Admission Arrangements
Nursery
Currently all children, irrespective of need, have a statutory entitlement to part-time nursery education from the beginning of the term following their third birthday. We try to start children as soon as possible after their third birthday. This entitlement is for 15 hours per week. This can be taken as 5 morning session or 5 afternoon sessions over 39 weeks - our academic year.
The allocation of a place in our Nursery does not guarantee a place in the Reception Class at St Oswald’s CE Primary School. This is a separate application process and places will be allocated using the reception class admissions process.
If wish your child to attend St Oswald's CE Primary School Nursery, please call into the school with your child's birth certificate and fill in the application form which is available from the office or you can download a copy below.
We will acknowledge your application in writing and you will be contacted in due course by our Nursery Teacher Mrs Gall. We like children to start at our Nursery class as soon as they are 3 years old.
We have a morning nursery which runs from 08.30AM until 11.30AM or an afternoon nursery which runs from 12.15PM until 3.15PM.
We also offer 30 hours wrap-around care and extended Nursery provision. Information can be found below on Extended Entitlement (30 hour offer), however, if you are not entitled to the extended provision, we also accept applications for parent funded places.
Applications for starting in Reception in September 2025
We have 30 places in Reception classes for September 2025. There is a teacher and a full-time teaching assistant in our Reception class.
Application for admissions must be completed online at www.sefton.gov.uk/admissions or you can request a form from Sefton Admissions Department. The application process will be explained in your letter from Sefton, which you should receive the September before your child is due to start school.
The closing date for applications is 15.01.2025.
If you wish your child to attend St Oswald's CE Primary School, information can be found in the Admissions Policy.
Please note as a Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School one of our criteria for selecting pupils who apply for a place is regular attendance at a churches together church.
Parents should complete a Supplementary Information Form (download available below or available from the school office) so that Governors can apply the criteria as seen below.
Information on Admissions to reception outside of normal age group & summer born children can be found here.
Admissions Criteria
After the admission of pupils with an Education Health and Care plan which names the school and where there are more applications than places available, the following admissions criteria will be applied in order to allocate places.
1) Looked after children and previously looked after children.
2) Children who have a brother or sister* at the school at the time they are due to start in September.
3) Children with a parent/guardian/carer who *regularly worships at St Oswald’s Church. The application must be supported by a letter from the Parish Vicar.
4) Children with a parent/guardian/carer who *regularly worships at another Church in Churches together in Britain and Ireland.
5) Children living closest to St Oswald’s Church of England Primary School (using the methodology of Measurement used by the Local Authority).
*Regularly is defined as a minimum of one service per month for a period of 12 months prior and a reference will be taken up from the Minister/Leader of the relevant church.
Tie Breaker Clause If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criteria above then priority will be given to those living closest to the school measured by the shortest walking distance from the child’s home. We will measure from the property’s address point, to the nearest school gate (using recognised routes known to the Authority at the time of measurement.)
http://www.sefton.gov.uk/schooladmissionspolicyandreports.%20
Over-Subscription
We are a one form entry Primary School and all class sizes from Reception to Year 6 are limited to 30 children per class. If more than 30 children apply for a particular year group parents need to appeal through the appeals process.
Please follow the link below for further information on how to make an appeal.
In Year Admissions For All Year Groups
Please see the link below for In-year Admission arrangements through Sefton Local Authority if you wish your child to join our school in any other year group or at another point throughout the year.
https://www.sefton.gov.uk/media/ikxonohw/in-year-admissions-policy-updated-sept-2024.pdf
