Admissions Arrangement

We have two separate Admission Policies:

• Our Nursery Admission Policy is set by the school Governors and admission to the school Nursery is conducted by the Admission Committee of the Governing Body.  This committee meets twice per year as required when the set criteria are applied to completed applications.
• Our Admission Policy for school is controlled centrally by the Local Authority at Bootle Town Hall.  We have adopted the Authority’s recommended policy and criteria is set and applied by the Local Authority.  You will receive information from the Local Authority twelve months prior to your child starting school.  Forms will be available to complete online or a paper form requested from Sefton to be completed and submitted by a fixed date in January.  Decisions regarding a school place are confirmed the following April directly from the Local Authority.

ADMISSIONS 
Parents considering sending their child to our school are welcome to visit at a mutually convenient time.  Arrangements may be made by telephone or by emailing the school office who will be able to provide dates and times of forthcoming tours – face-to-face or virtual depending on the local context at the time.

You will receive the information twelve months prior to the start of the academic year in which your child would normally enter school.  After the admission of children with Education, Health & Care Plans which name the school and when the number of applications exceeds the places available (90 per year), the following admissions criteria will be applied by the Local Authority in order to allocate places:

Criteria 1 – 
 Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order).
Criteria 2
 – Sibling – Children who have a brother or sister living in the same house who are already attending Forefield Community Infant, Nursery or Junior Schools provided they will still be in attendance when the Reception place commences.in September of the admission year.  Sibling is defined in these arrangements as step-children, foster children and half-brothers and sisters, adopted brothers and sisters or children of the parents(s)/carer(s)’s partner living in the same family unit at the same address.

Criteria 3 – Children of staff

Criteria 4 – 
Distance – Children in the order of proximity of their homes to the school. 
(measured as per the Tie Breaker Clause)

Tie Breaker Clause
 – If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criteria above then priority will be given to those living closest to the school measured by the shortest walking distance from the child’s home.  We will measure from the property’s address point, to the nearest school gate (using recognised routes known to the Authority at the time of measurement).

Please be aware that the number of places allocated in each criterion can change from year to year.

You will receive notification directly from the authority in April as to whether your child has been allocated a place for the following September.

Further information and advice can be obtained from The Admissions Section, Children’s Services, Town Hall, Oriel Road, Bootle, L20 7AE. (Telephone 0151 934 3590).

https://www.sefton.gov.uk/schools-learning/school-admissions.aspx

Parents who are refused admission to the school have a right to appeal.  Details of the appeals procedure can be obtained from the Admission Section, Children’s Services Department.

In Year Admissions to the Infant School
In Year Admissions to the Infant School are coordinated through the Local Authority Admission Section who hold up to date information with regard to the availability of places throughout school.  The Admissions Team can be contacted on Telephone: 0151 934 3590.

Dates of admission to the Infant School
The Education Act 1994 states that by Law, children become of school age at the beginning of the term after their fifth birthday.  In practice the great majority of children start school before that time.  The agreed policy for Forefield is as follows:-
Children will be taught in classes that do not exceed 30 pupils.

Sefton Local Authority Co-ordinated Admissions Schemes and Determined Admission Arrangements for Sefton Local Authority Schools and Academies for 2023-24 has now been published on the Sefton Website.

These include the Primary and Secondary admission schemes, which provide the application and allocation framework and associated deadlines, as well as the admission numbers and policies for Sefton Local Authority Schools and Sefton Academies.  These can be accessed on the Sefton Council website via this link

https://www.sefton.gov.uk/schools-learning/school-admissions/school-admissions-policy-and-reports.aspx

FORFIELD COMMUNITY INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL

 NURSERY ADMISSION POLICY

There are 46 places available for Nursery admissions per year, 32 of which are offered under the Government’s 30 hour offer of Nursery provision for eligible families. Our 30 hour offer is a 5 day (8.50-11.50/12.30-3.30pm), term time offer only (i.e. not including school holidays).

There will be two intakes:  September and January (subject to the availability of places).

Children will be admitted to the Nursery in the term following their third birthday.

September intake: Children must be three by the 31^st August

January intake: Children must be three by the 31^st December

Parents are requested to complete an application form to indicate a preference for a morning, an afternoon place and/or a full day place (30 hour offer only).  For parents requiring some or full time wrap around provision, All Saints Ventures work closely with school Nursery staff and can offer this extended provision for children attending both morning and afternoon sessions.

Every effort will be made to accommodate choice but it cannot be guaranteed.

Morning placement: 7 places available

Afternoon placement: 7 places available

All day placement (30 Hour Term Time offer only) 32 places – subject to National eligibility criteria being met

Nursery children who are admitted in January and are accessing over 12 months of Nursery Provision or children already attending Forefield Nursery for whom deferred entry to Reception has been agreed, will automatically hold their place for the following Nursery September intake. If your child is receiving an afternoon placement when admitted in January you will have the option of requesting a morning placement for September if a place is available or vice versa or request a 30 hour offer, all day place. Parents will be contacted at the end of the Spring Term to request this.

Nursery children are required to attend the full allocation of 5 AM/PM sessions per week (1 session per day Monday – Friday)

30 hour offer children are required to attend the full allocation of 5 full days per week (8:50-11.50 and 12.30–3.30pm). Additional child care for 30 hour children for lunch time provision will be provided for a cost of £5.50 per day, payable half termly or termly in advance. Alternatively, children may be collected from school at the end of the morning session and return to school at the start of the afternoon session.

For 30 hour children a transitional period of “part time hours” may be agreed on an individual basis between parents and school to enable an enhanced transition to Nursery life.

In the event of the Nursery being over subscribed a priority order will be operated as indicated.

• The school will have a Nursery waiting list.
• The names from completed application forms will be entered on the waiting list as and when the parent registers the child.
• The waiting list will be ordered according to age.  Priority is given to those children who have reached the age of 3 by the 31^st August.  Should that list exceed places available then the following criteria will be applied in the following order.

First Priority

A looked after child or a child who was previously looked after and ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order).

Second Priority

Sibling – Children who have a brother or sister living in the same house who are already attending Forefield Community Infant & Nursery School or Forefield Junior School provided they will still be in attendance when the Nursery placement commences.

Third Priority

Children of staff

Fourth Priority

Children in the order of proximity of their homes to the school. (Measured as per the Tiebreaker Clause)

Tie Breaker Clause

If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criteria then priority will be given to those living closest to the school measured by the shortest walking distance from the child’s home.  The Local Authority will measure from the property’s address point, to the nearest school gate (using recognised routes known to the Local Authority at the time of measurement).

Please be aware that the number of places allocated in each criterion can change from year to year.

We will meet our legal obligation to admit a pupil who has an Education Health Care Plan that names the school.

Places for pupils for whom a full day place is requested under the 30 hour offer, will also be offered on the basis of the above criteria.

The Governors reserve the right to delay entry to children where there is evidence that the child is not ready for such an environment.

In the event of our Nursery being oversubscribed, children will be placed on a Reserve List. This will be ordered according to the above criteria.  If a place becomes available, school will contact the parents of the child whose name is first on the Reserve List.  Parents will be given 5 days to confirm acceptance of the places.

The Reserve List is not a waiting list as a new request from another parent for a child’s name to be placed on the reserve list can result in other children being moved further down the list for a place according to the admission criteria.

In the event places for 30 hours provision is over-subscribed, children already attending school nursery (AM/PM place) will be placed on a Reserve List. This will be ordered according to the above criteria. If a place becomes available, school will contact the parents of the child whose name is first on the 30 hour provision Reserve List. Parents will be given 5 days to confirm acceptance of this place and sign the 30 hour provision contract. A transfer and start date will be agreed between parents and current providers of the additional 15 hour provision (according to contractual notice periods).

Applications

Application forms can be obtained from and should be returned to the school office.

Closing date for applications:

September 2024 intake:       Friday 2nd February 2024 (12 noon)

Parents will be notified of places by: Friday 15th March 2024      

Please note:

• Requesting a place and completing an application form does not ensure that a place may be offered.  Parents and carers are informed in writing if a place has been allocated;
• Parents will be given 5 days in which to confirm acceptance of a Nursery place for their child.  After this time, if no contact has been made by parents, the school will assume that the place is no longer required and the place will be offered to the next child on the Reserve List.  Parents responding after 5 days, confirming they would like a place for their child, their child’s name will be added to the Reserve List and processed according to the priority list as places become available.
• Parents offered a 30 hour place for their child will need to provide school with a valid eligibility code before the place can be confirmed.
• It is the sole responsibility of parents to apply for and provide their 30 hour offer eligibility code to school and to re-confirm their eligibility using the online portal every 3 months in order to maintain their 30 hour offer place at Forefield Nursery. Parents who fail to re-confirm their eligibility will be required to pay for the additional 15 hour top-up at the rate of £6 per hour/£23.50 per session (including lunch, payable in advance) or forfeit the additional 15 hour session which will then be offered to the next child on the waiting list.
• Parents no longer meeting the criteria for the 30 hour offer will be given a grace period of 6 weeks. If after this period they fail to meet the criteria and are unable to claim and provide a 30 hour offer eligibility code, the secondary 15 nursery hours will be revoked and offered to the next child on the reserve list. The child revoking the 30 hour offer place will be offered the 15 hours place of the child who is next on the 30 hours reserve list. NB – AM/PM places cannot be guaranteed as the child revoking the 30 hours will be offered the 15 hour Nursery place of the child who takes up the 30 hour offer place (i.e the child next on the reserve list). 
• For parents requiring a 30 hour place in conjunction with another Childcare/Nursery provider, the initial 15 hours (am/pm contract) will be funded to Forefield Community Infant and Nursery School and the additional 15 hours provision will be claimed by the secondary provider. If parents fail to reconfirm their eligibility for 30 hours provision when taking across 2 settings, Forefield will claim the first 15 hours of child care cost in order to maintain the child’s place at Forefield Nursery. Parents will need to negotiate fees to be paid to the secondary childcare provider in order to maintain their place at this setting.

NB-Should the local authority share the 15 hour funding across  the 2 settings, the child attends – Parents will be liable to pay the top up fees for hours at the rate of £5 per hour (payable 1 week in advance) attended at Forefield until such a point when 30 hour funding is reinstated across the 2 settings.

• 30 hours provision can be used across a maximum of two settings and providers. E.g. 15 hours at Forefield Community Infant and Nursery School 15 hours at All Saints Ventures or with a childminder. Parents should consider all options available and what is the most suitable for the age and stage of development of their child.
• Before applying for 30 hours provision at Forefield Community Infant and Nursery school, parents should consider if their child is ready for a full day at school Nursery. Using your child’s prior experiences at private Nursery settings and speaking to Key Workers may help to give you an indication of this.
• Attendance at the Nursery does not guarantee admission to Reception at Forefield Community Infant & Nursery School.  Parents will still need to apply for a school place through the Local Authority but can register an interest in a place at the school at the school office ensuring information regarding applications to Reception are forwarded from school.