Admission requirements and choice of settings

Publicly funded early years education for children aged three and four is provided in maintained nursery schools or in nursery classes in maintained primary schools. In addition, places are available in integrated children’s centres, which also offer open access play, community education and training, and other family support services; and in private and voluntary settings, such as day nurseries, playgroups and registered childminders. These places are supported by government funding subject to meeting certain requirements. In the voluntary sector, Mudiad Meithrin is the main provider of Welsh-medium early years education and care, principally through its Welsh-medium playgroups.

Children can be admitted to publicly funded pre-school provision from the beginning of the term following their third birthday, that is, the start of term beginning on or following 1st September, 1stJanuary, or 1st April, depending on when their birthday falls. Parents have a right to express a preference for a particular early childhood institution for their child, although there is no guarantee of a place at their preferred institution. 

Responsibility for admissions to nursery classes in maintained schools lies with either the LA or governing body, depending on the legal category of the school. (See the article on ‘Administration and Governance at Local and/or Institutional Level’ for an explanation of the legal categories of school and their responsibilities.)

In cases where demand for places in individual institutions exceeds availability, institutions follow the over-subscription criteria set out in their admissions policy. Commonly-used criteria which may be used to allocate places in an oversubscribed pre-school setting include:

• medical or additional learning need (ALN);
• whether the child is, or has previously been, ‘looked after’;
• whether the child lives in the school catchment area;
• whether the child has any siblings attending the setting.

There is no right of appeal for the allocation of nursery places in maintained primary schools (see page 3 of the School Admission Appeals Code, 2013).

If a child attends a nursery class attached to a maintained primary school, there is no guarantee that he or she will be admitted to the school’s reception class as the primary school admissions process is entirely separate; see page 4 of the School Admissions Code (2013).

Flying Start programme

Two- to three-year-old children living in the most economically deprived areas of Wales are entitled to a publicly funded part-time childcare place under the Flying Start programme. They are admitted at the beginning of the term following their second birthday, which is the term starting on or following 1st September, 1st January, or 1st April depending on when their birthday falls.

Group size and child/staff ratios

Children in nursery schools and nursery classes attached to primary schools are normally aged between three and five years. They are in the Foundation Phase, which covers children from the age of three to seven years; that is, it also includes the first two years of compulsory primary education.

The organisation of teaching groups / classes is determined by individual institutions. Children may be grouped according to age, or be in mixed-aged groups, depending on the numbers of children in specific age groups and the size of classes / groups.

The recommended adult to child ratio for three- to five-year-olds is one adult for every eight children.

The National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare (2016) set out the minimum staffing ratios in private and voluntary settings as:

• one adult to four children aged two years
• one adult to eight children aged three to seven years.

For more detailed information regarding staffing ratios in childcare settings, see pages 38-41 of the National Minimum Standards.

Most children aged between four and five are in the reception class of a primary school. Section 4 of the School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (Wales) Regulations (2013) limits the size of a class for four / five- to seven-year-olds in maintained primary schools to 30 pupils per single teacher.

Annual, weekly and daily organisation

The Welsh Government offers all three- and four-year-olds whose parents want it, free, part-time provision for 38 weeks across the standard school year, running from September to July. In September 2020, this was raised to 48 weeks of the year for three- and four-year-olds whose parents are in work.

Nursery schools and classes follow the same terms as primary schools, that is, three terms running from September to December; January to March / April; and April to July.

Disadvantaged two- to three-year-olds on the Flying Start programme receive part-time provision for 39 weeks of the school year, with an additional 15 sessions of provision during school holidays.

Many private and voluntary providers are open all year round.

Publicly funded pre-school places for three- and four-year-olds are available for a minimum of 10 hours per week. This is normally available for five sessions per week, for two hours per day. Sessions are offered Monday to Friday. In September 2020, this provision increased across Wales to 30 hours per week for three- and four-year-olds whose parents are in work.

Under the Flying Start programme, the most disadvantaged two- to three-year-olds can benefit from 12.5 hours of government-funded childcare each week. This is available for 2.5 hours per day, five days a week from Monday to Friday.

Many voluntary and private settings are open for longer hours than the funded minimum; day nurseries, for example, are usually open from 8am to 6pm every day, excluding weekends. Parents can choose to pay for additional hours if they wish.