Admission Policy

School applications should be made to the school in your catchment area – if you are not sure if you are in the     St Luke's catchment please ask here at school or go to www.gov.je/Education/Schools for further information.

Registration needs to take place before 1st December in the year before your child is due to start reception class; application forms are available from school or the gov.je website. The school will write to you in the December the year before your child is due to start reception class, enclosing an admissions form. You can change your choice of school at this stage by indicating your preferred choice on this form. You must return the admissions form to your catchment school, even if this is not your first choice school, this is to ensure your child is registered for reception class the following September.

You will be notified of an offer by the Education Department of a reception place for your child in the proceeding March before starting in the September. The allocations for all non-fee paying primary schools are undertaken by the Education Department following set criteria, priority is given in the order detailed below, to pupils who:-

1. have siblings in the school

2. are living in the catchment area

3. have a special reason for wishing to attend a specific primary school

Children are admitted to the Reception class according to Education Committee Policy:

“All children whose fifth birthday falls between 1st September and 31st August are entitled to commence school on a full-time basis during September of the Autumn Term.”

We have a close liaison with the local nurseries / playgroups and reciprocal visits are made when possible. Children are invited into school for one or two sessions in the term before they start school to meet the teachers and become familiar with the classroom. Each child is given a pre-school booklet to complete at home with their parents and bring into school on their first day.

 

Preparing Your Child for School

If your child has been attending a nursery school or play group she/he will be well on the way to being ready for school. However, it would be a great help if your child experienced the following before starting school:

• Using the toilet independently and washing their hands afterwards. All children should be toilet trained before they start nursery/school, and capable of using the toilet without adult help - this includes wiping themselves.
• Playing and sharing with other children and tidying away afterwards.
• Dressing and undressing themselves, including buttons and zips.
• Joining in the singing well known songs and nursery rhymes.
• Drawing and scribbling, cutting out, dressing up and playing with construction toys. Practising counting and matching when helping to lay the table for instance, or sorting buttons into colours and types.
• Talking about outings, television programmes and everyday happenings.
• Looking at books together and talking about the pictures.
• Being encouraged to ask questions and be observant.
• Carrying out simple instructions.
• Learning to be as independent as possible yet respect the instructions given by an adult.