Great Preston VC CofE Primary School Nursery Review

Storytelling has a practical role in Great Preston’s early years: children dictate their own stories, then act them out together. This gives the nursery’s school setting a distinctive starting point for families interested in language and imagination.

The nursery caters for three and four year olds within Great Preston VC CofE Primary School on Preston Lane, Leeds. Funded childcare is offered in 15 and 30 hour patterns. The school is Church of England, so families are choosing provision within a Christian school community.

Helicopter Stories connects spoken language with writing in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). A teacher writes down children’s narrated stories; children gradually contribute to the writing as their knowledge of sounds develops. Acting out those stories with classmates gives their words another purpose: a story becomes something the group can perform together.

Later, Talk4Writing introduces story structure and vocabulary. The emphasis is on building from children’s own spoken ideas towards written expression, rather than treating writing as an isolated task. In June 2023, Ofsted found that early years children joined phonics activities enthusiastically. That finding concerns early years across the school.

A growth mindset approach operates across school. The school aims to help children learn from mistakes and see challenge as part of learning. Nursery behaviour expectations are concrete: follow instructions, keep objects and limbs to yourself, and choose positive actions and language. These give families recognisable expectations to reinforce at home.

Additional support begins with the child’s needs and the family’s experience. Teachers and the special educational needs coordinator assess needs using parental views, classroom observations and, where relevant, advice from outside services. Support can involve individual work or small groups. The school uses an assess, plan, do and review process, giving parents a role in checking whether adjustments are helping.

Visual timetables and symbols are used throughout the classrooms. These provide another way to understand routines and instructions. Yorkshire Speechie Limited provides a visiting speech therapy team, with fortnightly Thursday visits for assessment, staff training and referral support. This is school provision, rather than a promise of therapy for every nursery child.

Physical access includes a school building on one level, an accessible toilet and a care suite with a moveable bed. Families with additional care needs have concrete facilities to discuss alongside their child’s support. The SENCO can be contacted through the school office.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application through the normal local authority route. Apply to the authority responsible for your home address; Leeds residents use the Leeds application portal.

Keep transition support separate from that application. For children with SEND, the school plans familiarisation visits when moving between classes and can provide extra visits where needed. This helps children prepare for a change of classroom, but does not secure admission.

The nursery offers 15 and 30 hours of funded childcare for three and four year olds. These are funding patterns, so families should distinguish them from a particular daily timetable when considering how attendance fits their week.

For nursery enquiries, contact the school office at admin@gpprimary.co.uk or on 0113 232 0034. Visits to the school can be arranged through the office, giving families an opportunity to discuss their child’s needs before applying.