Iver Heath

Nurturing happy, healthy, confident learners in a safe, rich learning environment

  • 'Thank you for all the guidance and support you have given our daughter. You have really instilled a lot of confidence in her!'
  • 'Words cannot express how grateful my husband and I are to all the staff for the hours of dedication and support that you have given our son throughout his time at the school!' (Parent)
  • 'Our daughter thoroughly enjoyed her experiences during her Forest School sessions and we enjoyed listening to her excited stories afterwards!'
  • 'Thank you for all your hard work, care and never ending support'.
  • 'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all' Aristotle
  • 'It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression' Albert Einstein
  • 'Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire' WB Yeats
  • 'Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world' Nelson Mandela

ADMISSIONS POLICY

 

October 2019 (revised March 21)

 Aims

 

The Iver Heath Infant School and Nursery Admissions Policy aims to serve the needs of the local community regardless of ethnicity, attainment, age, disability, gender, religion, belief / non-belief or background. Admission to the school is in accordance with the published admissions criteria for Buckinghamshire County Council maintained schools.

 

Admissions to the Nursery

 

Our Nursery has provision for 30 places for children aged 3 plus, in either morning of afternoon sessions.  This provision is made up of a mixture of 30 hour and 15 hour funded places. Children will be eligible to attend Nursery if their fourth birthday falls in the academic year 1st September to 31st August.  All children will attend the Nursery class for the 3 terms of that academic year before starting full time education the following September.  On occasion children can be admitted in the term after they are three if spaces are available.

 

An application for a place in the Nursery may be made on or after the child’s first birthday, however places are not allocated on the basis of when applications are made.  The closing date for applications to be considered in the first round of allocations will be in January each year, in line with the Bucks CC closing date for main school applications. This will vary slightly each year but will be published on our website.

 

Applying for a place in Iver Heath Nursery Class

 In the Spring term prior to the academic year children would be due to start the Nursery Class, the school will write to parents offering their child a place for September.  Once the place has been accepted, parents will be invited to an induction meeting and to a visit to the Nursery for their child – these will take place during June.

Parents who have been unsuccessful in gaining a place for their child may keep their child’s name on a waiting list in case a place is available at a later date.

 Late Applications

 Late applications will only be considered alongside timely applications in exceptional circumstances and only if they are received prior to the place allocation being made.  Examples of exceptional circumstances include where a single parent has been ill or has been dealing with the death or serious illness of a close relative.  Other circumstances will be considered and each case will be decided on the basis of any independent evidence to support reasons for lateness.

 The nursery offers both 30 hour and 15 hour a week places. The 30 hour a week places run from 9.00am -3.00pm Monday to Friday. The 15 hour a week places run from 8.30am – 11.30am or 12.00 – 3.00pm Monday to Friday. In the term after a child’s third birthday they will be entitled to a free 15 hours a week place. The entitlement for a 30 hour a week place is as follows:

  • Both parents will earn, on average, equivalent to 16 hours per week at minimum wage or higher, or one parent in single parent households
  • Parent’s individual salary must be less than £100,000
  • Parents will be able to apply for both Tax-Free Childcare and the 30 hour entitlement through a joint application system being developed by HMRC

 

Parents are also able to pay for the additional 15 hours if they request a 30 hour place but are not eligible. (Please see ‘Nursery Additional hours contract’ for details of pricing.)

 Admissions Criteria

 The school will prioritise up to 22 full time places for children (either due to eligibility or self-funded) and will allocate these using the criteria below.  Once the full time places available have been allocated the part time places will be offered under the same criteria.

 If the number of applications exceeds the number of places then once children who already hold a statement of special educational need or Education, Health and Care Plan have been allocated places, the remaining places will be allocated in the following order:

 

  1. Looked after and previously looked after children
  2. Children who have exceptional medical or social needs supported by written evidence form an appropriate professions
  3. Children wishing to take up the full entitlement of 30 hours per week (up to a maximum of 22 children)
  4. Children living within the catchment area of the school (see appendix 1) with a sibling link either at our school or Iver Heath Junior School Year R –Year 5 at the time when the allocations are made.
  1. Children living within the catchment area of the school
  1. Children out of catchment area with siblings in our school or Iver Heath Junior School Year R – Year 5 at the time when the allocations are made.
  2. Once the above rules have been applied then any further places will be offered in distance order, using the distance between the child’s Normal Home Address and the school’s nearest open entrance gate.  We use a computerised system to measure the straight line distance* then offer the closest to the gate first
  3. Where one place remains and the next two applicants are equal distance from the school, a random allocation will be made.  This applies to all cases, including flats and apartments, where addresses are equidistant.

 

If we are unable to offer the place initially requested in the first round of allocations we may be able to offer a substitute place in the second round; for example if all the morning places are full but the afternoon places are not, we will offer afternoon places in the second round of allocations, to those who failed to secure a morning place in the first round.

 

Following the first round of allocations, should places be available the number of full time offers may be increased as appropriate.

Admission to Nursery does not entitle children to a place in the main school – this is a separate admission procedure administered by Bucks County Council.

 Admissions to the School

 The recommended intake to the Iver heath Infant School is 60 children per year.

 

Children will be admitted to school full time in the September of the academic year in which they become 5 years old. They will be admitted into two Reception classes.

 

Iver Heath Infant School serves the local area of Iver Heath and George Green.  This is the School’s reserved area.  The Local Education Authority provides free transport between home and school for admitted children living in the George Green catchment area, when they are Statutory School age.

 

An interest in a place at Iver Heath Infant School should be made to the school. However, admissions are dealt with by Bucks County Council, and all admissions must now be applied for online (if this causes concern please contact the school office). Information will be sent to parents of children in our nursery via a letter in the autumn term, or parents can find more information on the Bucks County Council website:

   https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/education/school-admissions/

When applying online parents/guardians should state preferences and ensure their application is made before the closing date for the first round of allocations which is mid January. The exact date will be posted on our school website when it is known. In-year admissions will also be dealt with by Bucks County Council.

Admissions Criteria

All children living within the School’s reserved area and whose parents have expressed a first preference for Iver Heath Infant School will be afforded priority with respect to admission to the School. 

Parents or Guardians must apply to Buckinghamshire County Council using the online portal#. Places at the school are offered by Buckinghamshire County Council and not the school.

Applications from those who have expressed a preference for the school will be considered for places before those who have not expressed a preference.

 

If there are more preferences for admission to Iver Heath Infant School than can be met the County Council will allocate according to the following criteria:-

 

  • Looked After children

 

  • Children who have exceptional medical or social needs, which can only be met at this school, supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional person.

 

  • Children living within the catchment area of the school with siblings in our school or Iver Heath Junior School Year R – Year 5 at the time when the allocations are made.

 

  • Children living within the catchment area of the school

 

  • Children out of catchment area with siblings in our school or Iver Heath Junior School Year R – Year 5 at the time when the allocations are made.

 

Once places have been allocated under the above criteria, the places will be offered in distance order, using the distance between the family`s normal home address and the school`s nearest entrance gate, offering the closest first. We use the straight line distance route*. 

 

*The straight line distance definition: is ‘the distance from your child’s Normal Home Address, as set out by Ordnance Survey, to the nearest open school gate available for pupils to use.’

 

Children of Statutory School Age

Children are considered to be of statutory school age when they have reached the age of five years.

Reviews and Appeals

Details of the appeals procedure against non-admission can be obtained from the Appeals Team, Legal and Democratic Services, County Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks. 

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Admissions and Pupil Matters Committee of the Iver Heath Infant School and Nursery Governing body will review the Admissions Policy in the Summer term or earlier if circumstances require. 

Approved by governors April 2021