Nursery admission policy set to change Apply when child turns two

From August 1, a new nursery admissions policy will be introduced by Stirling Council.

Stirling Council’s children and young people committee approved the changes at a recent meeting.

A review of the current nursery admissions policy was called for as part of plans to increase the funded hours children are entitled to - the expansion of early learning and childcare rolled out from August 2020.

The Scottish Government and local authorities have committed to a near doubling of funding entitlement from 600 to 1140 nursery hours for all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds.

A two-year-old will qualify for a funded place, either with a nursery or childminder, where their parents are claiming Universal Credit and the household income is below a certain threshold each month.

Now, as of August 1, applications for all funded three and four-year-old places will be accepted by Stirling Council once a child turns two.

Applications will then be held from March 1 until the cut-off date of February 28 prior to the start of the new academic in August that same year.

The council says any late applications would still be considered but there may be a reduced number of days and sessions available.

Previous applications were accepted from two years but children born March -August were placed first and children born September - February allocated remaining places.

All applications will now be placed at the same time using the priority criteria.

A council officer told the committee, on January 9, that giving parents a year to register their child would make it fairer than the parents of those turning three first getting first choice of sessions.

The allocation of sessions will form part of a new weighting system being introduced to “ensure those in most need are allocated spaces first.”

It will only be implemented if there are more children than places sitting in the same priority category

A council officer said: “We are really keen to make sure that children living in local communities get first option. Most vulnerable children have first priority.”

Previously, any children could get a place in any nursery and parents of children turning three first got first choice of the often muchcoveted morning sessions.

Eight members of the committee approved the proposal.

Three Conservative members voted for an amendment to defer a decision until it was possible to track the changes from the previous admissions policy,to the proposed new one so they knew exactly what they were approving. Conservative councillor Martin Earl called for a deferral saying: “We do not have access to the full document.”