Here’s a helpful guide on how to apply to Orchard House School in Nursery (3+) or at a later date for an Occasional Place. If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything at all, please call us on 020 8742 8544.
Step 1Register your Child
To apply for a place in any year group, you’ll first need to register your child with us via one of our registration forms. Nursery (3+) is our primary point of entry. Reception and all other year groups are Occasional Places. Please select and complete the relevant form, which you can find here. We will then add your child to the waiting list for the relevant year group and email you to confirm. We encourage parents to register their child as soon as possible after birth, to give them the best chance of receiving an offer.
Step 2Visit Us
Once you’ve registered, we’d love to host you for a visit to the school and a meeting with the Headmistress to learn more about life at Orchard House. This can be organised with the Admissions department at a time that suits you. You will be invited to book a tour in our email follow up, after we have received your registration form.
Receive your offer
Offers for places in Nursery at Orchard House are sent out approximately 18 months before the child is due to start in the school. Offers are sent in batches during the Spring Term of the year before they join us. Priority is given to siblings of current students and students who join us from Dukes Education nurseries or schools, and are then made in order of registration.
We will email you to inform you if your child has been offered a place in Nursery, with a parent contract and acceptance form for you to sign and return. If an offer isn’t received in the first instance, we will always keep your child’s name on the waiting list to be offered a place if one becomes available in future.
For Occasional Places, offers are made on an ad-hoc basis throughout the year.
STEP 4Accepting your offer
To accept your child’s place, you will need to sign and return the acceptance form, provide a copy of your child’s passport, and pay a deposit of £3,000 via our secure Stripe payment link or directly into the school’s account by bank transfer. This deposit will be refunded when your child leaves the school.
Parents who receive Nursery offers are given the opportunity to defer their place to Reception entry. We have an extremely limited number of places available to join in Reception each year. Deferral requests are granted in the order in which they are received. Once the places are filled, parents have the option to accept their Nursery offer to guarantee direct entry into Reception, or to join the waiting list for Reception entry only. Offers made after all Reception places have been filled will not include the option to defer.
Occasional Places
Joining us in Reception or above
If you wish for your child to join further up the school, please contact us to find out whether a place is available in the relevant year group. If it is, the school will then invite your child to undertake an assessment to establish your child’s level of attainment (focusing on Mathematics and English) to determine whether your child will be a good fit for the class and will be able to fully access the curriculum. For younger children, the assessment is more about whether your child will fit with the existing class than academic attainment.
The process is the same as above – registration followed by an offer being made via email. We will usually request the child’s latest school report from their current school, alongside an assessment if we feel this is necessary.
All offers for occasional places are dependent on availability and at the discretion of the Head.
International Families
Joining us from abroad
If you are joining us from abroad, we are required to check the child’s right to reside in the UK before we can confirm a place at the school. If your child has a UK passport, a copy of this will be sufficient.
If your child does not have a UK passport, you’ll need to provide a copy of your child’s passport, and also provide either evidence of your child’s settled/ pre-settled status (for EU nationals living in the UK before 1 January 2021) or evidence of your child’s right to reside in the UK (visa/BRP for all other nationalities).
If your child holds a visa/BRP (Biometric Residence Permit), please provide the school with a copy of the passport, visa, entry vignette or current valid BRP (both sides of the card) for both the dependent child and parents.