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Nursery at The Gateway Primary Free 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 If you spot anything outdated or inaccurate, please let us know.
Pattern Detectives, playdough and tweezer challenges give this nursery its character: early learning through things children can spot, handle and practise. Growing Little Champions Nursery belongs to The Gateway Primary Free School on Marshfoot Road. It is part of The Gateway Learning Community, linking the provision to the school's wider teaching and support structures.
At the February 2025 inspection, the school included provision for two-year-olds. Ofsted graded the school's early years provision Outstanding following its visit on 4 and 5 February 2025. That judgement covers early years within the school; it is not a separate nursery rating.
The February 2026 nursery topic, Where I Live, connected children's local surroundings with the ways people work and live elsewhere in the world. It gave familiar experiences a place in learning, while introducing differences beyond children's own community.
Pattern Detectives brought maths into clothes and classroom blocks: children searched for sequences and made their own. These are concrete materials for exploring an abstract idea. Alongside this, the nursery described introducing a fresh phonics sound each day during that topic. Playdough activities and challenges using tweezers exercised the hand muscles needed for writing, giving physical practice a clear purpose.
The early years foundation stage combines learning with children's developing routines and relationships here. In February 2025, knowledge developed in stages from early years onwards, preparing children for subsequent learning. Clear explanations helped the youngest children learn successfully, and children learnt to follow school routines from early years. Relationships and healthy living were also taught in ways suited to children's ages.
There was a school-wide improvement point alongside those strengths: checks in some curriculum areas needed to establish more precisely what children retained. This concerned how the school evaluated learning, rather than a separate finding about nursery sessions.
Support for special educational needs and disabilities follows the GLC's assess-plan-do-review cycle. Staff identify barriers, plan a response, put support into practice and consider its effect. This makes reviewing a child's needs part of the process, rather than treating an initial plan as fixed.
The trust's approach starts with adapting teaching. Explicit instructions and scaffolding are among its named strategies, breaking learning into more manageable steps. Responsibility for SEND extends across staff, so support is a shared teaching responsibility.
For families needing help beyond learning, the GLC works with Thurrock Frontline. That partnership adds a route to community support alongside the school's educational provision.
Attending this nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet the applicable deadline. Treat choosing nursery and applying for Reception as two separate decisions.
The school can be contacted on 01375 489094 or at admin.gatewayprimary@theglc.org.uk. A contact form also accepts general and admissions enquiries. These provide direct routes for starting a conversation about joining the nursery.
No. Nursery attendance does not guarantee admission to Reception, and families need to apply separately through the normal admissions process.
The February 2026 Where I Live topic included exploring communities, making and spotting patterns, phonics sounds, playdough activities and tweezer challenges.
The school's early years provision was graded Outstanding at the inspection on 4 and 5 February 2025. This was a school early years judgement, not a separate nursery rating.
The GLC uses an assess-plan-do-review cycle, with adapted teaching as its starting point and responsibility shared across staff.
Telephone 01375 489094, email admin.gatewayprimary@theglc.org.uk or use the school's contact form for a general or admissions enquiry.
