Admission Policy 2023/24
Bensham Grove Community Nursery School is a Local Authority maintained Nursery school, admitting 3 and 4 year olds. The Local Authority agreed admission number for the 3 – 4 years olds is 104.
All 3 and 4-year-old children are entitled to 15 hours of free education provided over 38 weeks (universal entitlement). Some children will be entitled to an additional 15 hours childcare (extended entitlement) if the parents/carers meet the eligibility criteria.
Our school aims to provide a high-quality education by offering:
Offer 1 – as our core offer either five morning sessions or five afternoon sessions a week.
Offer 2 – in order to meet the individual family needs our school works in partnership with Spring Daycare and offers parents blocked sessions where parents can choose a mixture of morning and afternoon sessions across one day, taking up to five education sessions over the week. According to availability, school will provide the 15 hours universal funded education sessions and Spring Daycare will provide the additional childcare hours required by parents including the additional 15 hours to those parents who meet the eligibility criteria for the 30 hours entitlement.
All children aged 3-4 in the term after their 3rd birthday are entitled to 15 hours of free nursery provision, provided over 38 weeks (universal entitlement.)
Spring Daycare provide day care for 0-3-year olds and provide the 2-year-old funded entitlement to those parents who meet the eligibility criteria.
Oversubscription Criteria
If there are not enough places available for all applicants, we will apply the criteria which are ranked in priority order below.
The children who will become four years of age during the relevant academic year and would only have the opportunity to benefit from three terms of nursery education.
The allocation of places within this group of children will then be based on priorities 1 to 7 listed below.
If there are not enough applicants within this older group of children above to fill all available places, then we will next consider those younger children who will reach the age of three during the academic year.
Priority will then be given to these children who will become three during the Autumn term, then the Spring term and then the Summer term.
Within each term the allocation of places is based on priorities 1 to 7 listed below.
Places can only be offered to these younger children if we can confirm that a place is not needed for a child who will become four years of age during the relevant academic year.
We will give priority in the following order:
- Looked after children (children in public care and deemed under Section 22 of the children Act 1989).
- Children who live in Gateshead and who will have a brother or sister at the nursery.
- Children who live outside Gateshead and who will have a brother or sister at the nursery.
- Other children who live in the catchment area of Bensham.
- Other children with exceptional medical or social grounds see point 1 below.
- Other children who live in Gateshead.
- Children who live outside Gateshead.
Applications based on Medical or Social Need
We can consider exceptional individual applications, particularly in cases involving medical or social needs. If you wish to apply on medical or social grounds you must provide written evidence from relevant registered health professionals i.e. a doctor or social worker. The evidence must demonstrate why the chosen school is more appropriate and what difficulties would be caused if your child were to travel to and attend alternative schools. We will not consider such applications if the relevant professional evidence is not provided. This evidence will be assessed by a panel of Governors and the Head Teacher. No assumption should be made that submission of the relevant evidence will, in itself, be sufficient to allocate a place.
Tie Breaker
If within any of the above priorities there are more applicants than places available then priority will be given to those children based on the distance they live from the school measured as the crow flies i.e. in a straight line from the centre of the home residence to the main entrance of the school. Children living nearest the school will have priority.
Allocation of places
Parents/ carers are asked to indicate the pattern of attendance they would prefer. In the event of any pattern of attendance being oversubscribed, places will be allocated in order of distance they live from the school measured as the crow flies i.e. in a straight line from the centre of the home residence to the main entrance of the school, starting from the nearest.
Address
For the purposes of deciding whether a child lives in the catchment area of a school we will use the parent or legal guardian’s address or the address of a relevant adult who has parental responsibility (as defined under the 1989 Children Act) for the child.
Waiting list
If places then become available, we will consider all the applications on a waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained by the Head Teacher from the start of the academic year and be kept for the rest of the academic year. All applicants on the waiting list will be placed according to the admission criteria and priorities set out above. The length of time a child has been on the waiting list cannot be taken into account if places become available. If you apply late, you child’s name may be added to the list by using the priority order described above.
Complaints
If you feel that the admissions criteria stated above have not been fairly applied to your child, then you may register a complaint with the Governing Body using their normal complaints procedure.
Admission into Reception
Obtaining a place in nursery school or a nursery class does not guarantee your child a place for entry to Reception class. There is a different admission criterion that applies for admission to infant and primary school entry. You must apply in the Autumn term for admission to an infant or primary school in the following September.
Review
This policy will be reviewed annually by the Governing Body