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Nursery at Rossmere Academy
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 If you spot anything outdated or inaccurate, please let us know.
Weekly Forest School exploration gives Rossmere’s nursery a distinctive outdoor thread. Alongside play indoors, children have regular opportunities to explore a setting with Hobbit Holes, a mud kitchen and a pond area. For families choosing an early school experience, that is a concrete part of the week.
Sparkles provides 24 part-time places for eligible two-year-olds, with entry from the term after their second birthday. The school nursery has 78 part-time spaces, and children can join after turning three when a space permits. Both provisions sit within Rossmere Academy’s early years provision in Hartlepool. These are morning or afternoon places, so the basic arrangement is a repeated half-day pattern.
Play shapes the learning here. Children choose activities alongside experiences planned and led by adults, with their interests helping determine what happens next. Staff adjust learning to children’s developmental stage. That gives children room to explore for themselves while adults introduce ideas and help extend their learning.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings together movement, language and personal development, then builds towards mathematics, literacy, creative work and understanding the world. In everyday terms, learning includes sharing, taking turns and becoming more independent, as well as developing knowledge. Activities take place outside as well as indoors.
Language receives specific attention in Sparkles and nursery. Adults model communication, with listening, understanding speech, talking and awareness of sounds among the priorities. Rossmere uses the Talk Matter Agenda to support early language and literacy. This makes communication part of the daily learning rather than a separate occasional activity.
A weekly Forest School visit adds another setting for exploration. The school aims to develop vocabulary, thinking and resilience through outdoor experiences and natural materials. Its Forest School occupies part of the school field: rocks in a small ravine provide climbing opportunities, while the pond area supports pond dipping. Hobbit Holes and the mud kitchen provide spaces for imaginative play. These features give outdoor learning a different physical character from classroom activities.
Settling begins before the first nursery session. A practitioner visits the child at home, allowing staff to meet the family in familiar surroundings. Stay-and-play sessions involve parents in early learning, and daily conversations with staff provide opportunities to exchange information. In January 2025, Ofsted found that nursery children adapted promptly, enjoyed contact with adults and cooperated happily with one another.
Observation of children’s play helps staff assess development, alongside conversations between colleagues and contributions from home. Parents receive assessment feedback through termly meetings and/or year-end reports. The intention is practical: what staff learn about a child helps shape their next learning steps.
For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), the SENDCo works with the two-year-old children and their staff to identify needs early. Teachers and the SENDCo plan support, with parents kept involved throughout. In January 2025, the inspection also identified a school-wide need to strengthen spoken language so pupils could explain their ideas more clearly. That concern gives families a useful focus when discussing communication development.
Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application through Hartlepool Borough Council Admissions, by 31 March each year during the school year in which their child turns four. Allocation follows Hartlepool’s admission criteria.
Learning to share, take turns and act independently helps prepare children for their next stage. That preparation is separate from the decision about a school place.
Children attend every morning or every afternoon. For working parents, Rossmere works with OSCARS at Rossmere Youth Centre next door: nursery mornings can be combined with afternoons there to provide the full 30 hours of childcare. This arrangement involves two settings, which matters when planning the child’s day.
Nursery enquiries and visits can be arranged through the school office on 01429 274608. The address is Catcote Road, Hartlepool, TS25 3JL; general enquiries can also go to admin@rossmereschool.org.uk.
Sparkles admits eligible two-year-olds from the term after their second birthday. Children can start the school nursery after their third birthday if there is space.
Yes. Early years learning takes place indoors and outside, and nursery children visit Forest School weekly.
A home visit precedes the start, and parents can take part in stay-and-play sessions and speak with staff daily.
For working parents, nursery mornings can be combined with OSCARS afternoons at Rossmere Youth Centre next door to provide the full 30 hours of childcare.
No. A separate application goes through Hartlepool Borough Council Admissions by 31 March each year, during the school year in which the child turns four.
