Admissions - Nursery
Core Offer
Strathmore Infant and Nursery School offer the 15 hours FREE Nursery education, between 08:45 and 11:45 Monday to Friday, term-time only. There are 26 places available. This is open to children whose fourth birthday falls between 1st September and 31st August. We also offer a lunch club from 11:45 to 12:45. This can be covered using 30 hours free childcare if the remaining 15 hours are not being used by another childcare provider.
Nursery Lunch Club costings
Bookings for Nursery Lunch Club are through the Arbor App in the Clubs section.
If you are entitled to 30 hours free childcare and wish to use some of these hours for our lunch club, the costs are as follows:
Packed lunch option and 30 hours childcare allowance: FREE
Hot meal option and 30 hours childcare allowance: £2.30
If you are using your 15 hours entitlement for five morning sessions, lunch club will need to be paid at the following costs:
Packed lunch option: £3.00
Hot meal option: £5.30
Ideally, we ask for parents to book a place for lunch club a term in advance so we can ensure adequate staffing. If you have any issues please make the school office aware.
Strathmore Pre-School is a separate setting, run on the school site. The Pre-School is able to offer a limited number of places for afternoon care – please contact the Pre-School Leader, Diane Grazette, for details of availability and funding: 07953 742755.
Hitchin Partnership Admission Information for Local Authority Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes
Admissions for 2024/25
Nursery settings operate their own admission process.
Local authority nursery schools and classes within Hitchin form part of the Hitchin Partnership. In order to provide consistency and simplify the process for parents, the partnership has agreed a timeline for admissions and a set of over subscription criteria.
Hitchin Partnership Timeline for Maintained Nursery Schools and Nursery Classes for admission in 2024/25
Autumn 2023 | Hitchin maintained nursery schools and nursery classes will make nursery admission information available on their websites |
Wednesday 31st January 2024 | Applications open via school’s websites for Hitchin maintained nursery schools and nursery classes (online applications preferred) |
Friday 8th March 2024 | Applications close for Hitchin maintained nursery schools and nursery classes |
Wednesday 27th March 2024 | Offers made to parents (via the same method as application was made) |
Friday 19th April 2024 | Deadline for parents to accept/reject places. Continued interest offers will be made after this date. |
Strathmore Infant and Nursery School offer the 15 hours FREE Nursery education, between 08:45 and 11:45 Monday to Friday, term-time only. This is open to children whose fourth birthday falls between 1st September 2024 and 31st August 2025. We also offer a lunch club from 11:45 to 12:45. This can be covered using 30 hours free childcare if the remaining 15 hours are not being used by another childcare provider.
The nursery is an integral part of the school. A separate application is needed from Nursery to main school.
Should there be more applications than places, an agreed over subscription criteria will be followed. Please see below for the over subscription criteria. If an application is unsuccessful, you may request to go onto the nursery’s continuing interest list and as a space arises, the criteria will be applied again.
Hitchin Partnership Over Subscription Criteria for Maintained Nursery Schools and Classes for the School Year 2024/25
Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs which names the school will be allocated a place in accordance with section 324 of the Education Act 1996. Schools will also admit children with an EHC (Education, Health and Care) Plan that names the school.
Parents may state their preference as to which nursery class, school or centre they would like their child to attend in the years leading up to the child’s fourth birthday. However, if there are not enough places available, places will be allocated in the following order of priority:
a) Children looked after and children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order).
b) A child ‘at risk’ (or the sibling of a child ‘at risk’) who is the subject of an inter-agency child protection plan.
c) Other applicants where the following criteria are considered to determine priorities:
1) Children for whom it can be demonstrated that they have a particular medical or social need to go to the school.
2) Children who have a sibling at the school (including, if an infant school, a sibling at the link junior school) at the time of application, unless the sibling is in the last year of the normal age range of the school. Note: the ‘normal age range’ is the designated range for which the school provides.
3) Any other children.
Please note; we will also try to prioritise children who attend the onsite preschool as part of their wraparound care.
Proof of documentation to support any of the criteria above will be required.
If more children qualify under a particular rule than there are places available, a tiebreak will be used by applying the next rule to those children. If more children qualify under criterion 2 than there are places available, priority will be given to those who live nearest to the nursery as measured using Google maps straight line distance to the front entrance of the school. Where there is a need for a tie-breaker where two different addresses measure the same distance from a school, in the case of a block of flats for example, the lower door number will be deemed nearest as logically this will be on the ground floor and therefore closer. If there are two identical addresses of separate applicants, the tie break will be random.