ADMISSIONS POLICY

It is our intention to make our setting accessible to children and families from all sections of the local community. We’ll aim to ensure that all sections of our community have access to the setting through open, fair and clearly communicated procedures.

Children are accepted at Mortimer Pre-School from the term after their 2nd Birthday (in line with West Berkshire funding dates i.e. 1st Sept – 31st Dec, 1st Jan – 31st March, 1st April – 31st August)

We have one main intake of children per year (in September in line with local schools), when there will be the most flexibility in session availability, however we do also have smaller intakes in January and after Easter.

We are unable to routinely offer places for mid-term starts unless exceptional circumstances such as the closure of other local pre-school / nurseries, a child moving to the area or exceptional family circumstances.

We arrange our admissions list in order of preferred start date. In addition, our policy may take into account:

• Date of Birth
• Funding eligibility
• Proximity of the home to the setting;
• Support for vulnerable families
• Length of time on the admissions list

We do not discriminate against a child or their family, or prevent entry to our setting, on the basis of a protected characteristic as defined by the Equalities Act (2010). These are: disability, race, gender reassignment, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, age; – pregnancy and maternity, and – marriage and civil partnership.

FUNDED HOURS

We accept 2-Year Old Funding, Universal and Extended Hour funding.  Please visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for more information regarding funding.

Funded hours can be off-set against any hours a child attends Pre-School.  

EXTENDED HOURS

• Extended funding hours are only available with a verified eligibility code. It is the parents / carer’s responsibility to re-confirm eligibility code every 3 months.  Should a child no longer be eligible then we will continue to offer the child the additional sessions at Pre-school until their extended funding expires.  We at Mortimer Pre-School then reserve the right to offer these sessions to another child.
• All parents / carers of children turning 3 or 4 in the next academic term will be reminded they can apply for Extended Funding places.  These children will then be included on the application list, with priority going to current pupils and those pupils who use Mortimer Pre-school as their priority setting. 
• Extended Hour Funding can only be offered where there is session space available. 

ADMISSIONS PROCESS

We endeavour to meet the session needs of each child and family. However where there is a strong demand for places and sessions, places will be allocated based as below.

	Allocation Priorities	Mortimer Catchment	Outside Mortimer
15 hours of Sessions	D.O.B order and eligible 2-year olds	1	4
Extended Hour Claims	Priority will be given to current pupils firstly and those who use Mortimer Pre-School as their main setting. D.O.B order may also be applied.	2	5
Additional Sessions	D.O.B order	3	6

Note:

• Mortimer Pre-School reserves the right for discretion in offering either places or sessions to new or current children, which may not always follow the Allocation of Sessions set out above, e.g. especially in cases of Safeguarding or family welfare.
• Any increased session requests will be allocated to children already attending the Pre-School (up to 15 hours) before any offer of new places and sessions go out to new starters.

TIMINGS OF APPLICATIONS AND OFFERS

What are the deadlines?

Allocation of places and sessions will be reviewed at the beginning of the term prior to the requested start date of a child (eg. first 2 weeks of January for a requested Easter start). 

Postponement of start date

It may be possible for a child to delay their start date by one term upon acceptance of a place.  However, the Pre-School cannot hold any preferred sessions open, and session space will be allocated based on availability.

Reducing sessions

On accepting a place at Mortimer Pre-School we will ask you to review and sign our Terms and Conditions.  Any reduction of sessions is subject to a 6-week notice period.