Nursery Admissions Process
Waverley Nursery
Waverley Nursery is dedicated to providing excellent care and education for children aged 3 months to 5 years in a happy, nurturing atmosphere in our beautiful lodge situated within the School grounds.
The Nursery Admissions Process
Waverley Nursery aims to ensure that our Admissions process is as smooth and informative as possible to ensure you chose the Nursery setting right for your child.
- Prospective parents are invited to register their interest via our electronic Registration Form. There is no charge to register - the Registration Form simply helps us understand your needs in more detail. Without a completed Registration Form, we are regrettably unable to advise as to availability of places or arrange a tour as we obviously like to first ensure that we have a suitable place available. Please click here to be redirected to our online Registration Form.
- Upon receipt of a Nursery Registration Form, prospective parents will be invited for a 1-2-1 tour if we have a suitable place available. If we do not have a place available to offer, then a child will be added to our waiting list. Should a suitable place become available, then we will contact prospective parents to arrange a 1-2-1 tour.
- Should parents wish to proceed with their application after a tour, applications are considered by the Admissions Committee which allocates places.
- To accept the offer of a Nursery place, parents are required to return our Acceptance Form along with an Acceptance Fee of £350. This includes a refundable deposit of £250 and a non-refundable administration fee of £100 is also due.
- If a place is offered, due to the high demand for places, parents are given a deadline by when the Acceptance Fee and Acceptance Form are due back. The deadline is typically between 7 and 14 days from the date of the offer.
- Once a place has been offered and accepted, children are normally invited to attend three settling-in sessions prior to starting at Nursery.
Other Useful Information About The Admissions Process:
- For mothers requiring a Nursery place at the end of their maternity leave, we strongly recommend that parents register their child after approx. 15 weeks of pregnancy.
- To minimise visitors on site and disruption to the routine of our young children, we regret that a tour may not be offered if a suitable place is not available.
- The Nursery Admissions Committee consists of Mr Blair Jenkins (Chair of Governors), Mr Guy Shore (Head), Mrs Fiona Harding (Nursery Manager), Mrs Helen Jenkins (Head of Marketing, Admissions and Communication) and Mrs Carole Barke (Bursar).
My son runs into Nursery each day without so much as a look over his shoulder. We agonised over finding a Nursery to send him to but we were impressed with your setting and staff. We wouldn't want to send him anywhere else. (Miss W)
Settling-in Sessions (and pre-visits)
We normally offer our new families joining us three settling-in sessions. However, we hold as many settling in sessions as we feel are reasonable and appropriate to ensure that your child is happy and settled. The first visit is a chance for parents to come into the Nursery, meet the Educators and fill in all the necessary paperwork, while your child explores their new environment. This normally takes around 45 minutes.
On the second visit, we will ask parents to leave your child with us for a one hour period to see how they get on in their new environment. We then have a third visit for two and a half hours for your child to begin to form relationships with their new Educators and peers.
Settling in sessions take place in the two weeks prior to your child starting and we always ensure that your child is 100% settled before they start. We like to hold settling in sessions close to your child's starting date to ensure that it is fresh in their minds and there isn't a long gap between settling in sessions and their actual start date.
The cost of the settling sessions is included in the (non-refundable) £100 Administration Fee which is due when you accept a place.
We do not normally offer pre-visits where one of our Nursery team visits your home. This is after Covid.
Open Days and Nursery Tours
We welcome parents for 1-2-1 tours to give them a personal introduction to our Nursery and/or Prep School. We feel 1-2-1 tours are much more informative and productive for prospective parents. We do request that children joining our Nursery 3 or Foundation classes are brought along with their parents to their 1-2-1 tour. To arrange a visit, please complete the Registration Form by clicking on the 'Click to Register' button above.
Open Door Policy
Our aim is to maintain a close relationship with all parents/carers of children in our Nursery and we operate an Open Door Policy which enables you to visit at any time. We like to involve parents/carers in their child's time at nursery by encouraging visits, where they can join in activities such as 'Stay and Play' and also discuss their child's progress and development. We work closely with all parents/carers to ensure your child's needs are met.
If you would like to visit, for operational, and health and safety reasons, please ensure that you give the Nursery Manager satisfactory notice.
Notice Period
Should parents wish to leave Waverley Nursery, two full calendar months' notice is required. This means that if parents hand in their notice in mid-September, then the two full calendar months are considered as October and November. Parents are therefore liable for fees until the end of November.
Please note that once a place has been accepted, we do not allow deferments of start dates of more than 4 weeks from the date indicated on the Acceptance Form. This is due to the small number of baby places available, the high demand of our Nursery and the careful planning required for each baby that joins. Should parents wish to defer their start date by more than 4 weeks, then parents will need to reapply for a Nursery place and this will depend on availability.
Entry to Waverley Preparatory School
Our Prep School is ranked as 'Best in Berkshire' having been in the Top 100 for the past 13 consecutive years. It is also currently ranked number 15 in the UK by the Department for Education as well as being ranked number 1 in the Reading and Wokingham area. Our rankings are based on the academic results of our Year 6 children. Admission to Waverley Prep School is a separate process to that of Waverley Nursery. Therefore, a child with a place at Waverley Nursery is not automatically allocated a place in our Prep School. However, we do offer combined Nursery + School places for parents wishing to join our Nursery and secure a school place at the same time.
Our Prep School offers a pathway to a wide number of renowned local and regional secondary schools. These include grammar schools, independent school and state schools. At Waverley, we are keen to ensure that every pupil moves on to the right secondary school for them. Over 92% of our Year 6 pupils obtain a place at their first choice secondary school. Read more about our Prep School on our school website here.
Parents interested in a Waverley Prep School place for their child, are invited to register their interest via our Admissions Dept. There is no charge to register with our Prep School. Please contact admissions@waverleyschool.co.uk. For more information on our website about our School Admissions process, please click here.
