Nursery Admissions

Nursery Admissions for September 2023

Nursery Start date

Children may start Nursery in the term AFTER their third birthday at the earliest. This is linked to the funding that is given to schools. Priority will be given to pupils who will turn 4 during the academic year (see below) and younger pupils will only be admitted if there are spare spaces.

We will be applying the following criteria in making an offer of a Nursery place:

1. Children who are Looked After Children

2. Children who have specific medical, social or special needs, where the application is supported by specific written professional advice as to why full-time Nursery provision is required. Children in these two categories will be offered either a full-time or part-time place, depending on eligibility.

After these applications:

26 full-time (30 hour) places to be offered, in order of priority, to:

3. Children who are already in St Mary’s School Nursery and will turn 4 between September 1st 2022 and August 31st 2023

4. Children who meet either the foundation (50% of remaining places) or open (50% of remaining places) criteria of St Mary’s admissions policy and will turn 4 between September 1st 2022 and August 31st 2023, and are eligible for a full time place*

5. children who meet either the foundation (50% of remaining places) or open (50% of remaining places) criteria of St Mary’s admissions policy and will turn 4 between September 1st 2022 and August 31st 2023, and are eligible for a full time place*

*In order to qualify for a full time place, the following requirements apply:

• Children whose parents qualify for free 30 hours childcare, with an eligible code
• Children who qualify for the Pupil Premium (up to a maximum of 5, see criteria below)
• Children whose parents are eligible for 15 hours childcare

Pupil Premium

Up to 5 places will be allocated to pupils whose parents are not eligible for 30 hours free childcare, but are eligible for the pupil premium. These pupils will be determined by the admissions criteria above, up to a maximum of 5 pupils.

St Mary’s Bryanston Square Admissions Criteria

Foundation Places

The Governing Body has designated up to 50% of remaining places to be offered to pupils whose parent/carer is a faithful and regular worshipper in an Anglican or other Christian Church (see note 1). Written evidence of applicants' commitment to their place of worship will be required at the time of application on the School’s Supplementary Information Form which must be returned to the School; this evidence must be endorsed by your priest. If there are more than 15 applicants who qualify for a foundation place, places will be allocated according to the following criteria. These are stated in order of priority: 

F1. Children who will have a sibling at St Mary’s Bryanston Square School at the time of admission and whose parents regularly attend St Mary’s Bryanston Square Church (see notes 3 and 4)

F2. Children who will have a sibling at St Mary’s Bryanston Square School at the time of admission and whose parents regularly attend another Christian church (see notes 2, 3 and 4)

F3. Children whose parents regularly attend St Mary’s Bryanston Square Church (see note 3)

F4. Children whose parents regularly attend another Christian church (see notes 2 and 3) In the event of oversubscription in any of the above criteria, priority will be determined in order of nearness of the home to the school (see note 6). In the event that two or more applicants live the same distance from the school and there are insufficient places to admit all applicants, places will be allocated by drawing lots. 

If the number of qualified applicants for foundation places is less than 50% of the available places, any unfilled places will become additional open places. Unsuccessful qualified applicants for foundation places will be considered for any open places remaining unfilled at the end of the allocation procedure.

Open places

 The Governing Body has designated at least 50% of the remaining places each year as open places, to be offered to pupils who do not qualify for a foundation place, but whose parents have chosen the school for the type of education it provides. Parents applying for an open place do so knowing that the school aims to provide an education based on Christian principles and, therefore, the Governing Body hopes that all pupils will take part in the Christian worship of the school and attend religious education lessons.  If there are more applicants than places, places will be allocated according to the following criteria. 

These are stated in order of priority: 

O1. Children who will have a sibling at St Mary’s Bryanston Square School at the time of admission (see note 4)

O2. Children in order of nearness of their home to the school (see note 6).

In the event of oversubscription in any of the above criteria, priority will be determined in order of nearness of the home to the school (see note 6). In the event that two or more applicants live the same distance from the school and there are insufficient places to admit all applicants, places will be allocated by drawing lots. 

 Notes:

 1. By a “looked-after child” we mean one in the care of a local authority or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of its social services function. An adoption order is one made under the Adoption Act 1976 (Section 12) or the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (Section 46). A ‘child arrangements order is one settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live (Children Act 1989, Section 8, as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014, Section 14). A ‘special guardianship order’ is one appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian/s (Children Act 1989, Section 14A). Applications under this criterion should be accompanied by evidence to show that the child is looked after or was previously looked after (e.g. a copy of the adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order).”

2. A Christian Church is one that is a full member of Churches Together in Britain & Ireland or The Evangelical Alliance.

3. Faithful and regular worshipper is defined as attendance of the parent/carer at worship at least fortnightly for at least two years prior to application. Those who have recently moved to the area and who worshipped previously in a different church will be asked to supply a reference from that church so that the two-year period is covered. 

4. Qualifying siblings are brothers and sisters, half-brothers and -sisters, step-brothers and -sisters, foster and adopted brothers and sisters who share the same home. 

5. Distance is measured in a straight line using the local authority’s computerised mapping system (this measurement will be from a central point of a child’s home to a central point of the school). Applicants from the same block of flats will be treated equally regardless of the floor on which they live. 

6. Where a child regularly lives at more than one address, the main address for admissions purposes will be the address of the person with parental responsibility and who receives child benefit and child tax credit. 

Need more help?

For further information about admissions, if you have any questions or would like to take a tour of the school, please contact the school office. We'll be happy to help. 

Telephone: 0203 146 0968 

Email: office@stmbs.org.uk