Ark Victoria Academy Nursery

Morning or afternoon sessions give Ark Victoria Academy’s nursery a distinct place within the school day. Based in Small Heath, Birmingham, this is the nursery of an all-through academy, with nursery classrooms and a nursery gate. The practical appeal is a choice of two shorter sessions within a school setting.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) learning includes the everyday business of becoming more independent and getting along with other children. Children practise dressing, talk about what they need and want, and learn to recognise emotions. Health and diet also feature. These are useful foundations for a child learning to express a need or manage a familiar task themselves.

Social learning has concrete content: children explore relationships with familiar adults and other children, and discuss differences and similarities between families. Routine and behaviour expectations are taught alongside learning to compromise with peers. That gives sharing and resolving disagreements a place in the learning, rather than treating them simply as interruptions.

Role play introduces exchanges of objects and goods, while games and rhymes provide other ways to explore these ideas. Children also learn about community roles, including dentists, nurses and police. Their immediate surroundings provide starting points for discussing places of interest and life elsewhere. The emphasis here reaches beyond preparing for lessons: it includes understanding people, choices and everyday experiences.

A nursery teacher sits within the primary teaching team, with an assistant headteacher responsible for EYFS. For additional needs, the academy’s support structure includes a primary operational SENCo and a primary SENDCO. This gives families identifiable roles to approach when discussing their child’s needs.

Across the academy, children with additional needs have Individual Learning Plans containing targets tailored to them. Support follows an Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle, allowing it to be reconsidered as needs change. The school also works with Educational psychology, the Communication and Autism Team and Pupil School Support.

School meals are prepared in an on-site kitchen each day. The academy’s approach to meals includes eating with adults in small groups, practising cutlery skills and table manners, and making conversation. Eating is treated as a social learning opportunity as well as a meal.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. For September 2027 entry, it confers no priority: oversubscription criteria cover care status, siblings, qualifying staff children and distance, rather than attendance at the nursery.

Families must make a separate Reception application. Birmingham residents apply through Birmingham City Council; families living elsewhere apply through their home local authority. The deadline for September 2027 entry is 15 January 2027. Keep that application separate from arranging nursery attendance: a nursery place does not replace it.

The morning session runs from 8:40am to 11:30am; the afternoon runs from 12:30pm to 3:20pm. Nursery access is through the nursery gate to the nursery classrooms. Those times are the starting point for planning collection and other childcare.

Funded nursery places are advertised for 30 hours per week. Nursery applications can be made at any time. Contact the school office at info@arkvictoria.org or on 0121 393 4459 for nursery enquiries. A visit can be requested through a booking form, after which the school contacts families to arrange a convenient time.