Information for families approaching the school (revised March 2006)

WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE FOR ADMISSION TO THE SCHOOL? The procedure is different depending upon whether you are applying for Early Years (nursery and kindergarten) or classes 1 to 10. Admission procedure for For Early Years: Admission stage 1 A) Complete and return these forms (copies available from the office):  Interview Form (this will be used by the teachers conducting the interview) 

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Preliminary Financial Agreement Form (this confirms that you have understood and agreed to support the school financial needs. It must be completed before an interview can take place). Bursary Application Form (if you would require a bursary in order to come to the school). The bursary must be agreed and incorporated into the Preliminary Financial Agreement before an interview can take place.

B) Arrange to attend an Early Years introduction. This is mandatory for families applying for a place in nursery or kindergarten, or for Class 1 in September. This must have been attended before the interview can take place. Early Years Introduction: This forms part of the Prospective Parents Visits that are held approximately monthly on a Friday. These visits contain talk, discussion and Q&A sessions that are not open to children of any age. Families wishing to bring children should therefore bring two carers, one of whom will accompany the children outside the talk, discussion and Q&A sessions. Admission stage 2 A) Once your Interview Form has been received an interview will be arranged, and communicated to you. If your child is already in school (including nursery, play group, etc.) we will also need a report. B) After the interview the school will write to you to say whether or not a place can be offered. For information on replying to an offer of a place, please see below: What to do when you are offered a place. 1

Checklist for Early Years interview. Have you... 

completed the Preliminary Financial Agreement (including any bursary agreement)



attended the Early Years introduction



returned the interview form



forwarded a report from your child's current school (if applicable)?

Admission procedure for Classes 1 to 10 Please complete an Interview Form and provide a report from the child's current school. You should also complete a Preliminary Financial Agreement Form, which confirms that you have understood and agreed to support the school financial needs. If you require a bursary in order to come to the school you must also complete the Bursary Application Form. A bursary must be agreed and incorporated into the Preliminary Financial Agreement before the application proceeds. Following this a trial period may be offered, during which your child attends the appropriate class for three to five days. If all goes well a formal interview will normally follow at the end of this period. After that the school will write to you to say whether or not a place can be offered. Checklist for Classes 1 -10 interview. Have you... 

completed the Preliminary Financial Agreement (including any bursary agreement)



returned the interview form



forwarded a report from your child's current school?

What to do when you are offered a place If you are offered a place you must react fairly quickly. If you wish to accept the offer, please send a deposit within two weeks. The deposit is £600, or £300 for a child entering nursery. If you already have a child in the school the deposit for a second or subsequent child is £300. If no deposit is received the offer of a place may be withdrawn. If you are applying for admission during the school year: the place will be held for six weeks from the date of offer, provided the deposit has been paid. (This period may be extended by agreement to the next termly or half-termly break.) If you are unable to take up the place within this period you can either: a) withdraw the application (in which case your deposit will be returned), or b) start making the agreed financial contribution as if your child were in the school. This rule is designed to allow families relocating to our area the opportunity to secure a place when their date of moving is uncertain. If you are applying for admission in September: your place will be secure once you have paid the deposit, but the deposit will not be refundable if you withdraw your application after the end of the summer term.

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WHAT ABOUT FULL CLASSES? The school is flexible about class sizes, but tries to maintain an average in classes one to eight of about twenty-four children. It is usual for one or two vacancies to arise in each class during the year. The classrooms vary in size, so as a class progresses through the school the physical constraint on class size also varies. Sometimes a class is physically full to capacity. In this case you may still be offered an interview but would have to wait for a vacancy before being offered a place. Sometimes a child will be accepted into a theoretically full class if the class teacher feels that they will fit in well with the balance and dynamic of the class. It is important to remember that class and teacher have been together since the age of six and the group has formed a distinctive character. The teacher will want to be sure that any additions to the class will enhance this. For these reasons the school tries to avoid making definitive statements about full classes. Experience shows that families committed to the education offered by the school will normally find a place in due course. WHAT IS THE PROVISION FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS? Each class is able to accept some children with specific learning difficulties. Extra help for these children is available from the dedicated Learning Support Department. Children with special needs will be assessed with regard to (i) their own needs, (ii) the resources available in the Learning Support Department to meet those needs and (iii) the make-up and balance of the class they are approaching. This assessment will take place before a place in the class can be offered. Children with a statement of special educational needs can sometimes be accepted, provided local authority provision is in place to support the statement. WHAT HOURS WILL MY CHILD ATTEND SCHOOL? Children can start in nursery when age three, with some of the older three-year olds going into kindergarten. Nursery is normally offered for two mornings a week, from 8.30 to 12.20. Children stay in kindergarten up to age six. Kindergarten is offered for between three and five mornings a week depending on age, needs and stamina. Children normally progress to class I for the school year in which they will be seven. However, if your child's birthday falls between May and September they may already be seven when they go into class 1. There is no firm cut-off date. Decisions are made in the light of the individual child. The school day in classes one to ten starts at 8.20. Morning sessions end at 12.30 and all day sessions end just before 3 o'clock. Attendance is as shown in the table on the next page. A small number of afternoon places are available to kindergarten children (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and Class 1 and 2 children (Mondays and Fridays).

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Age (rising)

Class

Attendance

7

Class 1

5 mornings a week, plus Tuesday afternoon from the second term

8

Class 2

5 mornings a week, plus Tuesday and Thursday afternoons

9

Class 3

5 mornings a week, plus Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons

10

Class 4

5 full days, except Wednesday afternoons

11

Class 5

5 full days, except Wednesday afternoons

12

Class 6

5 full days

13

Class 7

5 full days

14

Class 8

5 full days

15

Class 9

5 full days, ending at 4 o'clock

16

Class 10

5 full days, ending at 4 o'clock

WHAT ARE THE COSTS? Contribution scale £ per term 2006-7

1st child

Siblings

Early Years 2 mornings

£570

£490

Early Years 3 mornings

£755

£660

Early Years 4 mornings

£940

£800

Early Years 5 mornings

£1,135

£960

Classes 1-8

£1,190

£1,010

Classes 9/10

£1,430

£1,205

The financial contribution you are asked to make is a contribution to the school as a whole. It is not intended to reflect the “cost” of your child's education. That is why the amount requested does not rise greatly as children progress through the school, even though the education in the older classes is considerably more expensive to provide. The table gives the scale for 2005-6.

Deposits A deposit is payable when a child starts in the school. This will be returned when the child leaves provided all amounts outstanding have been paid. The deposit is £600 for a first child and £300 for second and subsequent children. When a first child is starting in nursery the deposit is £300 initially, rising to £600 upon entry to kindergarten. Bursaries The school’s ideal is to be socially inclusive and to welcome families from a wide range of financial backgrounds. For those on low incomes there is the possibility of applying for a bursary. These are limited in number and the present families will have priority over newly enrolling families. Alternatively, in some circumstances, it may be possible for a family to defer part of their contribution against the expectation of future income. Applications for bursaries and deferments can only be granted subject to a financial assessment. Please bear in mind that bursaries are only intended for families whose circumstances leave no possibility of paying the requested contribution. Additional costs These include outings and class trips, special items to be bought (e.g. recorders, calculators and certain text books) and Class 10 exams. There will be advanced warning and discussion of these. 4

WHAT CONTRIBUTIONS OTHER THAN MONEY ARE REQUESTED? The school also requests a non-financial contribution in the form of practical help from families. The following is our current statement about this. Our school was founded by parents and we rely upon the active involvement of parents to keep it running. There are several ways in which parents contribute in a voluntary way. We call this the “nonfinancial contribution” which, together with the money people pay, allows the school to continue. As a way of sustaining and nourishing the school community it has many advantages:     

It provides a route for parents to get involved in the community, and to meet other parents as they work together It gives parents a sense of “ownership” of the school, while saving money on outside contractors Children see their parents as part of the school Tasks are done with love and care, which contributes to the school's special atmosphere Although there are meetings, much of the contribution is physical, healthy work.

Ways in which parents contribute include:    

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Cleaning their child’s Classroom – on a rota basis School Workdays – repairing the fabric of the buildings, improving the grounds – great fun, with a free lunch thrown in Major fundraising and cultural events, such as the Advent and Summer fairs, for which you would be asked to help on a stall and make produce Joining one of the Mandate Groups to help run the school. These cover most non-teaching aspects of school life, including buildings and grounds maintenance, housekeeping, finance, cultural events, fundraising, building development, administration, community support, etc. Assisting the education by helping out in specific areas such as reading, handwork, languages, cooking, music, special needs, class trips and plays.

Although a voluntary contribution is – by definition – voluntary, in the interests of fairness the school has tried to set a guideline of expectation and it is important that parents approaching the school are aware of this. There are three elements to this, as follows: One workday (or two halves) per term – about 5 hours in total Helping with the big events – about 5 hours a term Membership of a mandate group, or classroom support – about 1 hour a week. In practice, and with the exception of the classroom cleaning rota, which is dependent upon the participation of everybody, parents are not restricted by the guidelines but are encouraged to choose the way of contributing that suits them best. Every family is different in terms of what they can offer, and the school values every contribution, whether it be cake-making, business consultancy, gardening or even an additional financial contribution. Families joining the school will be invited to a meeting about this during their first or second term. All we ask is that once they have had the chance to get to know the school and how it works they make conscious decisions about how they wish to contribute and communicate this to the group co-ordinating this area.

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