Epworth Primary Academy Nursery

A weekly Forest School session gives Epworth’s nursery a clear outdoor thread: den building, woodland crafts and scavenger hunts take learning into a small woodland area. Children start nursery from age 3, within Epworth Primary Academy on Birchfield Road in Epworth. The provision belongs to the school’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with play and adult guidance working together.

The academy’s Epworth Primary Mindset asks children to be respectful, honest and kind. For a nursery family, that gives a concrete picture of the school’s aims: learning to share, help others and ask for help are part of belonging here.

Children’s interests help shape the learning. Adults observe their play, ask questions, demonstrate ideas and support conversation, combining activities children choose with learning led by staff. This gives children room to explore while adults help them take an idea further.

EYFS learning reaches beyond early reading and numbers. Communication, movement and emotional development sit alongside literacy, mathematics, creative expression and understanding the world. In parent language, the nursery works on listening, talking, concentrating, persevering and cooperating, as well as the beginnings of subject learning. Children have time to try ideas and make choices.

Forest School adds a different setting for that work. Woodland crafts and den building sit alongside team games, treasure hunts and cooking around a campfire. The small woodland area is a specific part of the nursery’s learning environment, giving children opportunities to solve problems together and practise communicating through shared tasks.

Read Write Inc provides the approach to phonics, with sound teaching beginning in nursery. Early reading also starts with picture books taken home for children to tell stories. Books with words to decode follow when children are ready, linking home reading to their developing skills rather than treating every child as ready for the same step.

Support for additional needs sits within the academy’s SEND arrangements. Teachers, assistant teachers and the special educational needs coordinator work together, with parents involved in identifying difficulties and agreeing next steps. Help can take place in class, individually or in a small group, depending on the child’s needs.

Adaptations include visual timetables, changes to resources and extra time to process information. The academy can also draw on Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Educational Psychology. For families, these are practical routes to support with communication, physical needs or learning, rather than a single standard package.

Arbor gives parents access to information about their child. The academy also offers autumn and spring parents’ evenings, followed by a summer written report, creating regular opportunities to discuss development.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process. Applications to Epworth Primary Academy are managed by North Lincolnshire Council, which also tells parents the outcome. Choosing the nursery should therefore be a decision about the child’s early years experience, with the Reception application treated as a separate step.

The academy office is the first contact for enquiries: telephone 01427 872345 or email admin@epworthprimary-iet.co.uk. An online enquiry form provides another route to contact the team.

Morning childcare. The academy’s Breakfast Club serves Reception to Year 6. Families choosing nursery should not count that club as part of their nursery childcare arrangements.