Nursery (FS1)

 Nursery (Foundation Stage 1) Admission Policy 

St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for baptised Catholic children. The school is run by its governing body as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its Trust Deed and Instrument of Government and seeks at all times to be a witness to Jesus Christ.

Nursery is an integral part of school and so admissions into nursery mirror admissions into Reception (FS2).

However, attendance at St Augustine’s nursery does not guarantee a place in school. There is a separate admissions policy for school places.

If the number of preferences received is less than the admission number then all preferences will be met. However, when there are more applications than places available, applicants will be offered places in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed below.

The governing body has responsibility for admissions to the school and intends to admit 52 pupils into nursery in the school year which begins in September 2023. Generally the nursery intake is in the Autumn term. If any places become available in the January or in April then these places will be offered to children on the waiting list. 

Application Procedures and Timetable

Children will be admitted to nursery for 15 hours of free nursery education on the relevant term following their third birthday. Application forms are available from the school office from the 1^st February each year and are to be returned by the 1^st March for Governors to process.

A standard application form, must be completed and returned to the school office during the application period once the child has reached 2 years of age. Parents or carers will be advised of the outcome of their applications by 30^th April. Unsuccessful applicants will be given reasons related to the over-subscription criteria listed above and placed on the waiting list.

Admissions outside the normal admission round – applications should be made to the school and will be dealt with by the admission authority of the school i.e. the governing body. If there is more than one application for an available place the governors will make their decision using the over-subscription criteria listed in the appropriate policy for the year group. Unsuccessful applicants will be given reasons related to the over-subscription criteria and placed on the waiting list. 

Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs

The admission of pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. This procedure is set out in the 1996 Education Act. Details of this separate procedure are set out in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. 

Oversubscription criteria

At any time where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered in the following order of priority

1. Catholic looked after Children and previously looked after Catholic children or looked after/previously looked after children from catholic families. (see notes 2 & 3)
2.  Baptised Catholic children with a sibling(s) who attends St Augustine’s Catholic 

        Primary School (see note 4)

3. Baptised Catholic children who live in the defined area. (see note 5)
4. Other baptised Catholic children.

     5. Other looked after and previously looked after children with a sibling who attends St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School (see note 2 & 4)

6.  Other looked after and previously looked after children (see note 2)
7.  Members of an Eastern Christian Church (see note 6)
8. Other children with a sibling(s) who attends St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School (see note 4)
9. Other children.

Tie Break

• Where the offer of places to all the applicants in any of the categories listed above would still lead to oversubscription, the available places will be offered to those living nearest to the school. ‘straight line distance’ will be used as the measure (see notes 8 & 9).
• If two or more pupils live equidistant from the school, places will be decided by random allocation (see note 10).
• Where there is more than one application from a postal address contained within a block of flats, places will be decided by random allocation (see note 10).

Notes (these notes form part of the over-subscription criteria)

A Statement of Special Educational Needs is a statement made by the local authority under section 324 of the Education Act 1996, specifying the special educational provision for a child. An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child.

Looked After Child has the same meaning as in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, and means any child who is (a) in the care of a local authority or (b) provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social services functions (e.g. children with foster parents) at the time of making the application to the school.

A ‘Previously looked after child’ is a child who was looked after, but ceased to be so because he or she was adopted, or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order. Included in this definition are those children who appear (to the governing body) to have been in state care outside of England and who ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

Catholic means a member of a church in communion with the See of Rome. A certificate of baptism in a Catholic church, or a certificate of reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church, will normally evidence this alternatively a letter from a parish priest confirming membership of a church in communion with the See of Rome. This includes the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Looked After Children from Catholic Families – this has a dual meaning. It could be the child themselves who are baptised Catholic or it could be the family who are caring for the child that is Catholic. If it is the child who is a baptised Catholic normal rules apply and a baptism certificate should be seen by the admission authority. However, (in limited situations) this may not always be possible and in these cases the admission authority should seek to ensure that there is evidence that the child has been baptised. If a child is placed with a Catholic family who wish the child to have a Catholic education this should be evidenced by a letter from a priest evidencing the baptism of the parent/ carer.

Sibling(s) (brother or sister) includes:

1. children with a brother or sister (including siblings, step-siblings, adoptive siblings and foster siblings) of statutory school age, living at the same address, in attendance at the same school on the date of admission.
2. The child of a parent’s partner where that child lives for at least part of the week in the same family unit at the same home address as the child who is the subject of the application

Defined area is a geographical area for the purposes of this policy as determined by the Diocese of Leeds. Defined area maps available on school website.

Eastern Christian Church includes Orthodox Churches, and is normally evidenced by a certificate of baptism or reception from the authorities of that church.

Twins or triplets (or multiple births) - where a family of twins or triplets request admission and if one sibling has been offered the 30th or last place the ‘excepted pupil’ rule comes in and the other twin/triplets are offered a place.

A child’s ‘home address’ refers to the address where the child usually lives with a parent or carer, and will be the address provided in the Common Preference Form (CPF). Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives for part of the week with each parent, the home address will be the address given in the CPF, provided that the child resides at that address for any part of the school week. 

Straight line distance - in all categories, when decisions have to be made between children satisfying the same criterion, children living nearest to the school, using a straight line measure, have priority. (The Local Authority measurement is used based on the following descriptor: Note 5- In Leeds we use a straight-line distance system. We use a national computer system to run our school-admission system. As part of this system there is a program that measures the ‘straight-line’ distance from the centre of the main school building to your home address. The point we measure to at your home address is determined by the Local Land and Property Gazzetteer (LLPG). This information provides us with coordinates for every dwelling. If we are not able to match your address with the LLPG then we will use the centre of your dwelling).

Random allocation – this is only to be used when the last place to be offered would fall into one of the two categories above i.e. children living in a block of flats or children who live equidistant from the school using straight line distance criterion. An independent person will be used to make the random selection.