Jubilee Primary School Nursery Review

An urban meadow, a secret garden and Forest School Base Camp give Jubilee’s nursery a distinctly outdoor character. Children can choose activities indoors and outside, with stories and short teaching sessions punctuating their play. There is room for their own interests, too.

Pear Class is the nursery provision at Jubilee Primary School on Filey Avenue in Stoke Newington. It takes children aged three and four, with full-time and part-time places. Ofsted graded the school’s early years provision Good at its inspection on 28 and 29 June 2022; this judgement covers early years within the school.

Play shapes the timetable. Children choose what to explore, while adults bring the group together for brief teaching sessions. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) learning here includes conversation, number activities, physical play and learning together. Broad topics leave space for children’s ideas; Book of the Week gives adult-led activities a shared starting point, with a daily teaching session around the book.

Morning snack doubles as learning time. Children count and sort, sing together and practise listening and speaking, linking everyday routines to early skills. Forest School begins in the autumn term, taking learning into the school’s named outdoor spaces. The Autumn 2 sample timetable also includes Dough Disco, Colourful Semantics and social skills groups, alongside a circle game in the nursery playground. These are examples of how movement, language and group participation fit into the day.

In June 2022, adults’ conversations and language modelling helped children develop vocabulary, while practical maths resources supported basic number work. Curriculum sequencing. Some subjects still needed clearer decisions about the knowledge children should retain from early years onwards. That matters because activities need to build connected understanding as well as spark interest.

Settling starts with planned nursery play sessions: families offered a place receive a telephone call and an email setting out the starting dates. Home visits and settling periods are also part of the school’s arrangements for new nursery children. This gives families contact with the team before the regular timetable takes over.

Staff roles include a nursery teacher who also leads early years, a nursery education officer and a nursery teaching assistant. Nursery Weekly News provides a link with classroom learning, while ParentMail carries school messages by text and email.

Hot lunches come from A2A Services Ltd, with halal meat and a vegetarian choice each day. Nursery lunches are charged separately; consult the school’s current charges. Packed lunches must exclude nuts, crisps, sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks.

For additional needs, early years team meetings involve the SENCo and a speech and language therapist early in the year and each term. Apple Intervention Class serves children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 with complex needs. School Support Plans are reviewed termly with parents, the teacher and SENCo, giving families a regular point to discuss support.

Nursery attendance neither guarantees a Reception place nor gives priority under Jubilee’s admission arrangements. Families must make a separate application through www.eadmissions.org.uk, during the application window from 1 September to 15 January before the relevant Reception entry year. Choosing the nursery does not remove that application step.

Class swap sessions let children meet their next teacher. Some children also receive transition books for home and an opportunity to meet their teacher before term begins. These practices help children become familiar with the change; they do not affect allocation of places.

Term-time attendance follows three patterns. Full-time places run Monday to Friday, 9am to 3.15pm. Early Week means Monday and Tuesday at those hours, then Wednesday 9am to noon. Late Week starts Wednesday at 12.30pm until 3.15pm, followed by Thursday and Friday, 9am to 3.15pm. The split-week model needs to fit the family’s working pattern.

The nursery offers 15-hour places and 30-hour places. Funded provision of 15 hours begins in the term after a child turns three; eligible working parents may receive the additional 15 hours. The school verifies eligibility codes each term. Families without that funding may be offered a paid full-time top-up only when a corresponding space is available.

The 2026–27 handbook includes nursery children in Breakfast Club and Playcentre, with attendance arranged by email to admin@jubilee.hackney.sch.uk. Club handovers take place at the main office. Nursery enquiries go to admissions@jubilee.hackney.sch.uk, and applications are online.

Uniform is compulsory: a yellow polo shirt, navy cardigan or sweatshirt, and suitable dark bottoms are among the options. Shoes need Velcro fastenings. Supermarket garments are allowed, and pre-loved sales provide another route.