St Joseph's RC Primary School Nursery Review

Learning, play and help with big feelings give the early years at St Joseph's their character. Ofsted's September 2023 inspection found that early-years children settled comfortably, enjoyed their activities and received help to manage their emotions. Those findings matter for a child's first experience of school: adjustment and emotional support sit alongside learning.

The nursery belongs to St Joseph's RC Primary School on Market Street in Mossley, a Catholic primary school whose age range begins at three. Its school motto, Love, Learn and Give Your Best, places faith and effort together. Families are choosing nursery provision within that Catholic school context.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) resources give parents concrete examples of early learning: observing birds and sharing stories. For the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2026, the school provides an EYFS survey sheet alongside Bouncy Blackbird, Cheeky Sparrow and Lucky Duck story materials. These connect exploring nature with reading together; they describe learning resources rather than the nursery's daily timetable. Wellcomm speech and language screening is used within EYFS, giving communication a specific place in the provision. For parents, that makes language development a useful focus alongside their child's enjoyment of play.

Learning can also extend into home activities. The school's home-learning resources include Dough Disco, which pairs play dough with finger and hand movements to practise coordination and muscle control. BookTrust reading advice and Oxford Owl learning ideas give families named starting points for sharing books and activities. These are home resources, rather than a nursery timetable.

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2026 material includes an EYFS survey sheet and bird-themed stories, connecting early-years resources with observing nature. The school grounds feature in that project alongside observations made at home.

Curriculum development. In September 2023, the school still needed to clarify the sequence of knowledge in some subjects and strengthen teachers' subject expertise and assessment. These were school-wide improvement actions; they should be kept distinct from the findings specifically about early-years children.

Comfort with learning starts with emotional support. In September 2023, teachers helped early-years children handle their feelings, while parents attended useful workshops, especially for this age group. Workshops provide a point of contact between home and school around children's learning.

For additional needs, the school has a special educational needs coordinator, contactable through the school office. Its SEND policy aims to reduce obstacles to learning wherever possible and treat children as individuals. This gives families a defined contact for discussing support.

Operation Encompass connects the school with Greater Manchester Police so staff can support children affected by domestic violence after receiving information about incidents. The school also provides a sample lunch menu for families to consult.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet its deadline. Treat the nursery choice and the Reception application as separate decisions.

Nursery applications use a downloadable form, returned to the school office by hand, post or email. A supplementary information form is required for new admissions. The contact email is admin@st-josephs.tameside.sch.uk and the telephone number is 01457 832360.

Regular school newsletters and the EYFS class page provide routes for keeping up with school information. Paper copies of website documents can be requested from the office, giving families an alternative to reading them online.