Admissions (including Nursery)

If you would like your child to attend our school, please see full details of our admission arrangements below. 

Although St James' C of E Infant and Nursery School has a designated catchment area, we do have a large number of children who attend from a variety of areas both in Whitehaven and the surrounding areas.  Please contact us to see if we have available places at the moment.

Our catchment area covers much of the town centre up to The Loop Road South and Corkickle, The Highlands, Red Lonning.

However, we do have pupils from as far afield as Frizington, Egremont and Distington.  Our pupils come from a variety of Nurseries too, as well as our own in school nursery. So if you are considering applying for a place with us, please contact us as we may still have available places.

Applying for a place for your child couldn't be easier.  All admissions must now be arranged through the Cumberland Council School Admissions Team.  You can either contact us at St James' C of E Infant and Nursery School directly for advice or go to the Cumberland Council School Admissions Website.The website has links to the admissions criteria and information for starting Infant School or transferring mid year from another school.

Our Published Admissions Number is 45 pupils to start in Reception each year.  We follow the Cumberland Council General Admissions Policy.

As we are a Voluntary Controlled School, our Admissions policies are determined by Cumberland Council.

Admissions to our Nursery

We are delighted to have opened our own nursery in September 2018 for children aged 3-4 years.  We can offer school lunches and wrap around care too.

Information can be found in our nursery brochure and appointments made with the school office if you would like to come for a visit before applying. 

If you would like to apply for a place in our Nursery, please complete the 2 forms below and send directly to us. 

Children can join our Nursery from the day after their 3rd birthday.

We accept application forms from the year prior to starting.  We advise sending your applications in with at least 2 terms notice.  Completed forms should be returned directly to school. You will also need to provide proof of your address and your child's date of birth. 

Free universal Government funding for 15 hours (or 30 hours for working parents) does not start until the term after their 3rd birthday.

Children born between 1 April and 31 August can receive their funded hours from the September after they turn 3. 
Children born between 1 September and 31 December can receive their funded hours from the January after they turn 3. 
Children born between 1 January and 31 March can receive their funded hours from the April after they turn 3.

However, from April 2024, working parents can claim for 2 year old funding (subject to the condition of each parent needing to be working and earning the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum/living wage and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year). This funding can then be used to provide nursery hours from the day after a child's 3rd birthday until their universal 15 free hours (or working parents 30 free childcare hours) begins the term after their third birthday

Additionally we accept various voucher schemes in school such as Tax-free Childcare, Edenred and Fideliti vouchers.  If you wish to use these please speak to a member of our office staff on application.

If you do not qualify for free childcare hours, or you wish to extend your eligibility, you can pay for additional hours.  Please discuss this with the office staff upon application.

More Information

See below for links to more information about free childcare.