Wellgate Primary School Nursery Review

A separate building gives Wellgate’s nursery its own physical place within the school. Known as FS1, the department has ramp access, a concrete consideration for families with mobility needs. It forms the nursery stage of a curriculum that continues through the school.

Play and adult teaching work together here. The early years curriculum combines exploration and purposeful play with conversations involving adults and directly taught activities. That gives children opportunities both to try things themselves and to learn with adult guidance, rather than relying on one way of learning.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) covers seven areas. In parent language, these bring together talking and listening, relationships and emotions, physical development, early reading and writing, mathematics, discovering the world and creative expression. The emphasis is broader than preparing children for formal lessons: communication, movement and social development sit alongside literacy and number work.

Monday Morning Enrichment adds another strand. Early years children take part within their own provision, so these experiences happen in their familiar learning setting. Wellgate aims to help children develop independence, curiosity and confidence through its early years curriculum.

Adaptations across the school include visual timetables, extra time to process information and introducing vocabulary ahead of learning. These offer different ways for children with additional needs to understand an activity and take part.

Parents have a role in planning support. Before a child starts, families are asked to discuss identified additional needs so that staff can prepare suitable help. The class teacher is the initial contact for concerns, with the SENDCo available for more detailed questions and access to specialist advice.

Support follows a staged process: staff assess needs, plan an approach, put it into practice and review its effect. Where a child needs provision beyond that offered to peers, a SEND Support Plan is developed with the family, teacher and SENDCo. Parents and children participate in reviewing outcomes at least termly. This gives families a recurring opportunity to discuss whether support is working.

Communication support can include Makaton or PECS where appropriate. Across the school, staff have training in these approaches, and sensory equipment is available in classrooms. Specialist advice may also involve Speech and Language Therapy or Educational Psychology. These are school support arrangements, with provision matched to the individual child.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application to Barnsley’s local authority through the normal admissions process and meet the deadline for their child’s entry year. The online route is www.barnsley.gov.uk/schooladmissions.

For the 2025–2026 entry cycle, nursery attendance carried no oversubscription priority: the criteria instead covered care status, siblings and distance. Families should treat their nursery choice and Reception application as separate decisions.

Transition support is a different matter. For children with SEND, a personalised plan may include extra visits, discussions between existing and receiving staff, and opportunities for parents to meet the new team. Those steps help prepare a child for change; they do not determine the admission decision.

Nursery applications can be made through the school office or online at www.barnsley.gov.uk/admissions. Forms returned to the office are forwarded to the local authority, which contacts families when their child reaches nursery age and a place becomes available.

Additional nursery hours beyond funded hours are chargeable, as are hours where an eligibility code has not been provided. Refer to the school for current charges. Funding and a nursery place should therefore be considered alongside the hours a family intends to use.