Applying for a nursery school place

Salford local authority (LA) has six different types of nursery and primary school provision.

There are community primary schools, voluntary controlled schools, voluntary aided schools (all Roman Catholic schools and some Church of England schools), academies, special schools (for pupils with special educational needs) and early years centres.

Places in a Salford school nursery are offered from the September following your child's third birthday.

Salford encourages parents/carers to think carefully about choosing a school nursery place for their child.

• When your child is about two years old find out as much as you can about schools near to you. 

• Talk to neighbours and friends who have children at school.

• Get in touch with head teachers and ask for a copy of the school's prospectus. This is a free booklet that will tell you most of the things you need to know about the school. Head teachers will be happy to let you have a look around their schools and ask questions. It helps everyone if you arrange an appointment to do this.

• If you are working find out what out of school services the school offers to check it meets your needs, such as before and after school childcare and holiday care.

Not all schools offer 30 hour places. Due to physical restrictions on buildings, some schools offer a mix of full and part time places, or part time places only. For September 2027, St Philip’s RC will be offering a mixture of full and part time places. From September 2017, if you qualify for the 30 hour working parent nursery funding and take a part time (15 hour) place in a school nursery, you can claim the remaining 15 hours of your funding with a private provider or childminder.

All other schools offer 30 hour places to all pupils, and places are allocated on the basis of the published admission criteria, not on the parents’ working status. Please be aware that places are first allocated to Salford residents meeting the admission criteria and then if any places are remaining they will be offered to non-Salford residents in order of the oversubscription criteria.

There has been a change to the way applications are made for some schools. Applications for the following schools should be made direct to the school:

• Broughton Jewish Cassell Fox Primary School

• Holy Family RC Primary School

• St Augustine’s CE Primary School

• St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Irlam

• St Paul's CE Primary School, Cross Lane

• St Philips RC Primary School

• St Teresa's RC Primary School

For applications for all other schools parents can apply online or by visiting a Gateway Centre. 

For admission to voluntary aided schools, the admissions team will send details of your application to the relevant school's governing body for their decision.

Some voluntary aided schools may require supplementary information. You should check if this is the case in the school’s admission policy. Some supplementary forms can be downloaded online. However the list is not exhaustive, so if you are applying for a faith school that is not listed you should check carefully to see if they require any further information from you.

For applications for nursery places in another local authority, parents should contact that local authority to find out how and when to apply for a nursery place.

Please remember that your child is not guaranteed a nursery place at the school of your choice at this stage.

The closing date for making your application for a September 2027 nursery place is 15 January 2027.

Please note if you do not return your form by 15 January 2027 it will be dealt with after all those applications which are received on time. You should be aware that late application could reduce your chance of getting a place at your choice of school(s).

If your child has special educational needs you need to follow the same procedure when applying for a nursery place. Places cannot be refused because of a child having special educational needs (SEN). In certain circumstances, when a child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education Health and Care Plan, this can state that the child should attend a particular school as a result of their SEN. This will be adhered to.

Because of problems in the past, the school admissions team will ask you to provide proof of your address. When your child is offered a school place you will be asked to provide proof of address to the school, along with your acceptance of the place. You will be issued with a list of acceptable forms of proof which may include such things as:

• council tax bill

• rental/tenancy agreement

• recent child benefit papers

• copy of completion papers in the case of a recent house purchase

The evidence you provide should be dated in the last three months in most cases.

Your address is considered to be where your child is normally and regularly living at the time of deciding places. If your child is living with friends or relatives for reasons other than guardianship, then we cannot use that address at the time of allocating places.

The local authority may consider a child's temporary address within the UK (where, for example, they may be living in temporary accommodation due to their parents' working commitments whilst they are seeking a permanent address in the same area) at its discretion.

If your main address has changed temporarily within the UK (for example, if you live with extended family during illness or you take up temporary accommodation because of building work) then your address counts as the one you were at before moving to the temporary residence.

You must notify us as soon as possible if there is any permanent change in address. If you do not inform us of your change of address then any school place offered to your child may be withdrawn.

After 15 March 2027, it will not be possible to make any changes to the home address for allocation purposes as school offers will be finalised.  However, please still inform the admissions team of changes of address after this date so that offer information can be sent to the correct address. 

Please note: strong action will be taken if a false address or intentionally misleading information is given and the school place your child is offered may be withdrawn.

When filling in the form please list three or more school choices for your child. If the first school on your list is full, your next choice of school will be looked at. If you do not list more than one choice and a place cannot be offered at that school, your child may be offered a place at a school which has places available. This may be some distance from your home.

If a school has more places available than applications, then all those children will be offered a place. If a school has more applications than places available the nursery admissions criteria will be used to decide who gets the available places. Places will first be offered to Salford residents, and then if any places remain they will be offered to non-Salford residents in order of the oversubscription criteria.

There are many myths surrounding the allocation of school places and we would like to clarify the following:

There are always parents that are worried about whether their child will or will not be successful in gaining a place at their preferred school and that, if they choose a particular school as first choice and are not successful in their application, they will damage their chances of being accepted at any of their other preferred schools.

We must stress this is absolutely not the case. Admissions are strictly controlled by the Local Authority and success depends entirely on how far a child meets the over-subscription criteria for each school. The Local Authority must not consider whether a parent has placed the school first, second or third choice, the consistent and fair approach is that all applications are dealt with on an equal preference basis and following a set application period places are offered in accordance with the schools published oversubscription criteria.  

For example, if you put three schools down on your child’s application and your child is eligible for a place at all three of the schools you will be offered a place at your first preference school. However, if we are unable to offer your child a place at your first preference, but they are then eligible for a place at your second and third preferences then your child will be offered a place at your second preference school as this the highest preference we are able to offer. Your child will automatically be placed on the waiting list for the any higher preference schools in Salford and the lower preference schools (those listed below your offered school) will be marked as ‘no longer required’.

Example one

Example two?

Our advice is that if you want your child to attend a particular school you should put this school as your first choice. The local authority will try to place children in their first choice school if possible and if your application is unsuccessful, you will not be disadvantaged at your second or third choice schools.

All community and voluntary controlled schools have the same admission criteria which are set by the local authority.

Voluntary aided schools and academies may have different admissions criteria. To view each individual school's criteria see Salford's primary school admission details page.

Please note: nursery places are normally allocated on a full time basis. Some schools may decide, depending on the number of applications they receive, to offer all part time places or a mix of part time and full time places. 

Some schools prefer nursery pupils to commence on reduced hours building up their time as they settle in. The schools concerned will advise parents/carers when providing details of admission arrangements.

You will receive the decision on or just after 16 April 2027. If you have applied using a paper application form, you will be notified by letter which will be posted to you on 16 April 2027. You will normally be given at least ten working days to let the local authority know whether you want to accept the offer. If you do not respond within the timescale the place may be given to another child.

If you are not offered a nursery school place for your child at the school(s) of your choice you can:

• leave your child's name on the waiting list at your choice of school(s) in case a place becomes available, or

• choose another school with places available. If you do this your child's name can remain on the waiting list at your preferred choice of school(s)

Unfortunately there is no right of appeal if you have been refused a nursery place at the school of your choice. This is because nursery provision is non-statutory.

You may be able to get 15 or 30 hours free childcare (depending on your working status) in a private or voluntary nursery or pre-school playgroup. More information is available through the Starting Life Well Service.

If you want to apply for a nursery school place after the allocation date of 16 April 2027, you need to fill in an application form as soon as possible.

If your choice of school does not have any places left you can either:

• leave your child's name on the waiting list at that school in case a place becomes available

• choose another school with places available. If you do this your child's name can stay on the waiting list at the school of your choice

If your application for a nursery school place at your choice of school(s) is refused, you are entitled to place you child's name on a waiting list. Waiting lists must be held until at least 31 December 2027. 

You should check individually with voluntary aided schools to check if their waiting lists will be held beyond 31 December 2027.