Admissions

Nursery settings operate their own admission process. Please note that Nursery applications for 2023/2024 have now closed.   Please contact the school office if you would like to complete a late application.

Local Authority (LA) maintained nursery schools and classes within Hitchin form part of the Hitchin Partnership. In order to provide consistency and simplify the process for parents, the partnership has agreed a timeline for admissions and a set of over subscription criteria.  All places are funded by Hertfordshire County Council, have a qualified nursery teacher and provide the opportunity for children to experience being part of a school.

Children will be offered a nursery place to start in the Autumn term of the academic year they turn 4 (falling between 1st September to 31st August). At Highover we have 30 nursery places and children attend five morning sessions from 9am to 12pm, providing 15 hours of free nursery education. Nursery children can also stay for ‘lunch club’ from 12pm to 1pm where they bring and eat their lunch together and play in the safe environment of the Nursery class. There is a small charge for this club and parents/carers are asked to pay and book the required days in advance.

Applications for our Nursery class must be made directly to the school but please note that Primary admissions are managed by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) see below. A separate application is needed to move to the main school and allocation of a Nursery place does not guarantee your child a place in our Reception class. More information on applying for a school place within Hertfordshire can be found at the HCC website by clicking here. 

Should there be more applications than places, an agreed over subscription criteria will be followed.  Please click here for the link to the oversubscription criteria. If an application is unsuccessful, you may request to go onto the Nursery’s continuing interest list and, if a space arises, the criteria will be applied again. 

Nursery Lunch Club

In addition, we offer a Nursery Lunch Club which runs daily from 12:00 - 13:00 at a cost of £5.00 per session.  Full details can be found on the information leaflet here and bookings are made via the Arbor Parent Portal.

Primary School admissions are managed by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) and the online application process is now closed.

More information on applying for a school place within Hertfordshire can be found at the HCC website by clicking here.  

Reception visits for children starting school in September 2024 will be shown here when available.

If you have moved or you want your child to go to a different school, you can apply to change school during the school year. This is called an "in year admission".

All in year admissions from Reception to Year 6 are dealt with by Hertfordshire County Council, please click here for more information. In year Nursery admissions are handled by the school. Please contact the school office for more availability and information.

If you are allocated a place, you will be offered a visit to the school. Please note we do not offer visits prior to the allocation unless there is a place available.