Hobbs Hill Wood Primary School Nursery

Salt dough fossils, dinosaur footprints and early counting give this nursery its character: practical activities sit alongside the first steps towards reading and writing. This is Hobbs Hill Wood Primary School’s own nursery on Peascroft Road in Hemel Hempstead, with children joining from age three.

For 2026/27, the nursery has 40 places overall, with capacity for 30 children in the morning session and 24 in the afternoon. Provision for 30 hours is available to 24 eligible children. Those session capacities matter when choosing a pattern that fits family life; they are distinct from the overall nursery place count.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings learning, development, health and safety together. Here, its practical expression includes creative work, listening to sounds, using pencils and comparing quantities. Children practise forming letters and writing their names, while counting activities ask them to work out how many objects a group contains and compare it with another group. These are concrete beginnings for later literacy and mathematics.

Dinosaurs is a spring topic, pairing How to Grow a Dinosaur with Dinosaurs Love Underpants. Activities include fossil making with salt dough, printing dinosaur tracks and assembling a Stegosaurus with plates along its back. Stories and making share a theme, giving children several ways to explore the same subject. Other nursery themes include Celebrations, Under the Sea and Animals.

Bug Club Phonics starts in Nursery. Phase 1 sessions include attention to the first sounds in words, adding listening practice to the creative activities. In June 2023, books chosen for children from Nursery onwards supported vocabulary development, and early-years children demonstrated sharing and turn-taking.

Outdoor challenge. The June 2023 inspection identified insufficient opportunities for nursery children to use their learning in more demanding outdoor tasks. An outdoor learning area forms part of the provision, but the level of challenge was an improvement priority. This matters alongside the appealing practical activities: children need opportunities to extend their thinking as well as complete a task.

Support staff work with key groups of nursery children. Tapestry connects classroom learning with home through photographs and information about children’s development; parents can also contribute moments of learning from home. That gives families a way to participate in the learning conversation rather than relying only on what a young child remembers to tell them.

For SEND, teachers are responsible for adapting the curriculum through scaffolding. The school’s leadership includes an assistant head with responsibility for EYFS and a deputy head who also holds the SEN coordinator role. These responsibilities connect nursery provision with the wider school’s arrangements for inclusion.

Lunch club accommodates a packed lunch and carries an additional charge. Nursery children can also attend the school’s breakfast and after-school clubs: breakfast is included in the former, while the latter provides a light meal, served hot or cold. Both clubs use the Willow Room and are staffed by the school’s own qualified team, with activities indoors and outside.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through Hertfordshire County Council, following the normal application route and deadline. Treat this as a fresh application, rather than assuming that an existing nursery place settles the next stage.

Morning nursery runs from 8:30 to 11:30, providing 15 hours each week. The afternoon session is 12:30 to 15:30. Lunch club bridges the hour between the two, and the 30-hour provision continues into the afternoon. This makes the lunchtime arrangement relevant when comparing a morning session with a longer nursery day.

Nursery applications go directly to the school using its application form. To arrange a nursery tour, telephone the office on 01442 401222; general enquiries can also go to admin@hobbshillwood.herts.sch.uk. Contact the school for current charges for lunch club and wraparound care.