Nursery Admissions
If you are interested in a space and would like further information, please contact Mrs Karen Bliss either by email, admin@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk or by telephone, 01462 623322.
Norton St Nicholas Nursery
We have an open evening on Wednesday 14th January 2025. To book a space, please contact the school office or fill in this form.
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Why our school nursery for your child?
While your 15 or 30 hours free childcare can be used with many different providers, we believe there are some real benefits of a school nursery. These include:
- A qualified class teacher working with the children every morning.
- The continuity that many children have as they move into our reception class, already knowing the school and many of the staff.
- The benefit of the expertise of staff across the school who give input that really benefits our nursery children, including with Special Educational Needs, Speech and Language, Behaviour and Emotional support, Sports provision.
- Involvement in the wider school community – collective worship, celebrations, events (sports day, summer fairs).
- The convenience and enjoyment of being at the same school as older siblings.
15 hours of early years education at Norton St Nicholas
All 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of free early years education for 38 weeks of the year. There are different ways in which these 15 hours can be used:
- Option 1: Monday to Friday 9am-12pm.
- Option 2: Three mornings (9am-12pm) and one full day (9am-3pm).
- Option 3: Two full days (9am-3pm) and one morning (9am-12pm).
If you have other arrangements you would like to discuss with us, please let us know.
Up to 30 hours of early years education at Norton St Nicholas
Some 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds are entitled to up to 30 hours of free early years education for 38 weeks of the year. For those not eligible, families can pay £6.00 per hour for additional hours. We also accept Tax Free Childcare payments and Childcare vouchers.
Families who want their child to attend for more than 15 hours must inform the school at the beginning of each half term which days and hours they would like their child to attend. There are two collection times available for those doing more than 15 hours:
- 1pm finish, meaning your child will start at 9am and stay at nursery for a packed lunch.
- 3pm finish, meaning your child will stay from 9am-3pm.
Funding (15 hours and 30 hours) - what are you entitled to?
- All nursery age children are entitled to 15 hours free childcare.
- Your child is entitled to 30 hours free childcare if you (and your partner, if you have one) earn at least the National Minimum Wage of Living Wage for 16 hours a week on average (this would be £1,853.28 over a 3 month period). Parents on some benefits are also eligible. Full details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare.
- If you are entitled to 30 hours free childcare, you can choose to use all of it or a proportion of it (although there does need to be a regular pattern to this due to how we collect our funding). It is not unusual for parents to choose for their children to increase their hours as the year goes on in preparation for beginning reception.
- If your child is not entitled to 30 hours, you can still choose to pay for your child to attend for additional hours each week. This could be for lunch club until 1pm or until the end of the day. The cost is £6.00 for lunch club or £18.00 for the whole afternoon. As stated above, some parents increase their child's hours as the year goes on in preparation for beginning reception.
Chargeable extras
|
Description |
Cost |
|---|---|
| Free entitlement hours – 15 or 30 hours per week depending on entitlement. | Free |
| Additional hours purchased for those only entitled to 15 hours per week | £6 per hour |
|
School trips There is usually one trip in the summer and one at Christmas. All other activities, including Forest School are not chargeable. |
£10-£20 per trip |
The admissions process
We know the admissions process for nursery places can seem complicated, so we aim to keep it as simple as possible.
If you would like your child to join our nursery, simply complete the application form below and return it to the school office.
Our admissions policy is below as well (but it really is as simple as completing the application form and returning it to us!). If you have any questions at all, please do get in contact.
Nursery Admissions Policy 2025-2026
Nursery Application Form 2025-2026
Applications for 2026-2027
Applications for September 2026 are now open. If you would like to make an application please complete the application form below and return it, preferably by email, to admin@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk