Nursery Admissions

We still have nursery places available for September 2024. Please see link to application form and policy below.  If you would like to apply for a place for your child, please send your application form to admin@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk

Applications for September 2025 are now open.  The closing date for applications is 3 March 2025 and offers will be made on 17 March 2025.

We will be holding an open evening for prospective parents on Thursday 16 January 2025 at 6.00pm.  If you would like to attend, please email Mrs Bliss on admin@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk to register your interest.

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. We offer this as two different options:

• Option 1: Monday to Friday 9am-12pm.
• Option 2: Three morning sessions (9am-12pm) and one full day (9am-3pm). We would do our best to accommodate your request for specific days but cannot guarantee this.

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 £5.50 per hour for additional hours.

Families who want their child to attend for more than 15 hours must take up option 1 or option 2 from above, and then inform the school at the beginning of each term which other days they wish to have additional hours. 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 £5.50 for lunch club or £16.50 for the whole afternoon. As stated above, some parents increase their child's hours as the year goes on in preparation for beginning reception.

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.