St Benedict's Catholic Primary School Nursery Review

Stories and songs shaped nursery learning at St Benedict's in November 2022; wheeled toys and encouragement to share featured across the school's early years provision. The provision belongs to St Benedict's Catholic Primary School in Garforth, at Station Fields, Leeds, LS25 1PS. It is a school nursery, with provision for three-year-old children.

Ofsted judged the school's early years provision Good at the inspection on 9 and 10 November 2022. That judgement covers early years within the school; it is not a separate nursery rating. For parents, the useful detail lies in the activities, adult relationships and support described below.

In November 2022, the early years curriculum took children's interests and the school's context as its starting points. Staff worked towards learning goals for each term. In parent language, this meant interests helped shape learning, while adults had particular things they wanted children to achieve. The early years foundation stage combined physical skills, language and getting along with others.

Movement had a clear place. Cutting activities exercised smaller hand movements, while wheeled toys gave children opportunities to practise larger movements. These are concrete examples of learning through activity: handling materials and controlling movement formed part of the learning, rather than being incidental to it.

Listening mattered too. Nursery children heard stories and songs that helped them recognise sounds in spoken language, laying foundations for later phonics. Adult conversations extended learning, although vocabulary development was less consistent: sometimes those exchanges did not build children's word knowledge as intended. This is a useful consideration for families weighing the language support their child needs.

Relationships between adults and children were positive in November 2022. Staff encouraged sharing, kindness and waiting for a turn, bringing social learning into ordinary interactions. For a young child learning alongside others, those expectations make cooperation part of the nursery experience.

Additional needs were identified promptly in early years, and suitable help followed. This matters because support could begin while children were still at the start of their school experience.

Across the trust, each academy has a designated safeguarding lead. CPOMs is used to monitor child protection, alongside staff training and safeguarding reviews. Parents concerned about a child's welfare should contact the school's designated safeguarding officer, giving families a specific route for raising a concern.

Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions route and meet the normal deadline. Treat choosing nursery and applying for Reception as two separate decisions.

The November 2022 findings identified stories and songs as preparation for later formal phonics. That is preparation for learning, rather than an admissions advantage.

The school can be contacted on 01132869819. Use this school contact for a nursery enquiry. The nursery's location is Station Fields in Garforth, Leeds, LS25 1PS.

For a concern about a child's welfare, use the designated safeguarding officer route described above.