We welcome visits by parents to view our school. Please telephone the school office on 01799 586280 to make a mutually convenient appointment with our Head Teacher, Miss Reis. 

Click here to join our school (Mid-year)

Our published admission number for each year group is 15 children. 

Parents of pre-school children living in Essex will receive information from Essex County Council in the autumn of the year their child turns 4 years old. The pack contains information about how to apply for a place at primary school and the application dates and deadlines. Our school comes under West Essex in the Primary Booklets.

The Admission Policy for our school is as follows:

There is no guarantee of a place for children living in the priority admission area.

In the event of oversubscription, places will be allocated using the following criteria in the order given:

1. Looked After Children and previously looked after children (as defined on page 14 of the Primary Education in Essex booklet)
2. Children with a sibling attending the school
3. Children living in the priority admission area
4. Remaining applications

In the event of oversubscription within any of the above criteria, priority will be determined by straight line distance from home to school, those living closest being given the highest priority. Schools Admissions hold the waiting list, known as the continued interest list, for places at our school.

Waiting list held until:  31 December

If you are moving to the area, or you wish to transfer your child from a different primary school in Essex, please contact the school office to arrange a visit. 

To find out more information about your admission and for appeal arrangements, please refer to Essex County Council Admissions via https://www.essex.gov.uk/apply-for-a-primary-school-place .

Delay or Defer Reception entry 

As required by law, all Essex infant and primary schools provide for the full-time admission of all children offered a place in the Reception year group from the September following their fourth birthday. Therefore, if a parent wants a full-time place for their child from September (at the school at which a place has been offered) then they are entitled to that full-time place.

Parents can defer the date their child is admitted to school until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in the school year. The law does not require a child to start school until the start of the term following their fifth birthday. Compulsory school age is reached at that point.

Where entry is deferred, the school will hold the place for that child and not offer it to another child. The parent would not however be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which the original application was accepted.

Parents can also request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. Any parents interested in taking up a part-time place initially should contact the individual school(s) for further details as to what this would entail.

Where parents choose to defer entry, a school may reasonably expect that the child would start at the beginning of a new school term/half term.

Where a parent of a ‘summer-born’ child (1 April – 31 August) wishes their child to start school in the autumn term following their fifth birthday, they will need to apply for a place at the correct time for the normal admission round for the following academic year. The process to be followed is defined in detail in the ‘Primary Education in Essex’ booklet. Supporting evidence from relevant professionals working with the child and family stating why the child must be placed outside their normal age-appropriate cohort should be submitted.

The County Council will decide whether the application for a Reception place will be accepted or whether it will be treated as an application for a Year 1 place, the child’s normal age appropriate cohort. Further details are provided in the ‘Primary Education in Essex’ booklet.

If the application for a Reception place is not accepted this does not constitute a refusal of the place and there is no right to an independent statutory appeal.

KS2 Admissions 

We are very fortunate to have a strong link with the Plymouth Brethren in this area. They only join our school for the Early Years and KS1, therefore we have some spaces in the KS2 classes. 

Here is a message from the elders of the Plymouth Brethren:

From Year 3 onwards, Plymouth Brethren Children attend our own schools. (https://www.oneschoolglobal.com/).

For reception, Year 1 and Year 2, we attend local state schools. Students in the Thaxted/Saffron Walden area have tended to attend Great Sampford Primary School because of the excellent facilities and their understanding of our beliefs. 

We realise this leaves a gap in attendance when our students leave at the end of Year 2 and would like to recommend Great Sampford Primary School to anyone thinking of joining during Year 3 to make up the numbers.