Admissions Notice
At the Pickford nursery, we are committed to being as inclusive as possible in regards to our admissions. We also strive to be a provider of funded childcare without it impacting the quality of our provisions. This policy outlines our approach to nursery, our admissions criteria, and our plans for offering funded childcare in a sustainable and inclusive manner.
We operate an inclusion and equality policy and ensure that all children have access to nursery places and services irrespective of their gender, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation of parents.
However, we may not be able to offer nursery space if either of the parents has had a history of non-payment, and delayed payments of their invoices, or abuse to staff, or non-compliance to any of our policies. Also we are not able to provide a space and have a healthy parent partnership in case there is a history of any dispute with the nursery, claim made against the nursery, claims made by nursery. Therefore in all such cases we are unable to offer nursery space.
Prior to a child attending nursery, parents must complete a registration form. Once we have received the registration form and fee we shall place the child on our waiting list. A registration fee of £50 is payable to secure a booking. We do not guarantee a nursery space until you have received and accepted an offer for nursery space.
The registration forms provide the nursery with personal details relating to the child. For example, name, date of birth, address, emergency contact details, parental responsibilities, dietary requirements, collection arrangements, fees and sessions, contact details for parents, doctor’s contact details, health visitor contact details, allergies, parental consent and vaccinations etc. Please refer to our privacy policy on our website for further information.
We shall confirm the availability of space by an offer, a month prior to the requested starting date if a space is available. We will wait to hear from you with a confirmation on taking up the space within 7 days of making of the offer of nursery place. You are requested to complete the signing of the contract, policies and permissions within 7 days of making of an offer of nursery space.
Nursery Admissions
At the Pickford nursery we care for children between the ages of four months and five years of age, and the numbers and ages of children admitted to the nursery comply with the legal space requirements set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). When considering admissions we are mindful of staff: child ratios and the facilities available at the nursery.
Places will usually be offered on a first-come, first-served basis if there are places available within the age group, but if there is a waiting list, the nursery will use the following admission criteria which will be applied in the following order of priority:
- Children currently attending who are increasing their sessions
- Children who have siblings already attending the nursery
- Children attending another sister nursery who are transferring
- Children of The Pickford employees
- Children whose parents live within the local area
- Children whose parents work within the local area
- Looked after children
- A child known by the local authority to have special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND) and whose needs can be best met at the preferred nursery
- A vulnerable child with either a Child Protection or a Child in Need Plan or Local
- Authority/Common Assessment Framework
A child requiring a full-time place may take priority over one requiring a part-time place, and bookings for full sessions and all year round will take priority over part-sessions bookings.
Government funding for early education can be used for hours within normal bookings, and the additional paid-for hours will be charged at the amount required to meet the normal session cost, after considering the amount received from the local authority for the funded hours.
Fully funded sessions may be available for two, three and four year olds, subject to eligibility and the availability of sessions and staffing arrangements. Additional charges may be made for those sessions, but attendance will be limited to specific hours, and charges will be incurred for any additional attendance. These sessions will have a termly intake, and will be allocated six weeks prior to the start of each term, in line with the admission criteria above.
We strongly believe that all children should have fair and equal access to meals, snacks and activities and we therefore will provide for these for all children at the nursery even for children who avail of the limited fully funded spaces.
All sessions should be booked in advance and any cancellations must be made with 6 weeks notice in writing by emailing the manager;
- Regular booked sessions require 6 weeks notice in writing by emailing the manager
- Ad Hoc sessions require 1 weeks’ notice in writing by emailing the manager
