You can apply for a preschool place for your child any time from birth until January 31st in the year they turn 3. Any 2 or 3 year olds who apply after January 31st will be placed on a waiting list and will be allocated a place if we have availability.
When you complete our online ‘join us’ form we will reply to you within a week (term time), if you do not hear from us please email us as your form may have gone into spam if we had a few applications together. [email protected]
Preschool is open term time only, 39 weeks per year. We are funded for only 38 weeks so we take 5 inset days off throughout the year.
All children aged 3 and 4 years are entitled to 15 hours funding the term after their third birthday, we have an intake of new children in September and a few in January if we have availability. Some children of working families may be entitled to 30hours. You can share this funding with another preschool/nursery/childminder if you wish, just let us know and make sure you add this to the declaration form.
Some children of working families or those who may be disadvantaged may be eligible for funding too.
To check which funding you are entitled too please look on the government website Childcare Choices. Don’t forget to check if you are eligible for Tax Free Childcare too, don’t assume you are not as it is designed for working families. The government give you £2 for every £8 you put in, it is worth a quick check even if you think you are not entitled to it.
You can pay for additional sessions over your funded hours if we have availability, these can be paid for using Tax Free Childcare or Employee Vouchers if you use either (you can pay for lunches and consumables too with vouchers).
You can use your funding term time between 7.45am – 6pm (5pm Fridays), up to 10 hours per day. We do charge a consumable charge for breakfast, morning, afternoon and afterschool sessions. Please see our FAQS section for more information on this and what consumables are.
If you would like to get a feel for our preschool you can have a look around in our virtual tour to find out what to do when children start and what fun is waiting for them. Please get in touch if you would like a look around to see if we are the right setting for your family.
If you decide you want to send your child with us would you please inform us of your child care preference on the form provided. We will endeavour to give you the times and days you require however this may not always be possible. Please tick the boxes you wish your child to attend. The pre-school is open term time only.
If your child is a little nervous about starting they can listen to Mrs Wood reading a story about starting school/preschool, you can find it here. This is Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton (2008) published by Harper Collins Publishers. It is a story about feeling nervous about starting school but it’s fantastic in the end.
If you wish to see a copy of our admissions policy please get in touch. We do prioritise siblings of children at Whickham Parochial Primary and then children within the catchment area of Whickham Parochial Primary and Cloverhill Primary. After those children have been allocated a space it is on a first come first served basis.
*Please be aware that by joining us you will not automatically get a place in Whickham Parochial Primary School. You will need to apply for a school place separately.