Reffley Academy Nursery Review

Child-led play and adult guidance shape Acorns, Reffley Academy’s separate nursery within its early years provision. Children can start in the term following their third birthday. It is a term-time option, with morning and full-day attendance, rather than a year-round childcare arrangement.

The nursery sits alongside the Reception classes, giving children opportunities to become familiar with the next classroom environment and its staff. That familiarity has a practical purpose: the surroundings and adults need not all be new when a child starts school. Admission remains a separate matter.

Play does the teaching here. Children pursue their own ideas, while adults also guide activities and use play to build vocabulary and communication. Staff plan around children’s interests and needs, so the learning combines personal starting points with adult direction. For parents, the emphasis is on learning through participation and conversation.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings together seven areas of development. Language and communication, physical development, and personal, emotional and social development receive particular emphasis. Maths, literacy, expressive arts and design, and understanding the world extend those foundations. This means the nursery’s learning remit includes relationships and movement alongside early reading and number work.

Mark making is part of nursery learning. Success for All Phonics is the named approach to teaching letter sounds and how they combine into words; teaching is adjusted to children’s progress. These are early steps towards reading and writing, alongside the nursery’s focus on spoken language.

At the Ofsted inspection on 8 and 9 March 2022, early years provision was graded Good. In March 2022, children in early years had engaging resources and purposeful activities through which to explore, with support for their learning and a curriculum that prepared them for subsequent learning.

A nursery manager leads the provision. The wider academy team includes a SENCO and pastoral support, providing roles through which families can discuss learning needs and wellbeing.

Across the academy, SEND support uses Assess–Plan–Do–Review: staff identify needs, plan help, put it into practice and review its effect. Visual prompts, movement breaks and sensory tools are among the approaches used. Families contribute to planning, making their knowledge of their child part of the support process.

Aspens provides the academy’s school meals, with lunch orders handled through Pupil Asset. For children needing an adapted menu because of allergies, intolerances or religious requirements, families must complete a dietary requirements form before a special menu can be prepared. Dietary planning therefore needs to happen ahead of mealtimes.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must submit a separate application through Norfolk Local Authority’s normal admissions process; nursery children do not move into the main school automatically. Keep that application separate from arranging nursery attendance.

The transition practice is useful in its own right. Nursery children have access to the Reception environment and meet staff because the classes run alongside one another. This builds familiarity, rather than securing admission.

Morning attendance runs from 8:45am to 11:45am, and the full day finishes at 3pm after an 8:45am start. The nursery’s collection arrangements also give an afternoon session of 12pm to 3pm. Drop-off and collection use the nursery’s fire exit doors, providing a specific handover point.

Both 15-hour and 30-hour funding are accepted. Contact the school office to register or arrange a visit, by telephone on 01553 671045 or email at office@reffley.norfolk.sch.uk. Acorns is exempt from the academy’s encouragement to wear recognised school uniform. For current nursery charges, contact the school.