Admissions

 

Manorfield is a 3-form entry school (with 3 classes in each year group), we have Nursery provision for 2-3 year olds (40 AM places and 40 PM places), alongside 90 full-time nursery places for 3-4 year olds. We welcome all children at Manorfield and encourage applications from families with 2-11 year old children, in the immediate vicinity and beyond. We encourage parents interested in applying for a place at Manorfield to visit the school. We host open days throughout the year – Click here for dates of our open days

 

Manorfield Primary School Admissions Procedures

School’s admission and appeal arrangements.

Admissions to Reception for September

Reception school admissions

 

Pupils usually start primary school in the September following their fourth birthday. You must Make an online application for a reception place, even if your child is already attending the school's nursery.

 

You must apply via the e-admissions portal. Closing date for making applications is 15th January. Apply for e-admissions

 

Before you apply

The Starting Primary School in Tower Hamlets brochure is available online and contains all the information you need on applying for your child's reception place. For more information on catchment areas and the tie-break criterion please see our 'Equal Chance' page.

'Equal Chance'

 

How to apply

You must apply online, please visit the e-admissions portal. You can apply online from 1 September and until 15 January. Applying online for your child's reception place is a simple process and you can easily make changes to your application up until the closing date.

 

The admissions criteria for Reception are as follows:

If a community school receives more applications than places available it will not be possible to offer every child a place. Children with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan (EHCP), which names the school applied to, will be placed before all other applicants.

The remaining places will be filled in the priority order below. 1. Children looked after by the local authority, including adopted children who were previously looked after and children who leave care under a special guardianship or residence order. 2. Children for whom it is deemed there is strong medical or social reason to attend the school applied to (see note 1). 3. Children living within the catchment area of the school who have a sibling attending the school (including the school of a separate infants and junior schools) and who will continue to do so on the date of admission (see note 2). 4. Children whose parent is a member of staff who has been employed at the school concerned for two or more years at the time of application and/or children of a member of staff who has been recruited to fill a vacancy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage (see note 3). 5. Children who live within the catchment area of the school and for whom the school applied for is their nearest community school within the catchment area. 6. Other children from within the catchment area of the school. 7. Children living outside of the catchment area of the school. Tie break In the event of oversubscription within categories 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (on the previous page), priority will be given to children who live closest to the school by the shortest walking distance. In the event of two distances being the same, a decision will be made by random allocation.

 

Please see The starting primary school in Tower Hamlets site for full details.

 

National offer day

All parents that applied for a Reception school place before the 15th of January will be sent a letter with the outcome of their application on 19th April. Parents will also be able to view the outcome of their application on the evening of 19th April by visiting the e-admissions portal. Parents will receive an email to inform them when the information is available to view on the website. 

Admissions to Nursery (3-4 year olds)

Children will normally start in our Nursery for 3-4 year olds in the term following their third birthday. At Manorfield, we offer both full-time and part-time places in our 3-4 year old Nursery. We aim to offer all children in our 3-4 year old Nursery full-time places. Full time places are not always available and our offer of full or part-time place will be discussed prior to admission.

 

How to apply

If your child was born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 and you would like a nursery place for September 2025, you must submit an online application by 16 February 2025. You should apply online via the e-admissions portal. You can apply for up to three Tower Hamlets nurseries. When you have completed and submitted your application you will receive an email confirmation. You can make changes to your application up until the closing date: 14 February 2025. To find out how to apply for a nursery place for other than a September start i.e. January 2025 or April 2025, please contact Pupil Services on 020 7364 5006 Application guidance. For guidance on completing an online application, please see Appendix B of the Starting Nursery in Tower Hamlets 2025 brochure.

 

Part-time

All parents are entitled to 15 hours per week i.e. a part-time place, of free early years education for 38 weeks each year. This starts from the first school term after their child’s third birthday and ends when the child reaches compulsory school age i.e. the term after their fifth birthday.

 

Full-time

An additional free 15 hours per week i.e. a full-time place, will be available for families where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working). Typically each parent must earn at least the national minimum or living wage for 16 hours a week and less than £100,000 a year to be eligible. For more information on eligibility visit this childcare support page.

 

At Manorfield, we aim to offer all children full-time places, regardless of their eligibility with no requirement for parents to pay a top-up fee at Manorfield.  Due to capacity and pressure on our resources, full-time places are not always available.

 

Only part-time places will be offered as part of the Local Authority coordinated scheme. Once your child has been offered a part-time place, you may request a full-time place from your nursery. Full-time places will be subject to availability.

 

How decisions are made

The Pupil Services team will process applications and coordinate the decisions for all those who apply. Your application for each school is processed individually and, in each case, a decision is taken to determine whether or not your child can be offered a place. If we find that we can place your child at more than one of your school preferences, only one school will be allocated. This will be for the highest preference school at which an offer can be made. The decisions on applications for Tower Hamlets community nurseries are made by the local authority. If a Tower Hamlets community nursery receives more applications than there are places available, the decision on whether or not a place can be offered will be made in accordance with the local authority’s admission criteria set out in priority order as follows:

1. Children looked after by the local authority including adopted children who were previously looked after and children who leave care under a special guardianship or residence order.

2. Children for whom it is deemed there is strong educational, medical or social reason to attend the school applied to (see note 1).

3. Children living within the catchment area who have a sibling attending the school (including the school of separate infant and junior schools) and who will continue to do so on the date of admission (see note 2).

4. Children whose parent is a member of staff who has been employed at the school concerned for two or more years at the time of application and/ or children of a member of staff who has been recruited to fill a vacancy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage;

5. Children who live within the catchment area of the school and for whom the school applied for is their nearest community school within the catchment area.

6. Other children from within the catchment area of the school. 7. Children living outside of the catchment area of the school applied to.

 

Tie-break In the event of oversubscription within categories 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 above, priority will be given to children who live closest to the school by the shortest walking distance. A digitised ordnance survey map is used to measure the distance from the home address to the school’s designated official entrance. In the event of two distances being the same, a decision will be made by random allocation.

 

Full details can be found in the Starting Nursery in Tower Hamlets

Admissions to Nursery (2-3 year olds)

Children will normally start in our Nursery for 2-3 year olds in the term following their second birthday. At Manorfield we have 80 part-time places for 2-3 year olds. 40 AM places and 40 PM places. We offer both funded and paid-for places.

Please contact us for further details and an application form – email / 020 7987 1623 / open days

 

Some children may be eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare from the term after their second birthday. The funding for for two year olds is only available to children and families that meet certain criteria. Your child could take up their place in the term after they turn two (with 15 hours a week of free care) if: you are on a low income; if your child has additional needs; or if your child is looked after by the council. If you have an older child at school and they receive free school meals, your younger child will probably be eligible for a free two year old place too. Your child will be eligible if any of the following apply: l they have a current education, health and care plan (EHCP) l they get disability living allowance l they have left care through special guardianship or an adoption or child arrangement order l they are looked after by the local authority. Families who have no recourse to public funds are not eligible for a funded early learning place for two year olds. You can check whether your child is eligible by going to: www.myearlylearning.co.uk

 

Parents who are not eligible for funding can pay for their child’s 2-3 year old Nursery place.

 

Please contact us at admin@manorfield.towerhamlets.sch.uk  for further details.

 

Full details can be found in the Starting Nursery in Tower Hamlets site.

 

Applying for a Nursery Place in 2023/24

If your child was born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 and does not attend nursery, you can apply for a nursery place for the 2025/26 school year by making an application direct to the Local Authority using the ‘In-Year Nursery Admission 2024/25’ application form which is also available from Pupil Services.

Pupil Services will normally let parents know whether or not a place can be offered within ten school days of receiving an application for a child who does not have a nursery place.

 

If your child turns three during the 2024/25 school year, you may apply for a nursery place for the term following their third birthday i.e. January 2025 or April 2025. Please contact Pupil Services on 020 7364 5006 or email school.admissions@towerhamlets.gov.uk for more information.

 

Admissions to all other year groups

Manorfield is a popular school, most year groups are full, but due to children moving out of the area, we occasionally have spaces in year groups throughout the school. We encourage parents to contact us and apply to join our waiting list Full information on in-year admissions can be found here.  If you are interested in your child joining Manorfield Primary School, contact us for further information – email / 020 7987 1623 / open days