The Nursery class in Summercroft Primary School (“Summercroft”) takes place every school day in the Early Years Foundation Stage Unit.

Option A: 5 days (30 hours funded 8:50am – 3:10pm Monday to Thursday and 8:50am – 1:30pm on Friday) with an option to pay an additional £10 to lengthen the Friday session to end in line with the rest of the EYFS/KS1 children at 3:10 pm. Children are able to bring a packed lunch from home or purchase a hot school lunch.

Option B: 3 days (15 hours funded 8:50 am – 1:50 pm per day) with an option to pay an additional £8 per day to lengthen the session to end in line with the rest of the EYFS/KS1 children at 3:10 pm. Children are able to bring a packed lunch from home or purchase a hot school lunch.

Option C: 5 days - For those not entitled to 30 hours funding (15hours funded with additional hours charged at £6 per hour to reflect the timings stated in Option A with an option to pay an additional £10 to lengthen the Friday session to end in line with the rest of the EYFS/KS1 children at 3:10 pm) Children are able to bring a packed lunch from home or purchase a hot school lunch.

Summercroft has places for a maximum of 24 children per day in the Nursery class.  

Summercroft has one intake into the Nursery class which is the September following a child’s third birthday.  Entry into the Nursery class in September 2024 will be for those children born on or between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021.

Allocation of a Nursery place is strictly subject to the applicant’s guarantee that the first 15 hours of Free Childcare Funding will be directed to Summercroft. This guarantee should be made on the Parent Declaration Form (available on our website or from the School Office). 

Information leaflets will be sent to parents by Hertfordshire County Council in the Autumn term 2023.

ADMISSION PROCEDURES

The responsibility for admission into the Nursery class lies with the Governing Body of Summercroft. Parents/carers must apply for a place directly to this school on the Nursery Application Form 2024/2025 entry available from the school website.  The completed application form must be received in the School Office by Friday 8th March 2024 at the latest (see timeline below).

The Nursery Admissions timetable for all schools is no longer laid down by Hertfordshire County Council.  Summercroft and some other local schools aim to use the following timeline for processing Nursery applications to their schools:

• Monday 15th January 2024         System opens for applications to be submitted to School Office
• Friday 8th March 2024                 Deadline for the completed application form to be received in the School Office.
• Monday 18th March 2024           Summercroft will offer places directly to parents/carers by letter or email.
• Monday 22nd April 2024              Deadline for the acceptance of a place (which must be in writing) to be received in the School Office.

The Governing Body will apply these Admission arrangements using the information submitted by parents/carers in the application form. If the application form is not completed correctly this may result in the application being given a lower priority.  The completed application form should include details of siblings who attend Summercroft (see below).

Attendance in the Nursery class does not guarantee admission to Reception. Parents/carers of children who are admitted to the Nursery class must apply in the normal way for a place if they want their child to transfer to Reception.

The offer of a Nursery place will ONLY be for Option A, Option B or Option C and in either case for 38 weeks a year (Term time only).

There is no right of appeal against non-admission to the Nursery class.

The information in this policy is for admission in the school year 2024/2025. Admission arrangements for future years may be different.

HOW PLACES ARE OFFERED 

A child who has an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names Summercroft will be admitted to the Nursery class before any child prioritised under the following oversubscription rules. 

If there are more applications than available places, the following oversubscription rules will be used to prioritise applications:- (see note a)

There are stipulations regarding the address to be used in the application (see note b).

Rule 1

Children looked after and children who were previously looked after, including those who appear to Summercroft to have been in state care outside of England, who ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order. A child looked after is a child who is in the care of a local authority or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions. A child is in state care if in the care of or accommodated by a public authority or a religious organisation or any other organisation whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

Rule 2

Children who have a sibling on the roll of Summercroft at the closing date for applications. This applies to a sibling in Nursery through to Year 5. The sibling must remain on the roll of Summercroft at the time the child starts or has been offered and accepted a place. (See definition of sibling in note c.)

Rule 3

Children of staff directly employed by and at Summercroft provided that notice of termination of that employment has not been given. (See note d.)

Rule 4

Children who apply for Option A.

Rule 5

Children who apply for Option C.

Rule 6

Children who apply for Option B.

Rule 7

Any other children.

If more children qualify under any of the above rules than there are places available under that rule then the available places will be allocated to those children who qualify under that rule who live nearest to Summercroft. This will be determined by the distance measurement provided by Hertfordshire County Council’s “find your nearest school” service on the hertfordshire.gov.uk website.  

Where there is a need for a tie-break where two different addresses measure the same distance from the school, the lower door number will be deemed nearest. If there are two identical addresses of separate applicants, the tie break will be random.

Notes

      a.   These rules will be applied in the order in which they are printed above. 

      b.    The address used in the application must be the child’s permanent address at the closing date for applications, permanent meaning that the child has lived at that address for at least a year. If they have not then the child’s parent(s)/carer(s) must be able to demonstrate that they own the property or have a tenancy agreement for a minimum of 12 months and the child must be living at the property at the closing date for applications. The application can only be processed using one address. If the child lives at more than one address then the address used will be the one at which the child lives for the majority of the time. If the child lives at two addresses for an equal amount of time each then the parents/carers should make a joint application giving one address. If the child’s permanent address is disputed then the parents/carers must provide court documentation showing the address which should be used for admission allocation purposes. If two different applications are received for a child from the same address then the parents/carers will be invited to submit a joint application or to provide court documentation showing which application should be used for admission allocation purposes.

      c.   Sibling is defined as the brother/sister, half brother/half sister, adopted brother/adopted sister, a child of the parent/carer or partner or a child looked after or previously looked after and in every case living permanently in the home as part of the family household from Monday to Friday at the closing date for applications.

      d.   The member of staff must be the child’s parent by blood or adoption or have legal parental responsibility for the child and have been employed by and at Summercroft for two or more years at the closing date for applications or have been permanently employed by Summercroft to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skills shortage. The child must have lived at the same address as the member of staff for at least one year at the closing date for applications.

CONTINUING  INTEREST (WAITING) LIST AND ‘IN YEAR’ APPLICATIONS

After places have been offered the Governing Body will maintain a continuing interest list (waiting list). A child’s position on this list will be determined by the oversubscription rules and a child’s position on the list can change as other children join or leave it. Summercroft will contact parents/carers if a place becomes available in the Nursery class and it can be offered to their child. 

Parents/carers are requested to inform the Governing Body via the School Office if they wish their child’s name to be removed from the waiting list.