Admissions Policy
Summary
It is our intention to make our pre-school accessible to children and families from all sections of the local
community. We aim to ensure that all sections of our community have access to the pre-school through open,
fair and clearly communicated procedures.
In line with other pre-schools there is no catchment area for Witchford Rackham Pre-school. The waiting list is
arranged according to the date of application and applications will be accepted from a child’s second birthday.
Witchford Rackham Pre-school is registered to accept children from 2 years 9 months to 4 years of age. All
3 year olds (from the term after they turn three) and 4 year olds receive government funding for 15 hours of
free pre-school education. Fees to attend pre-school will apply for children who are not yet 3 years old.
Acceptance in to the pre-school does not guarantee entry to the reception year at Rackham Primary School.
Procedures

We ensure that the existence of our pre-school is widely advertised in places accessible to all sections of
the community.

We ensure that information about our pre-school is accessible, using simple plain English, in written and
spoken form and, where appropriate, provided in different community languages and in other formats on
request.

We arrange our waiting list according to the date of application. In addition, if the pre-school is oversubscribed, our policy may take into account:

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the age of the child, with priority given to children who are eligible for the free entitlement;
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the vicinity of the child’s main home to the pre-school;
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whether any siblings already attend the pre-school; and
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the capacity of the pre-school to meet the individual needs of the child.
In addition, priority will be given to Children in Care (also known as Looked After Children), children with
special needs who have been referred by a social worker, pre-school specialist support teacher or special
needs officer, and children referred by the traveller referral team.

We keep a place vacant, if this is financially viable, to accommodate an emergency admission.
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
Our pre-school and its practices are welcoming and make it clear that fathers, mothers, other relations,
carers and childminders are all welcome.

Our pre-school and its practices operate in a way that encourages positive regard for and understanding of
difference and ability - whether gender, family structure, class, background, religion, ethnicity or
competence in spoken English.

We support children and/or parents with disabilities to take full part in all activities within our pre-school.

We monitor the needs and background of children joining our pre-school on the Registration Form, to
ensure that no accidental or unintentional discrimination is taking place.

We share and widely promote our Valuing Diversity and Promoting Equality Policy.

We consult with families about the opening times of our pre-school to ensure that we accommodate a
broad range of families' needs.

We are flexible about attendance patterns to accommodate the needs of individual children and families,
however, in order to ensure a pattern of continuity in the pre-school that provides stability for all the
children, we require children to attend a minimum of 3 morning sessions or 3 afternoon sessions.

If you turn down a place when it is offered, we reserve the right to offer the place to the next child on the
waiting list. It is possible that a place may not become available again until the following September when
some of the existing children move up to Primary School.

When all eligible children have been offered places and accepted them, any spare sessions may be
offered to existing children attending the pre-school once term has started.

Failure to comply with the terms and conditions may ultimately result in the provision of a place being
withdrawn.
This policy was adopted by
(name of provider)
On
(date)
Date to be reviewed
(date)
Signed on behalf of the provider
Name of signatory
Role of signatory (e.g. chair, director or owner)

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