Noah's Ark Nursery at the Lea

A pond with fish and tadpoles, a covered play space and shared facilities with Reception give Noah's Ark Nursery at the Lea a recognisable school-site character. Based at The Lea Primary School & Nursery in Harpenden, it combines a preschool classroom with access to spaces for climbing, storytelling and exploring nature. The school connection shapes daily life here.

At its October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, found safeguarding effective and judged that children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, made excellent progress from their starting points. That is a strong dated assessment, rather than a description of today's practice. The current nursery offer accepts children from the term following their third birthday and has capacity for 37 children.

Attendance can be mornings, afternoons or full days through what the nursery describes as its partnership with The Lea Nursery, with the morning provision delivered by the school nursery. Understanding that division matters as much as choosing the hours.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation stage provides the framework for learning and care: here, play sits alongside early work on language, number, movement and using hands with increasing control. Weekly themes include seasons, weather and festivals, while a weekly letter and number introduce phonics and mathematics. This gives children a recurring thread to follow rather than a day made up only of unrelated activities.

An interactive whiteboard supports number and phonics work; elsewhere, a home corner, dressing-up resources and arts materials offer different ways to explore ideas. Children can move between stories, imaginative play and making things. The arrangement gives quieter activities a place alongside more physical experiences.

In October 2022, children used hospital role play, doctors' clothing and X-rays to explore the human body. Mathematics included making shapes with cutters and comparing their sides, while story sessions gave children time to answer questions and recall familiar narratives. These examples show how practical play and adult conversation worked together at that point.

Outdoor and Community Life

A canopy beside the classroom extends the space for sand, water, art and music. Its sides can open in hot weather or close on wet days, making it useful across different conditions. Direct access to the playground also connects classroom activity with outdoor movement.

The outdoor classroom sits behind the school field, with a wildlife area and pond offering opportunities to investigate fish and tadpole lifecycles. Reading and listening activities use this setting too. Nature is therefore part of the learning resources, rather than simply a backdrop to play.

The Early Years playground includes a slide, rigging, a road/racetrack, an outdoor percussion zone and a mud kitchen. Shared use of the canopy and playground with Reception children creates opportunities to practise taking turns with older children and become familiar with school surroundings.

Celebrations include a Nativity play at Christmas, a Teddy Bears Picnic at the year's end and a card-making Workshop before Mother's Day. These give families concrete points of connection with the nursery calendar.

Relationships and Communication

Each child is assigned a key worker who stays with them throughout their time at Noah's Ark. Observations from home and nursery inform the learning planned for that child, so the relationship has a practical role beyond being a familiar face. It gives families a consistent person connected to their child's development.

Parents, grandparents and carers can help during sessions through a rota, and family members can contribute skills such as cooking or playing an instrument. That offers a direct way for home experience to enter the nursery day.

In October 2022, families received learning updates through a secure online system and daily conversations with staff. Books and other resources also went home. The nursery and school exchanged information about children's development, targets and wellbeing, helping the two parts of the day work from a shared understanding.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The nursery has a speech and language teacher trained in Makaton techniques, which combine speech with signs and symbols to support communication. This is a specific communication resource within the current offer. In October 2022, practitioners also used visual prompts and phrases from children's home languages to help children express choices and develop vocabulary.

Staff have first aid training and undergo DBS checks. These are arrangements for care and recruitment; the safeguarding judgement remains the dated inspection finding above.

An afternoon snack includes fruit or vegetables alongside foods such as pitta, bagel or bread sticks, with water or milk to drink. At lunchtime, children can have a packed lunch or a cooked option using the school hall and kitchen.

School preparation includes familiarity with shared spaces. In October 2022, children visited the school library and the Reception classroom's hamster, while practising dressing themselves and washing their hands before eating. Those were concrete preparation activities, rather than an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The Lea Primary School & Nursery, Moorland Road, Harpenden, AL5 4LE. The term-time partnership provides a weekday care window from 7.30am to 6pm, with responsibility divided between the school and Noah's Ark.

Morning Nursery runs from 8.45am to noon and is delivered by The Lea Nursery. Noah's Ark's Afternoon Nursery runs from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. Families can choose either part or combine them into a full day; lunchtime cover connects the provision.

The school runs Early Breakfast Club from 7.30am to 8.45am and Breakfast Club from 8am to 8.45am. After School Club (TLC) offers several booking options alongside the nursery sessions.

On term-ending days, nursery afternoon sessions are replaced by an afternoon club from 1.15pm to 3.30pm; after-school provision runs according to demand. Holiday club operates on most inset days. The ordinary nursery timetable therefore needs to be read alongside the term calendar.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use the 15 or 30 hours free child care allowance for morning and afternoon nursery sessions during term time. Funding cannot cover after school club. Paid nursery and club sessions are also offered, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the session and pricing information explains the attendance options.

The nursery describes its partnership with The Lea Nursery and shares facilities with the school. Attending does not guarantee a Reception place: families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• A day across two providers. The Lea Nursery delivers mornings and Noah's Ark delivers afternoons. At a visit, ask how the lunchtime handover works for a child attending both.
• Funding stops before club care. Funded hours apply to morning and afternoon nursery sessions, while after school club is excluded. Compare the whole day's written quotation, including food and non-food consumables, with the pattern your family needs.
• School surroundings, separate admissions. Reception children share outdoor spaces with the nursery. This offers familiarity, but families must still make a separate school application.
• Term-end changes. The last day of term uses an afternoon club instead of the usual nursery session, and after-school care depends on demand. Include these days when planning your working hours.

Noah's Ark suits families seeking afternoon preschool care or a combined morning-and-afternoon arrangement with The Lea Nursery. The covered outdoor space, pond and shared Reception facilities give children several ways to explore and become familiar with school life, while a continuing key worker provides a clear point of contact.

The October 2022 Outstanding judgement carries weight, but the practical decision centres on the partnership timetable. Families choosing this setting need the division between school-run sessions, Noah's Ark nursery care and club bookings to fit their day.