New admissions policy to children's centres and nursery classes in maintained schools

The government is introducing changes to the way nursery education is funded across the country.

This change means that in Islington from September 2017, fewer children will be able to access a fully funded full-time nursery class place although all children will still be able to access a part-time 15 hour place.

From September 2017, some 3 and 4 year olds will be entitled to 30 hours per week of free childcare, under a new government scheme. The extended entitlement is intended to support working parents with the cost of childcare and enable them, where they wish, to return to work or to work additional hours.

In light of the changes, we proposed to change the admissions policy for nursery classes in Islington primary schools and children’s centres.

The aim of changing the admissions policy was to:

• support providers to allocate full time and part time places
• ensure a fair and transparent policy and practice across maintained early years settings in the borough
• continue to support the most vulnerable children to access full-time provision 

From 28 March - 28 April 2017 we ran a public consultation on our website to gain the public’s view on the proposed changes to the admissions policy. The results of the survey can be seen in the attached report. 

After taking into consideration the responses of the public, a new admissions policy to children’s centres and nursery classes in maintained schools has been agreed. The new admissions policy is attached to this page.