Kingswood Primary School and Nursery: Nursery Review

A Welly Garden and Mud Kitchen give Kingswood’s early years provision a practical outdoor identity. Alongside painting, music and role play, these spaces make exploring with hands and materials part of the learning experience. This is the nursery within Kingswood Primary School and Nursery on Clay Hill Road in Basildon.

A class teacher and learning support assistants make up the nursery team. The provision sits within the school’s early years structure, with an EYFS phase leader providing a wider leadership role.

The nursery morning runs from 8:30am to 11:30am. Within the early years foundation stage, learning combines communication, physical development and managing feelings with early literacy, mathematics, creative work and discovering how the world works. For parents, that means learning to share and talk matters alongside recognising numbers and making marks.

Outdoor activity includes opportunities to run and climb. Indoors, children can model, print, paint and draw, with dressing up, performance and music adding other ways to express ideas. Adults guide children through sharing equipment, listening to one another and working with a partner or small group. These are practical foundations for taking part in a classroom.

The nursery’s 2022/23 planning gives concrete examples of how those areas connect: Firm Foundations Phonics, number songs, sorting by colour or size, and recognising small quantities. Its story choices included The Colour Monster, while play materials included sand and dough. These examples bring language, early number work and sensory exploration together rather than treating them as separate exercises.

That same year’s plans included a home corner, learning to handle coats and zips, and practising independent handwashing and toileting. Small everyday tasks had a place alongside stories and creative work. They help explain the nursery’s emphasis on growing independence.

Support for additional needs follows the school’s Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. Parents contribute to decisions about adjustments and interventions, and support is reconsidered as a child’s needs develop. For children requiring SEN support, a One Plan brings strengths, needs and suggested strategies together for teaching and support staff.

Practical resources include wobble cushions and ear defenders for children identified as needing them. The school also has the Rainbow Room, a space for additional SEND support. Families can raise concerns with the class teacher, with the SENCO involved in further assessment and planning where needed.

Food brought into school must follow its allergy precautions: snacks and sandwich fillings must exclude nuts, including most chocolate spreads. This is a useful rule to build into the morning routine.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place and gives no priority in the school’s oversubscription criteria. Families must make a separate Reception application through Essex County Council’s normal admissions process, meeting the closing date set by the local authority. Treat this as a separate decision and application, even if your child already attends the nursery.

The 8:30am to 11:30am session makes collection a late-morning commitment for families. Nursery enquiries go through the school office on 01268 520850 or office@kingswoodprimaryschool.net. The address is Clay Hill Road, Basildon, SS16 5DE.

For an absence, telephone the office before 8:30am on the first day. That gives families a clear contact routine as well as a fixed session timetable.