Applying for a Nursery place
Welcome to Nursery at Botley!
This page will give you lots of information about applying for a Nursery place and what happens afterwards. We hope you find it useful.
Children usually start Nursery the term after their third birthday. At Botley School we offer the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements as well as offering you the opportunity to pay for additional sessions. These sessions will need to be requested the term before you wish to use them, and it will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Your sessions will be booked for the whole academic year unless you give us notice (one term) to alter it. Please note we are unable to offer ad-hoc additional sessions.
What we can offer:
| Entitled sessions | Additional sessions on offer |
15hour provision Morning | Monday – Friday 8.40 – 11.40am | Monday – Friday 11.40 – 3.20pm (lunchtime included but you will need to provide a packed lunch) £25 per session |
15hour provision Afternoon | Monday – Friday Afternoon 12.20 – 3.20pm | Monday – Friday 8.40 – 12.20pm (lunchtime included but you will need to provide a packed lunch) £25 per session |
30hour provision
| Monday – Thursday 8.40am – 3.20pm Friday 8.40am – 12.20pm
| Friday afternoon 12.20 – 3.20pm £20 per week
|
You can usually get 30 hours free childcare if you (and your partner, if you have one) are:
- in work - or getting parental leave, sick leave or annual leave
- each earning at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week - this is £125.28 if you’re over 25
You can check your entitlement and then apply online to get your 30 hours eligibility code at https://www.gov.uk/apply-30-hours-free-childcare. Once you have received your code, please email it to the school office (office.2569@botley.oxon.sch.uk) along with your child’s full name and date of birth as well as the name and National Insurance Number of the person who submitted the online application form.
Please note that it can sometimes take several weeks for your code to come through so please do not leave it until the last minute. You can apply from when your child is 2 years and 36 weeks old. Your code will need to have been issued to you and dated before the last day of the previous term to which you would like to use it. Please also note that you will need to renew your code every 3 months.
When your child turns 3 | When they can get 30 hours from | Recommended time to apply |
1 September to 31 December | 1 January | 15 October to 30 November |
1 January to 31 March | 1 April | 15 January to 28 February |
1 April to 31 August | 1 September | 15 June to 31 July |
Meet Our Nursery Team:
Laura Jones EYFS Lead and Reception Teacher |
Sharon Hemsley Nursery Nurse |
Adam Evans-Lee Forest School Leader |
Azra Randawa TA |
Isabel Cortes TA |
Anna Callow TA |
Virtual Tour:
(Coming soon)
School Visits and Tours:
We hold several open events throughout the year. Details of our events for 2025/26 will be here soon, but in the meantime you can see an example of our events here: [Advert for Open Events 2024]
Next parent tour - TBC
Key Information:
Admission to Nursery:
Children start Nursery the term after their third birthday but you can put them on our waiting list before this.
To register your interest in a Nursery place, please complete an application form (available below) and return it to our school office. In the term your child turns three, we will contact you to confirm their place. You will receive a welcome letter with information about the 15-hour and 30-hour funding, as well as an induction pack.
The induction pack contains details about the school and Nursery, including session times. You will also receive details about your child's key person, a date for a one-to-one meeting, and dates for our "come and play" sessions and start date.
More information:
Please take a look at our Early Years Foundation Stage class page for further information about our Nursery class [EYFS class page]
We also have a page for applying for a Reception School place [Applying for a Reception School place]