Admission to School
The decisions about admissions to school are based on the following criteria:
- Children who are looked after by a local authority
- Children who live in the normal area served by the school
- Children outside the normal area who have siblings at the school
- Children from the wider area
The limits on our numbers are as follows:
Nursery: 30 morning and 30 afternoon places
Reception: 60 children
Key Stage 1: no more than 30 children per class
Key Stage 2: no more than 33 children per class
If our classes or year groups are not at these levels children will normally be admitted unless their attendance at the school is felt by the governors to be detrimental to the educational opportunities of the children who already attend.
We always encourage parents and children joining our school to visit the school before a place is taken. Before admission to nursery and reception meetings will be arranged for parents to meet the staff and for children to visit their new classroom and meet their teacher.
Admission to Nursery
Highfield Hall Nursery provides term-time early years education for 3 and 4 year olds for a maximum of 60 children. This comprises of 30 morning places and 30 afternoon places. Nursery admissions are the responsibility of the school, with Governors having final say on all admissions.
We take children from the term after their 3rd birthday at three main points during the year:
• September
• January
• April
Our Nursery admission aims are:-
- to provide the best nursery education for as many eligible children as possible
- to ensure that the admissions of pupils to nursery enables staff to maintain the balance and smooth running of the nursery
- to ensure that the admission of pupils enables staff to effectively plan and provide consistent, high quality provision of the Early Years nursery curriculum over five days.
All 3 and 4yr old children are entitled to 15-hours free (government funded) nursery education, per week. Working families are entitled to 30-hours free (government funded) nursery education per week. To check whether your child is eligible for 15 or 30 hours childcare please visit https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Our 30 morning and 30 afternoon places comprise a combination of part-time and full-time places.
- Part-time places are made up from the universal 15 hours childcare for all. Our 15-hour places are offered over 5 morning sessions of 3 hours or five afternoon sessions of 3 hours.
- A full-time place (30-hours) can be funded using a childcare code for free additional 15 hours available to working families. 30-hour places are offered over 5 full days of 6 hours. Parents can opt for their child to start Nursery from 8.40am at an additional cost of £3.50 per day. We do offer a limited number of full-time (30-hour) places, which are offered on a first come, first served basis.
15-hour places
Morning session: 8.40am – 11.40am
Afternoon session: 12.30pm – 3.30pm
30-hour places: 9.30am – 3.30pm
(with the option of a paid earlier start at 8.40am)
We ask that 15-hour children attend for at least 4 morning or afternoon sessions per week and at least 4 full days per 30 hours.
Highfield Hall Nursery is inclusive and places are not restricted to children in the normal area. The Governors wish to provide nursery education for as many children as possible but cannot guarantee a place to every child. Where more applications are made than are available, places will be allocated in date of birth order. However, we will also take account of the following where possible:
- Children who are looked after by a local authority
- Children on the Child Protection at risk register.
- Children with identified Special Educational Needs
- Children whose families are suffering severe social and psychological stress which could significantly affect the child’s development
- Children who live in the normal area served by the school
- Children outside the normal area who have siblings at the school
- Children from the wider area
Please note that parents do not have an automatic right to a place in their normal area school nursery. The rules on admission and appeal do not apply to nursery places.
If a child is given a Nursery place, this does not guarantee a main school place. Parents will need to apply to Derbyshire County Council for their child’s choice of school and a place in Reception.
Parents can register an interest in their child attending our Nursery by contacting school any time after their child is 18 months old.
Applications for places should be made directly to the Highfield Hall Primary School office, who will maintain a waiting list and contact you as soon as a place is available. Visits to our nursery are warmly encouraged.
To apply please complete a Nursery Admission form and return it to the school office. Application forms are available from the school office.
Admission to Reception
All parents are entitled to send their children to Reception in the September of the year in which they are five years old. Our Pupil admission number (PAN) is 60.
Applications for places are handled by Derbyshire County Council under the co-ordinated admissions policy. The school has no authority to offer places.
Primary and junior appeals
If your appeal is for a child starting school for the first time during the 2022 to 2023 academic year or transferring from year 2 at an infant school to junior provision in September 2022, you will receive your decision on 19 April 2021. If your application is unsuccessful, you can appeal. Please submit your appeal by 16 May 2022.
If you are informed of a decision for reception 2022 to 2023 or junior school for September 2022 after 19 April 2022 or it relates to an in year admission, you should submit your appeal within 28 days of being told that your application was unsuccessful.