South Street Community Primary School Nursery

A pretend cup of tea captures something specific about South Street’s nursery: children make room for one another in their play. In March 2024, children poured tea for each other during role play, shared games and took turns speaking. These small exchanges give parents a concrete picture of learning that involves other children, as well as the task in front of them.

The nursery forms part of South Street Community Primary School on Cramer Street in Deckham, Gateshead. Ofsted graded the school’s early years provision Good at its inspection on 5 and 6 March 2024. That judgement covers early years within the school; it is not a separate nursery rating.

Role play gives children a reason to talk, listen and cooperate. The tea-making example brings those strands together: children participate in an imagined situation while responding to somebody else. Taking turns in conversation matters alongside sharing the game itself. It makes social learning part of the activity.

In March 2024, nursery children sustained their attention on tasks. Early years learning drew children into activities and gave them meaningful things to do. For parents, the useful combination is concentration and participation: children could stay with an activity while also including others. The evidence offers a snapshot of these experiences, rather than a timetable for a typical session.

There is a curriculum caveat. Work to connect early years learning with subjects further up the school was underway, and curriculum changes were still becoming established. Monitoring and evaluation across early years and the rest of the school needed further development. Families should read the positive account of nursery activities alongside that continuing work on how learning is planned and checked.

Welcoming another child into a game is a practical form of inclusion. The nursery’s March 2024 examples show children sharing space within their play and allowing others a turn in the conversation. These are useful foundations for participating in a group.

Curriculum adaptation. The March 2024 school-wide findings also raised concerns about inconsistent teaching of the curriculum and insufficient adjustments in some subjects for pupils with SEND. Some pupils, including those with SEND, were not achieving as well as they should. This was not a nursery-specific finding, but it provides relevant context for families considering how learning will meet their child’s needs.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet its deadline. Choosing the nursery and applying for Reception are distinct decisions: time spent here should not be treated as an assurance of a later place at the school.

The school’s address is Cramer Street, Deckham, Gateshead, NE8 4BB. Its telephone number is 01914773993, providing a direct school contact for nursery enquiries. For families considering this provision, the practical starting point is the school itself, while the separate Reception application remains a further step.