Grafton Primary School

Tours of the school for perspective new Reception & Nursery children will commence on Tuesday 26th September.

To book on this tour please call the office on tel: 020 3727 5171

We know that many of you may be worried about your child starting school, especially if you have never visited Grafton Primary School. Our priority is ensuring that all the children and their families feel happy and excited about starting school and that it will be a very positive experience. We work hard to build positive relationships with both the children and their families and although we may have to do a few things differently, we will endeavour to alleviate any worries and answer any questions you may have. We have an open-door policy and will always make ourselves available to talk to you.

If your contact details have changed since you completed your application for a place in either Nursery or Reception,

could you please telephone the office on: 020 3 727 5171 to update us.

We look forward to introducing ourselves to you and beginning our work together. At Grafton Primary School ‘Together we learn. Together we achieve.’

Nursery Admissions Criteria

Nursery Admissions
The process for getting a nursery place in a Barking and Dagenham community school

If your child was born between 1 September and 31 August , they can apply for a nursery class place starting in September .

The school will need proof of where you and your child live. We define your home as the address where the parent or carer is responsible for paying council tax and where Child Benefit is registered (for the child applying).

Each school will use the admission criteria (conditions) to decide which applications to accept and which to turn down not to the length of time that your child’s name has been on a waiting list. The admission criteria for our school are listed below. You cannot appeal against decisions made about nursery places.

Admission criteria for nursery places in a Barking and Dagenham community school If there are more applications than places for any nursery classes, we will use the following criteria, in

the priority order 1 to 3, to decide which children we will offer places to.

Admission criteria

Important notes

• The child’s home must be the permanent address where they live with their legal guardian. This should be the address for your council tax and where any Child Benefit is addressed.
• ‘Sibling’ means:
• living at the same address and going to the named school. Please make sure you name all siblings
• on your application form. If they are not listed on your form, we cannot take them into account.
• All distances are measured using SIA’s Geographical Information System, SMART from the centre of the child’s home to the school’s main gate. If you live outside the area, we will use the same system to work out distances.
• We will use distance from home to school for pupils who have an equal claim for a place (eg: all
• children have a sibling link). Those children living nearest to the school will be given priority when
• deciding on places. When measurements are the same (for example, from a block of flats), we will
• then use a lottery system (random allocation) to offer places to children.
• You should remember that going to a particular nursery class does not guarantee, or give priority to the reception class of any of the borough’s infant or primary schools. Also, going to a particular primary or junior school does not guarantee, or give priority to, a place at a particular secondary school.
• We cannot consider other circumstances not listed in the admission criteria. It is important that we are consistent in our judgment and use only the admission criteria that have been agreed.
• If we discover that we have given your child a place at a school based on false or misleading information, we will withdraw the place and may take legal action.

Waiting lists for nursery classes
If a school receives more applications than it has places available (i.e. is oversubscribed), it will keep a waiting list in priority order for all the children that were not successful.

• Priority 1 Children who are in the care of a local authority.
• Priority 2 Children who have a sibling (brother or sister) at the school
• Priority 3 Children who live closest to the school, measured in meters in a straight line (as the crow flies).
• A full brother or sister;
• A half-brother or half-sister;
• A stepbrother or stepsister; and
• An adopted or long-term fostered brother or sister;