Meadowhead Community Infant School and Nursery: Nursery Review

Conversation through play gives Meadowhead’s nursery its clearest character. Adults model language and comment as they play alongside children, rather than filling the exchange with questions. That makes spoken communication part of the activity itself.

The nursery belongs to Meadowhead Community Infant School and Nursery in Mill Hill, Blackburn. Children join in the term following their third birthday. This is provision within the infant school, with learning organised around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Language, movement and relationships provide the foundations of learning. The EYFS combines communication with physical development and children’s emotional and social development: learning to express themselves, use their bodies and build relationships. Literacy and mathematics sit alongside understanding the world and expressive arts and design, giving the nursery curriculum a broader purpose than preparation for reading alone.

Hanen Training is the named approach behind the nursery’s work on spoken communication. Staff were completing this training to increase communication across the setting. Its practical emphasis is on adults joining children’s play, demonstrating language and making comments. For a parent, the useful distinction is the interaction: children have language modelled within play rather than being repeatedly asked to supply answers.

In September 2020, nursery children played alongside one another outdoors, combining outdoor activity with social play. Early reading begins within the early years too. At the December 2022 inspection, children were learning to separate and combine sounds to read words.

Feeling secure supported early-years children’s growing confidence in December 2022. That finding matters for children beginning their school experience: emotional security and participation in learning belong together.

A qualified teacher worked with the nursery staff team in February 2022. At that time, families using paid afternoon sessions could choose a provided lunch or send a packed lunch. The choice linked the session arrangement with how a child ate during the day.

Safeguarding responsibilities cover practical care as well as child protection, including first aid, medical needs and intimate care. Teaching staff, other staff and governors read and sign the safeguarding documentation, while senior leaders track training requirements and statutory updates. These are responsibilities across the school and nursery.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions route and meet the deadline for their child’s entry year. Blackburn with Darwen’s online admissions service is the application route.

The educational handover is separate from that application. Nursery staff assess children each term using the local authority’s School Readiness document, then pass the assessment to whichever school the child attends for Reception. This gives the receiving school information about the child’s development; it does not secure admission.

In February 2022, the nursery offered 30 hours of free childcare to families meeting the government’s eligibility criteria. Paid full-time attendance was also offered to children who did not qualify, alongside a pay-as-you-go arrangement allowing families to choose attendance days. These arrangements belong to that dated offer. Contact the school for current charges.

For nursery enquiries, telephone the school office on 01254 202600. Children start in the term after turning three, so the entry point follows their birthday rather than necessarily the beginning of the school year.