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Nursery at Village Infants' School
Last reviewed: October 2026 · Inspection data and key information above update regularly, however, this review below is refreshed bi-annually and may not reflect recent changes. Contact the nursery directly to confirm current arrangements. If you spot anything outdated or inaccurate, please let us know.
A nursery garden, a pretend hospital and homemade fire engines give Village Infants' youngest children plenty to talk about. This is the school's own nursery on Ford Road in Dagenham, with space for 39 children in each of its morning and afternoon groups. Each session lasts three hours.
The usual starting point is September after a child's third birthday. Places for rising threes may also be offered, allowing children to begin in the term following their third birthday. Eligible families can access the school's 30-hour nursery offer. That gives parents a choice between shorter sessions and full-time provision, subject to eligibility and a place.
Play and direct teaching share the timetable. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) approach combines children's own investigations with activities led by adults, indoors and outside. Daily teaching includes literacy, maths and phonics. In nursery, the phonics foundations involve hearing rhymes, recognising syllables and blending sounds aloud, using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
Themes give those activities a recognisable purpose. All about me, Traditional tales and People who help us appear in the nursery planning. Children have acted as patients and medical staff in Village Nursery Hospital, built fire engines and pretended to tackle a fire in the garden. A meeting with firefighters and an exploration of their vehicle brought the theme into real life. These experiences give children something concrete to describe and recreate through play.
Number work includes matching objects to the numeral 4. Staff assess nursery learning through direct work and observation throughout the day, with monitoring points in October, February and July. Physical activities have involved crawling and balancing, while the nursery's own garden extends learning beyond the classroom. Jigsaw circle sessions address relationships, health and handling change, giving children opportunities to discuss feelings alongside practical learning.
Learning through play. The March 2025 Ofsted inspection identified an early-years weakness: some activities within continuous provision lacked sufficiently clear learning goals, leaving important concepts insecure. Families should weigh the appealing activities alongside this concern about what children learn from them.
Settling starts before attendance. Practitioners arrange meetings and visits involving children, families and previous settings, and parents attend a curriculum meeting. Entry is gradual and takes individual needs into account. This gives adults information about the child before the routine becomes familiar.
Support can include targeted work on communication, social interaction, small hand movements, maths and phonics. The school's SEND coordinator works with families, staff and external agencies. Physical access features include a lift, ramp and an accessible toilet, useful considerations for families whose child has mobility needs.
IRIS ParentMail carries school letters to parents. For food brought from home, the school's packed-lunch rules require carbohydrates, protein, fruit and vegetables or salad; nuts and foods containing them are prohibited. These are school lunch rules rather than a promise about a nursery meal package.
Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application through Barking and Dagenham's local-authority admissions process. The school's Reception arrangements give priority according to care status, qualifying siblings and distance, with no nursery-attendance criterion. Familiarity with the school does not change that allocation process.
There is continuity in the learning: themes about relationships and coping with change begin in nursery and are revisited in Reception. That connection concerns the curriculum, rather than admission rights.
The morning session begins at 8:45am. Afternoon provision runs from 12:30pm to 3:30pm. The full-time 30-hour offer is for eligible parents, who should use the linked Childcare Choices eligibility route and contact the school office about the offer.
Nursery enquiries go through the office on 0208 270 6589 or office@village.bardaglea.org.uk. The school is at Ford Road, Dagenham, RM10 9JS. For families planning transport, vehicle access to the school is restricted between 8:25am and 8:50am and between 3:00pm and 3:30pm for children's safety.
Children normally start in September after their third birthday. Rising-three places may allow entry in the term after that birthday, subject to space.
There are three-hour morning and afternoon sessions, plus a 30-hour nursery offer for eligible families. Afternoon hours are 12:30pm to 3:30pm.
No. The listed Reception criteria concern care status, qualifying siblings and distance. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a place, and families apply separately through the local authority.
Pre-start meetings and visits involve children, families and previous settings. Parents attend a curriculum meeting, and children begin gradually according to their individual needs.
Examples include medical role play, making fire engines, matching quantities to numerals and balancing activities. Adult-led teaching sits alongside children's own investigations.
