Colfe's School Nursery Review

Building a railway track together captures the early years character at Colfe’s: practical activity with conversation, cooperation and movement built into it. The September 2023 ISI inspection found that trusting relationships helped young children participate confidently in activities indoors and outside.

Nursery starts at 3+, with approximately 40 places across two classes. It shares the junior school site at Horn Park Lane in Lee, London. This is the nursery within an independent school, with its learning and support connected to the junior school rather than a separate childcare setting.

The EYFS, or Early Years Foundation Stage, provides the framework for following children’s development. Nursery progress is monitored against it, so learning support can respond when a child’s learning or social development needs attention. In September 2023, staff recorded early years learning carefully and used what children already understood to plan their next steps. That gives individual development a place alongside the group timetable.

The railway-building activity illustrates how play supports several skills together: children communicate their ideas, coordinate their movements and work with one another. Early years activities inside and outdoors supported language, communication and physical development. Free play also gave children opportunities to show kindness to their peers.

The shared EYFS and Key Stage 1 timetable places registration before morning teaching, followed by a break and further learning before lunch. Afternoon registration precedes another sequence of lessons. These timetable labels describe the day’s structure; the railway example gives a more useful picture of what learning can look like for a young child.

Individual needs are followed through the Junior School Learning Support team, which includes specialist teachers and two higher level teaching assistants trained to deliver interventions. Nursery teachers monitor development and discuss concerns with parents. For early years children, named support options include attention and listening groups and individual interaction programmes, giving staff ways to address communication difficulties alongside classroom learning.

Support follows an assess, plan, do and review cycle. Parents of children receiving SEND support meet the class teacher three times a year to agree goals and review progress. Additional individual teaching assistant hours and external specialist input can be funded by parents, so these arrangements have practical consequences as well as educational ones.

Lunch is optional and charged separately by the term. Families should obtain current charges from the school when planning the overall cost.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Colfe’s admission policy includes children moving up from Nursery and makes continued attendance conditional on satisfactory progress and conduct. Families should distinguish that conditional continuation from an unconditional promise of a place.

For pupils with SEND, transition support between classes can include personalised books, a meeting involving the current and incoming teachers, and story sessions with the next teacher. These measures help make a change of classroom and adult more familiar; they do not alter admission conditions.

Nursery tuition incorporates 15 hours of childcare funding. Basic stationery and learning materials are included in the term’s fees, while optional lunch is an extra. Junior School wraparound care, including Breakfast Club and After-School Care, is charged separately.

Transport. School coaches accept children only from Year 3, so nursery families need their own travel arrangements. For nursery enquiries, contact Admissions at admissions@colfes.com or 020 8463 8110. Open events can be booked through the school website.