Marlborough Primary School Nursery Review

Stories, rhymes and songs give Marlborough’s nursery its clearest character: an introduction to learning through the sounds and patterns of language. This is the nursery within Marlborough Primary School in Small Heath, Birmingham, with a morning session and an afternoon session. For families organising childcare around a shorter school session, that distinction matters.

Ofsted judged the school’s early years provision Good at the inspection on 16 and 17 May 2023. That judgement covers early years within the school; it is not a separate nursery inspection or rating.

Language comes first in the nursery activities described in May 2023. Adults use storytelling, singing and rhymes to introduce children to how language sounds and works. These are concrete foundations for later reading: children hear patterns before they tackle written words. The emphasis is on getting familiar with language through shared activities.

Within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), learning was organised into manageable stages in May 2023. The early years curriculum included children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), rather than treating their learning as a separate ambition. For parents, the useful combination is a curriculum planned for progression and nursery activities that begin with listening and joining in.

Read Write Inc. is the school’s phonics scheme. The nursery-specific picture remains the stories, songs and rhymes described above, so the school’s wider phonics approach should be distinguished from what nursery children actually do.

A teacher and a teaching assistant form the nursery team. Families with concerns about additional needs can arrange a discussion with the school’s inclusion lead; support strategies can also be discussed with the SENDCo. This gives parents a route for talking about identification and provision, alongside their conversations with nursery staff.

Safeguarding records. In May 2023, a school-wide improvement requirement concerned recording safeguarding concerns and follow-up actions in greater detail. Incomplete records could make a child’s history harder to trace. Parents should keep that concern in view when considering how information about their child is handled.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place and does not confer priority under Marlborough’s allocation criteria. Families must make a separate Reception application through Birmingham City Council’s online school admissions route, meeting the deadline for their child’s entry year.

For the past 2025-26 Reception intake, the application deadline was 15 January 2025. That date belongs to that completed admissions cycle. Choosing the nursery and applying for Reception are separate decisions, even though both concern the same school.

Morning nursery runs from 08:30 to 11:30; the afternoon session runs from 12:30 to 15:30. These specific nursery hours are the useful times for arranging collection and other childcare.

For nursery enquiries, contact the school office on 0121 464 7933 or email p.stoodley@mps.bham.sch.uk. The school’s contact address is Green Lane, Small Heath, Birmingham, B10 9NY.