The Heys Primary School Nursery Review

Language, books and outdoor learning give the nursery at The Heys Primary School its educational context. This is the school's own nursery provision in Ashton-under-Lyne, with a nursery class and a separate curriculum overview for that group. For parents, the useful distinction is between belonging to the school now and securing a school place later: those are separate questions.

The wider curriculum connects learning with creativity, physical development and emotional wellbeing. That gives families a picture of the educational priorities surrounding the nursery, rather than a promise about a particular session's timetable.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the early learning framework. The school's curriculum priorities help explain that learning in parent terms: developing language and early literacy alongside creativity, physical development and emotional wellbeing. These are wider school priorities, rather than a nursery session plan. In December 2022, Ofsted found that the early-years curriculum had been planned carefully, with staff understanding the knowledge children needed for subsequent learning. This supports a picture of purposeful early education, although the finding concerns early years collectively.

Language has a clear place in the school's curriculum: developing vocabulary and spoken expression supports children's reading and writing. Books therefore matter beyond learning to recognise words. The educational emphasis connects talking with later literacy, giving parents a useful lens through which to understand the nursery's learning priorities.

Daily Supported Reading is named within the school's EYFS provision. Its wider reading culture also includes the bedtime books project and a school library. These are distinct parts of the school's approach to books; they should not be read as a nursery timetable or as confirmation that each programme runs in every nursery session.

Forest School is another named strand. The school treats its grounds and the surrounding community as settings for active learning across its pupil groups. Outdoor learning therefore forms part of the wider curriculum context, alongside work with books and language.

Communication with families uses Class Dojo. Parents obtain their access details through their child's class teacher, providing a practical route for receiving school information.

Meals across the school are supplied by DOLCE, with parents placing orders online each week. This makes ordering an advance task for families using school meals. The school's description of Live Kitchen also explains that parents can select and pay for meals online; nursery families should distinguish that ordering system from any entitlement to free meals.

Attending this nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet the applicable deadline. Choosing the nursery and applying for Reception are separate decisions.

Whiteacre Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, is the school's address. For nursery enquiries, contact the school office by telephone on 01613301847 or email admin@heys.tameside.sch.uk.

Meal ordering. School meals require an online order each week. Families using them need to build that task into their routine, alongside checking school messages through Class Dojo.