Ireleth St Peter's CofE Primary School Nursery

A mud kitchen, an outdoor stage and Numberblocks give this nursery its character: practical play alongside early work with numbers and sounds. Turtle Class is the nursery provision at Ireleth St Peter's CofE Primary School in Ireleth, with entry from age three. It sits within a school whose Christian values shape its ethos.

Flexibility is a useful feature here. Families can choose a morning, an afternoon, a morning extending through lunch or a full day, with Breakfast Club and After School Club offered for an additional charge. Those options let parents choose whether lunch forms part of their child's nursery day.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings together learning to communicate, move, relate to others and explore, alongside early literacy, maths and creative work. Here, the planned balance combines teaching in groups with learning through play. Children's interests help shape themes and activities, giving adult teaching and children's own exploration a place in the day.

Numberblocks is named specifically for nursery maths. For early reading, the school uses Read Write Inc, with daily phonics in EYFS and small groups organised around children's learning stages. In January 2023, Ofsted identified a sequenced phonics programme beginning in nursery, where children practised attentive listening and recognising sounds. These are concrete first steps towards reading.

Indoors, nursery computing includes games and activities on an interactive whiteboard; the EYFS classroom also has tablets. Outside, the EYFS playground includes a bug hotel and playhouse alongside the mud kitchen and stage. These give children different starting points for exploring, pretend play and performance. Nursery art activities use different materials, adding another way to experiment and make things.

Curriculum planning. The January 2023 inspection identified insufficient detail about the knowledge children should acquire in early years, leaving teachers uncertain about how to develop learning and risking slower progress for some children. This is a material consideration alongside the nursery's practical activities.

An Early Years Lead is part of the staff structure, and the early-years curriculum places emphasis on children's emotional development and relationships. My Happy Mind sessions in the EYFS classroom use a focus story to explore feelings. My Happy Breathing provides a technique for practising calm when emotions become difficult to manage.

Lunch has two options: children can bring a packed lunch or order a school dinner. Meals are cooked on site, with ingredients sourced locally where possible. A menu rotating over three weeks includes Roast Wednesday, alternating pork, chicken and beef. Nursery meals are charged; ask the school for current charges.

For conversations about learning, parents can speak with their child's teacher or arrange a meeting through the office. Class Dojo and class pages also provide ways to see curriculum activities, helping families connect nursery learning with conversations at home.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process by the applicable deadline.

Nursery and Reception children use the EYFS playground, providing a shared physical setting. That connection is separate from the allocation of Reception places.

Sessions run from 8:45am to 3:15pm, 8:45am to 11:45am, 8:45am to 1pm, or 1pm to 3:15pm. Nursery provision offers up to 30 hours. The nursery describes 15 funded hours per week from age three, with another 15 available to eligible working families; additional sessions can also be booked for a charge by families who do not qualify for the extra funded hours.

To enquire or arrange a viewing, contact the office on 01229 462753 or email admin@irelethst-peters.cumbria.sch.uk. Visits can be booked by telephone, giving families a direct way to explore the provision before applying.