Welcome to Birch Church of England Primary School.

Please find information below on how to apply for a place at our school.

 

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR RECEPTION PLACES FOR THE NEXT SEPTEMBER INTAKE?

If your child is currently pre-school age, and you are interested in applying for a place in the next September intake's Reception age class, then you need to apply for a place via Essex County Council. The Essex County Admissions team manage and process all children applying for an initial place in the school. Please click on the following link which will signpost you directly to their Primary School Places page where you will find all the information necessary on how to apply. You can also find their primary school catchment area checker which will inform you of your catchment school relevant to your postcode.

https://www.essex.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/primary-school-places#

The direct contact information for Essex County Admissions department is:

Telephone: 0345 603 2200

Email: admissions@essex.gov.uk

 

Please also refer to the 'Primary Education in Essex Brochure' via the link in the list of attachments at the bottom of this page. This brochure was formulated by Essex County Admissions and is packed full of lots of information about the end-to-end admissions process.

RECEPTION - INFORMATION FOR CONFIRMED NEW STARTERS

For parents who have accepted a place for next September's intake (offers come out from Essex County Council in April for September), please have a look at the 'New starter booklet', collated by the class teacher. You can look through this with your child prior to starting at school and this will give you lots of information about what they can expect as they start their primary years at Birch Church of England Primary School.

 

ARE YOU LOOKING TO MAKE APPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN ALREADY AT SCHOOL AGE OR CURRENTLY AT ANOTHER SCHOOL? 

This is known as the Mid-Year or In-Year application process. A parent/carer would need to follow this process if you are looking to apply for a place for your child who is already school-aged or is currently attending another school.

Here at Birch Church of England Primary school we manage our own Mid-Year Admissions. This means if you are interested in a place at our school, then we encourage you to contact us directly. Our main school telephone number is (01206) 330224 or you can email the school office at admin@birch.essex.sch.uk, and we will respond to your enquiry as quickly as possible. Please just be aware that if you choose to make an enquiry during a school holiday period then the school telephone number is unlikely to be answered, but you can leave a voicemail. The admin email is checked sporadically through school holiday periods, so sometimes your enquiry may be received.If not, then the best time for all enquiries is of course, during term time.

Please find attached below a copy of the Mid-Year Primary Place Application form. This can be emailed in to the admin@birch.essex.sch.uk email address, or it can be posted to the school at: Birch C of E Primary School, School Hill, Birch, Essex. CO2 0LZ

 

SCHOOL TOURS

We are pleased to offer school tours to interested parties. Please contact the school office as above and we would be delighted to help you. Wherever diary planning allows, our Headteacher, Mrs Rebekah May, likes to take school tours. This gives an opportunity to look around our school and give time for any questions or specific information you may wish to discuss regarding your child/children.

For any parents looking for reception places for the following September, our Headteacher typically puts together a set of school tour dates during the Autumn term between October and the following January to coincide with the advertised application window as stated on the Essex County Admissions website. If you wish to come along on one of these tours, then please get in touch with the school office from Mid-September, once dates have been set. 

 

VIRTUAL TOUR BY MRS MAY HEADTEACHER