Marpool Primary School Nursery Review

Stories, early conversation and practical cooking give Marpool’s nursery curriculum its character. This is the nursery within Marpool Primary School on Moorfield Road in Exmouth, with provision for three- and four-year-olds. Its curriculum sits within the Cornerstone Academy Trust’s early years framework, linking children’s communication, physical development and growing independence with their first steps in literacy and mathematics.

There is no Ofsted graded rating yet for the current school, URN 150964. The historical inspection findings below concern Marpool recorded under URN 113096, rather than a separate nursery registration.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings care and learning together. Cornerstone aims to plan around children’s interests and needs, using observations to shape what comes next. Development Matters provides the curriculum’s developmental reference points: learning to sustain a conversation, share play with another child and manage everyday tasks sits alongside learning about books and numbers.

For three- and four-year-olds, the literacy objectives include recognising rhyming words, clapping out syllables and making an early attempt at writing their name. Mathematics includes matching quantities up to 5 to numerals and comparing amounts. Creative objectives include mixing colours and inventing songs; exploration includes growing plants and investigating materials. Each gives children something concrete to talk about and try.

Cooking adds another practical thread. The Trust’s nursery programme includes Easy Apple Muffins in autumn, then Easy Bread Rolls and Banana Bread in spring. Summer brings Frozen Fruity Yoghurt Bites and Cinnamon Snail Cookies. Food becomes a subject children can explore through making it.

In June 2023, early years provision was judged Requires improvement, with poor achievement across the curriculum despite suitable phonics teaching. In July 2024, early years language development received greater attention through planned activities, and children were learning early reading successfully. At that monitoring visit, the school still required special measures, with further work necessary. This was a school-level position, not a separate nursery judgement. Those dated findings give parents both a concern about broader learning and a specific positive about language and reading.

Independence is a curriculum goal. For three- and four-year-olds, this includes managing clothing, washing hands and using the toilet with increasing confidence. Emotional development includes putting feelings into words and resolving disagreements through conversation. The emphasis is on helping children do more for themselves while learning how to play alongside others.

SEND support follows Assess, Plan, Do, Review, using Devon’s Graduated Response Tool. The Trust’s specialist structure includes school nurses and a speech and language therapist, with referrals to outside services where needed. This provides a process for reviewing support as a child’s needs change. Marpool also has a purpose-built Resource Base within the school; that school facility should be distinguished from the nursery’s everyday provision.

Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application through Devon Admissions within the normal admissions round and meet the deadline for their child’s entry year. Treat choosing the nursery and applying for Reception as two separate decisions.

Devon County Council’s Admissions Team administers applications for the Trust’s schools. Families express their school preferences through that route, and allocation notifications arrive in April.

The school’s address is Moorfield Road, Exmouth, EX8 3QW. For enquiries, the Trust can be contacted at admin@tcat.education or on 01392 304040. Reception application enquiries go to admissions@devon.gov.uk or 0345 155 1019.