladybirds Nursery

As part of the school there is a Nursery provision for children aged 2-4. The Nursery room is filled with exciting and fun learning opportunities and has a large outdoor area in which the children can explore nature and experience their learning in an outdoor setting. The staff are fully qualified and experienced Nursery practitioners and are committed to providing our Nursery children with the best care and learning opportunities they can.

Learning takes place through child-initiated play with a huge variety of resources and equipment to help them to develop their skills and knowledge of the world, through the framework of the Early Years curriculum.

We offer provision of up to 30 hours per week, term time only, sessions run from 8.45am to 11.45am and 12.15pm to 3.15pm.   

Windrush Nursery cares for 24 children per session; we have 48 part-time places available per day. 

Expressions of interest for the following academic year should be made no later than the final day of Spring term of the current academic year (ie. by March 28th 2024 for September 2024). Our main intake of new children is September.

If there are more expressions of interest than spaces, the following admissions criteria will apply:

For three- & four- year olds -

  1. Children who are “Looked After” by a Local Authority (LAC);“Previously Looked After” (PLAC), or “Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After Children” (IAPLAC).

  2. Siblings of children on roll at the school, living in the school’s designated catchment area.

  3. Children living in the school’s designated catchment area on the date of allocation.  

  4. Children who have a sibling on roll at the school who live outside the school’s catchment area.

  5. Children living outside the catchment area.

From three years old, children have either universal 15 hours free childcare (5 nursery sessions) or 30-hours funding (10 nursery sessions) if both parents work: see https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ We cannot guarantee we can offer all 15 or 30 hours of Nursery sessions - this will depend on availability.

Children must attend a minimum of three sessions. Parents may also wish to pay for children to have additional sessions if spaces are available at a cost of £22 per session. 

Children attending Nursery all day may also stay for a lunch session at an additional cost of £3.50 per day. Children can bring a packed lunch or a hot school lunch can be purchased from our catering company, Dolce. Alternatively, they can be picked up by a parent or carer at 11.30am to have lunch at home and returned to Nursery at 12.15pm.

For two-year olds - 

We care for up to 8 two-year olds in our morning sessions only. Two-year old places are prioritised by:

  1. Children who are “Looked After” by a Local Authority (LAC);“Previously Looked After” (PLAC), or “Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After Children” (IAPLAC).

  2. Children who are eligible for 15 hours of free early years provision (a valid code must be provided with your application) and live within the school’s designated catchment area. 

  3. Children who have a sibling on roll at the school, living in the school’s designated catchment area.

  4.  Children living in the school’s designated catchment area on the date of allocation.

  5. Children living outside of the catchment area. 

Priority within each criterion is by distance as measured by the shortest walking distance from door to door- in other words, from the school’s main entrance door to the front door of the child’s permanent residence. The catchment area used for Nursery admissions is the same as the school’s catchment area.

We cannot guarantee the full 15 hours for children eligible for the 2-year old funded hours - this will depend on availability. Parents may wish to pay for two- year olds to attend morning Nursery sessions or to attend an additional morning session, at a cost of £20 per session. Hours can be increased, upon request, when the child turns three subject to availability of sessions. 

 

Windrush image 14

Nursery Application process 

Please email the school office - office@windrushschool.org for further information on how to apply for our Nursery.

Expression of Interest List 

The school operates an Expression of List where the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, this list will operate until the end of the academic year. This will be maintained by the school and it will be open to any parent /carer to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the list, following an unsuccessful application. 

Children’s position on the expression of interest list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Where places become vacant, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. The continuing interest list will be reordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria whenever anyone is added to or leaves the waiting list. 

Late applications 

All applications received by the school after the deadline ( see above) will be considered to be late applications. Late applications will be considered after those received on time. 

If an eligible child applies after the start of the term, for example if they have just moved into the area, the child will be placed on the expressions of interest list. 

Appeals 

There is no statutory right of appeal. Any complaint about the operation of this admissions policy should be made in line with the school’s complaints policy. 

Transition to Primary School 

A place at the Nursery does not also mean a place at the school in the Reception Class. A separate application should be made for that at the appropriate time, through the council's online admission page: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/schools/apply-school-place

 Once a child is admitted to the Nursery, the child is entitled to remain in a universal part time place until the term after he/she becomes five* However this may not be the most appropriate place for the child if all his/her peers have taken up their Reception place in a separate class within the school or another primary school. 

*N.B. In the case of a summer born child, parents / carers must either take up the school Reception place by the April before the child’s fifth birthday; or else need to re-apply through the next admission round for a place to start in the September, usually as a Year 1 child. See the Primary School Admissions Policy for more detail on deferring entry. 

Notes

Home address: 

All places at Windrush Church of England Primary School will be allocated on the basis of parents’ /carers’ permanent home address or parents’ / carers’ temporary home address if there is no permanent home address. The home address is that which applies at the time of application. 

Where a child lives with parents / carers with equal shared parental responsibility for part of a week, parents / carers must reach agreement as to which address will be classes as the child’s place of residence for the application. Where agreement cannot be reached, the application received from the parent / carer in receipt of child benefit would be the application to be processed. Proof of receipt of child benefit would need to be provided. 

Changes of address occurring shortly after application can normally be taken into account if notified in writing and confirmed in the form of documentary evidence to the Schools Admissions. Places cannot be allocated on the basis of intended future changes of address. 

Sibling: 

For admissions purposes, the following definitions of a sibling are used: • A brother or sister (both parents the same) living at the same home address; or 

  • A half-brother or half-sister (one parent the same) living at the same home address; or
  • A step-brother or step-sister (sharing a parent who is married or in a civil partnership) living at the same home address; or 
  • An adopted child who, by reason of the adoption, now shares one or more parents with a child living at the same home address; or 
  • A foster child who, by reason of the fostering, now shares one or more parents with a child living at the same home address. 

Distance Criterion:

The straight-line distance used to determine proximity of the home to the school will be measured by Oxfordshire County Council’s Geographical Information System. 

The start point of the measurement is the “seed point” of the home address. The “seed point” is provided by Ordnance Survey from information compiled from Royal Mail and Councils via Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG). The seed point normally falls within the bounds of a property. The accuracy of seed points is to the nearest ten centimetres and uses the British Coordinate System (Easting/Northing). It is possible to move the location of an individual seed point, but this is not necessary for most addresses. It is not possible to verify the individual location of every seed point prior to measuring due to the number of addresses in Oxfordshire and surrounding areas. 

The end point of the straight-line distance will be the front door of the school. 

The calculation of the distance will be made in metres using a Pythagoras calculation. This calculation will be converted into miles by dividing the distance by 1609.344 to achieve a distance in miles accurate to three decimal places. 

Terminology:

Reception - the year children become 5 

Year – refers to the academic year (September to August) 

Published Admission Number – The number of places, in part time equivalents (15hrs) agreed each year with the County Council, and published in the Council’s Pupil Place Plan. 

Universal Entitlement – 15 hours per week, term time only or 570 hours a year, to which every child is entitled from the term after their 3rd birthday 3 

Grace period – when a child’s eligibility for the extended entitlement ceases, the government allows the funded place to continue for a specified time period. 

Early Education for eligible children aged 2 - A targeted offer of 570 hours per year for the most vulnerable 2 year old children, from the term after their 2nd birthday, with the aim of reducing the pre-school educational gap that can start to occur from this age. Once a funded 2 year old child starts a funded place eligibility continues even if the families circumstances change. 

 

Page Downloads Date  
Nursery Admissions 13th Mar 2023 Download
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