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Monmouthshire has eleven LEA maintained nurseries and children can be admitted from the term following their third birthday (provided there are spaces available) using the following criteria in priority order:

1 - Children who have identified Special Educational Needs or referred through Social Services.
2 - Sibling priority; for siblings already in the nursery unit – not in main school (except Magor Nursery which includes sibling priority in the main school), at the time of admission. For these purposes siblings will be treated as meaning children living in the same household.
3 - Geographical proximity – After taking account of categories (a) and (b), priority will be based on closeness to the preferred nursery measured by the most direct route by road. Measurements will be undertaken using a Digital Information Mapping system. Places for children living Out of County will be allocated on condition that their LEAs fund the places.
* Application forms for children to attend LEA Nursery units can be obtained from Headteachers or Early Years Section, County Hall.
* When submitting an application, parents will be asked to provide children’s birth certificates to verify dates of birth and any appropriate document considered necessary to verify home addresses.
* Applications to attend non-maintained approved nurseries, playgroups or Cylchoedd Meithrin can be obtained directly from the settings.
Funding Arrangements
* There are also a number of private day nurseries, pre-prep schools, playgroups, crèches and cylchoedd meithrin (playgroups using the medium of Welsh). Many settings are approved providers of early years education. This means that they follow the Desirable Learning Outcomes and are inspected by Estyn to ensure that the education they offer is of an acceptable level.
* Funding is available from the beginning of the term following the child’s third birthday (Term dates are defined as 1st January, 1st April and 1st September).
* The funding is set at £6.50 per session (usually 2 – 2 ½ hours), which is comparable with LEA nurseries funding per part time pupil. If the playgroup or nursery charges £8 per session, you will be required to pay the £1.50 per session yourself.
* Providers will be required to complete a claim form detailing the children registered at the setting and confirming their dates of birth. Invoices must be received within three weeks of the start of term. Parents should not be asked to sign parental application forms prior to six weeks before the start of term.
* Providers will be required to verify children’s dates of birth by examination of the child’s birth certificates.
* Providers will be funded once a term and the Authority will aim to pay providers within three weeks of receiving the claims. The majority of Approved Nurseries and Playgroups will require full payment for the sessions that your child attends. When they have received their funding from the LEA, you will be reimbursed.
* Catchment areas for LEA nurseries do not apply. Parents may choose either an LEA or non-maintained approved setting in Monmouthshire.
* There will be no adjustments to funding once the provider has received it. Therefore if a child leaves the setting during the term, the provider can keep the grant to maintain staffing levels for the rest of that term, but if the child is admitted during the term, they will not affect the level of grant to providers and parents will not incur any charge for the educational aspect of the provision.

* If a child is attending an LEA nursery for 5 mornings a week, and attending an approved playgroup for 5 afternoons a week, funding cannot be claimed from the playgroup, as the funding for that child is with the LEA nursery.

* If a child attends an approved playgroup for 3 mornings a week and a different approved playgroup for the other 2 mornings, funding can be claimed at both settings for the sessions attended.
* Cross border funding agreements have been negotiated with Blaenau Gwent, Newport, Powys and Torfaen LEAs. Cross border funding agreements are alsot in place for Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Those parents wishing to claim early education grants at approved settings in these authorities should contact the Early Years Section (01633 644534).
* The forms (invoices) submitted by providers will be subject to checks by the Local Authority to verify the total claims against pupil details.

* If you require further information about any of these points, please contact Linda Harris, Pre-school Admission Officer on
01633 644534 or e-mail lindaharris@monmouthshire.gov.uk