Nursery at Alder Tree Primary Academy

At the November 2023 inspection, a home corner, story puppets and a car wash built from wooden blocks illustrated Alder Tree’s early years learning: children practised ideas through familiar situations, supported by adults. Play had a learning purpose.

The nursery belongs to Alder Tree Primary Academy on Potternewton Mount in Leeds. Its staffing structure includes a nursery teacher and a teaching assistant. Ofsted judged the school’s early years provision Good at the inspection on 8 and 9 November 2023; that judgement covers early years within the school.

In November 2023, the early years curriculum gave children opportunities to try new learning and return to it through play. In plain parent language, the emphasis was on putting learning into practice: using a familiar home corner rather than keeping an idea separate from everyday experience. Adults demonstrated ways to play and introduced challenges, helping children develop a positive approach to learning.

Large wooden blocks supplied a concrete example. Children used them to construct a car wash, and adult guidance encouraged the group to pay attention to one another. The activity brought building and listening together. For parents, this is a useful picture of how an apparently simple construction task can also involve learning to work alongside other children.

Books supplied another route into play. Early years children enjoyed rhyme and recurring phrases, while some made puppets to perform The Gruffalo. Storytelling extended into making and acting. Those examples show children engaging with language through both listening and participation, rather than treating books only as something an adult reads aloud.

A nursery teacher works alongside a teaching assistant. That gives families two distinct roles within the nursery team: teaching and classroom support. The wider school team also includes a SEND coordinator, a designated safeguarding lead and a learning mentor.

For a parent considering the provision, the useful distinction is between the nursery’s classroom team and those wider support responsibilities. Discussing a child’s needs with the appropriate team member gives the conversation a clear focus, whether it concerns participation in learning or a worry requiring pastoral attention.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions route and meet the normal deadline. Treat that application as a separate step in planning your child’s education.

Choosing the nursery and applying for Reception are two decisions. A child’s experience of early years learning should be considered on its own merits; it should not be treated as an assurance of a later place at Alder Tree.

For enquiries, contact the academy on 0113 262 0021 or email info@aldertreeprimary.org.uk. Telephone support operates from 8 to 4. Those are contact hours, rather than nursery session times.

The academy also accepts enquiries through a contact form and offers a school tour booking route. A tour provides a practical next step for families considering the nursery, alongside direct contact with the academy. The address is Potternewton Mount, Leeds, LS7 2DR.