Nursery Admissions

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 3^rd 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:

1.                Children who are looked after by a local authority
2.                Children on the Child Protection at risk register.
3.                Children with identified Special Educational Needs
4.                Children whose families are suffering severe social and psychological stress which could significantly affect the child’s development
5.                Children who live in the normal area served by the school
6.                Children outside the normal area who have siblings at the school
7.                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 clicking the link and completing the form. Nursery Request Form