Abel Smith School Nursery Review

A Story telling Centre, a message centre and an outdoor climbing frame give Abel Smith’s nursery a day built around talk, movement and imaginative play. There is room for 30 nursery children. Nursery shares the original Grade II listed building with Reception, forming a separate early years setting within the school in Hertford. Together, these classes accommodate children aged 3 to 5.

The school’s early years provision was graded Outstanding at the Ofsted inspection on 9 and 10 July 2024. That judgement covers early years within the school, rather than a separately inspected nursery.

Play has a clear teaching purpose here. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings together seven connected areas of development, including communication, physical skills, relationships, literacy and mathematics. Development Matters and birth to 5 help shape the curriculum. Adults plan guided play and introduce new learning in short teaching periods, while topics change each half term and can adapt to children’s interests.

Inside, the large nursery classroom supports learning through play, with another classroom for small groups and interventions. At the Story telling Centre, children invent characters and build small worlds, giving them reasons to explain ideas and develop stories. The message centre brings early mark-making into play. Daily shared reading, nursery rhymes and Little Wandle phonics add more structured encounters with language. A daily adult-led maths session sits alongside games and practical objects, so counting and mathematical discussion also happen through exploration.

Outside, a climbing frame and a zone for wheeled toys provide different ways to practise movement and coordination. A specialist teacher delivers PE sessions. Busy Fingers and Dough Disco focus on the smaller movements needed for writing, while SCARF sessions help children explore feelings and relationships. Adults also help children resolve disagreements during play. In July 2024, early years children understood behavioural expectations and moved sensibly between activities; stories and rhymes were helping them enjoy books.

Preparation begins before a child starts. Staff talk with parents and previous settings and read earlier learning journeys, giving them a picture of the child before planning their first experiences. During the first half term, conversations and observations establish starting points across learning areas. This makes the early weeks a period of getting to know each child, as well as introducing activities.

Parents receive a weekly Noticeboard about learning and ways to support it at home. Online learning journeys and parents’ evenings provide progress updates, and workshops explain teaching approaches with opportunities for parents to work alongside their child. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), provision includes reasonable adjustments and, where needed, individually tailored support. Activities and the environment are adapted in response to assessment, allowing support to address specific gaps.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application through Hertfordshire County Council’s normal Reception admissions process and meet the applicable deadline. The school manages nursery applications itself; Reception allocation is a separate process.

Sharing the early years building gives nursery and Reception a common physical setting. That is distinct from an entitlement to admission: choosing the nursery should be a decision about the nursery experience itself.

The 30-hour nursery provision includes a lunch club and an afternoon nursery session. Lunch therefore forms part of the longer attendance arrangement.

Early years enquiries go to streasure@abelsmith.herts.sch.uk. The school office can also be reached on 01992 583244 or admin@abelsmith.herts.sch.uk. The nursery is part of Abel Smith School at Churchfields, Greencoates, Hertford, SG13 8AE.