Starting Reception in September 2027

Yes, you can. The criteria which we use to allocate places, (and detailed in our Admissions), Policy is below.

Oversubscription criteria –

When the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan naming the school, priority for admission will be given to children in the following priority order:

1. Looked after children or children who were previously looked after (see definition i).

2. (For applications in the normal admission round only) Children or families with an exceptional medical and/or social need (see definition ii). Supporting evidence from a professional is required such as a doctor and/or consultant for medical needs or a social worker, health visitor, housing officer, the police or probation officer for social needs. This evidence must confirm the child or family’s medical or social need and why that need(s) makes it essential that the child attends Shamblehurst Primary School rather than any other. If evidence is not submitted by the application deadline, the medical and/or social need cannot be considered.

3. Children of staff (see definition iii) who have, (1) been employed at Shamblehurst Primary School for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, or (2) have been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

4. Children living in the catchment area (see definition iv) of Shamblehurst Primary School who at the time of application have a sibling (see definition v) on the roll of Shamblehurst Primary School who will still be on roll at the time of admission. [See 6 for additional children who may be considered under this criterion.]

5. Other children living in the catchment area of Shamblehurst Primary School. 

6. Children living out of the catchment area who at the time of application have a sibling (see definition v) on the roll of Shamblehurst Primary School who will still be on roll at the time of admission. [Where a sibling was allocated a place at the school in the normal admission round in a previous year because the child was displaced (see definition vi) from the catchment school for their address, the application will be considered under 4, above, subject to the siblings still living in the catchment area for the school from which they were displaced. In future normal admissions rounds a younger sibling will be considered to have been displaced where they were allocated a place at Shamblehurst Primary School under this criterion as a consequence of their elder sibling’s displacement and are still living in the catchment area for the school from which they were displaced].

We have two uniform suppliers:

Skoolkit which has a shop in Eastleigh or the website https://www.skoolkit.co.uk/

MyClothing https://myclothing.com/ which is an online offering.

We are a 2-form entry school, which means we have 60 children in the cohort. This will consist of two, Year R classes, each with a Teacher and a Learning support Assistant (LSA). We often have additional staff working in Year R, to support children with additional needs.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS), which is the same curriculum that pre-school, nurseries, and child minders follow. It is a curriculum designed for birth to 5 years old and we work towards getting children to their Early Learning Goals.

The EYFS curriculum supports children’s early literacy and numeracy skills, alongside their emotional wellbeing, through a play-based approach.

We find the biggest thing to support children before they start school, is to chat to the children about school, helping them to feel that it will be a fun and exciting place to learn. Helping children to be independent with hanging up their coat, opening a snack box and being able to ask for help, really helps children to do well in school.

We would also encourage you to sing lots of nursery rhymes with your children as well as share books together as this will really support their early reading skills which we then build on in school.

Finding opportunities to count aloud and count objects and pictures will also help your child to be in a good starting place for their academic learning.

We have a key person system in place, which really helps the children, and parents to feel settled. We hope this is familiar to you, from their pre-school/nursery/child minder experience. Each child has a key person (either the Teacher or LSA) who makes that extra special bond with your child. The children really benefit from this as it means they know exactly who to go to if they are feeling worried or want to share some exciting news. Some children, with additional needs, may require 1-1 support and this would be their key person.

The day is broken into chunks as young children learn best in a play-based environment, with a balance of child initiated and adult directed learning.

Once the children are settled into the school routine, we start the day with morning jobs which involve developing fine motor skills reading or maths skills.

We then meet and greet the children and always talk about the day by going through a visual timetable. This really helps the children to know the routine and helps them to feel secure.

We then have teaching inputs at the beginning and end of the morning, and again in the afternoon, which teaches children the skills of reading and maths or another curriculum area. In between these inputs, we have child-initiated time where the children can access the environment (both inside and outside). This is when children get to apply the taught skills and show us their amazing learning. We encourage children to use a variety of open-ended resources at it really supports their communication and language as well as their thinking and problem-solving skills.

We offer a comprehensive transition process that gives you and your child time to get to know the staff and the environment during the summer term. When your child starts in September, it should feel that you know us a little bit already. However, the summer break is quite long for young children, so we start September by offering you a home visit, a few morning starts, a stay to lunch and then we are in full time by the end of the second week of September.

We keep you updated about the curriculum through half-termly letters as well as a weekly email with what we are covering that week. On this email, we offer ideas of how to support your child’s learning at home.

This is alongside the whole school information, which you receive via email or text. You can request hard copies of letters.

In our school, we also use an online learning journey called ‘Seesaw’.  This is a great way of showing you photos and videos of some of our learning and allows children to upload their learning as well.

We like to help the children settle into school and get used to their routines, so we start our PE lessons after the half term. However, the children have daily access to our outdoor provision, which supports their important physical skills.

All children have access to free school meals in school, up to Year 2. You can access the meals options through this link:

https://www.shamblehurst.co.uk/meals/

If you prefer, you child can bring their own packed lunch to school.

You can mix and match your options through the week and can choose the lunch on the day. So, if you were planning on your child having their own packed lunch but ran out of time, a school lunch is always available.

Children in Year R have lunch in the school hall, supported by lunch time supervisors.

We offer a free fruit option every day to the children. However, some children get quite hungry so you can provide an additional, healthy snack if you wish.

Children will need to bring in a water bottle from home each day.

We give children first aid in the classroom for cuts and grazes. We log this in our online system called, Medical Tracker. This will send you an email alert, so you are aware of how the graze happened. If a child bumps their head, we call the parent to let them know or if necessary, ask the parent to have their child checked at the doctors. We have trained first aiders in Year R who have annual training to support their role.

If children have a toileting accident, then we help them to change into clean clothes.