St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School Nursery Review

Songs, stories and growing things give St Saviour’s nursery its character. This nursery class belongs to the Church of England primary school on Chrisp Street in Poplar, with a class teacher, nursery nurse and support role forming its teaching team. The school’s single-level building puts an outside door in each classroom, connecting classrooms directly with the playground.

At the July 2025 Ofsted inspection, the early-years curriculum supported children’s development well, with nursery themes helping children build their communication and language. That gives families a useful starting point: learning here puts talking and understanding at the centre.

Early learning combines themed activities with preparation for reading. ALS Phonics: Letters and Sounds is used in nursery, and the school’s explanation of its first phase centres on listening, songs, nursery rhymes and books. Children practise hearing sounds and talking about stories. The emphasis at this stage is spoken language rather than matching letters to sounds, giving children room to develop their listening before tackling written words.

The school calls its wider approach the Connected Curriculum. Themes link learning together and change each half term; class newsletters explain those themes to parents. For families, this provides a way to connect conversations at home with classroom learning. The early-years foundation stage is represented here through work on language, learning and development, rather than reading preparation alone.

Outdoor learning has concrete settings across the school grounds. The Secret Garden includes a Story-telling Chair, while each class has raised beds for planting and tending produce. These bring stories and growing into physical spaces children can use for learning. The classroom doors leading straight outside are another practical feature of the building.

A nursery teacher works alongside a nursery nurse and classroom support. The nursery nurse’s listed responsibilities also include Early Talk, Play Talk Boost and Speech Bubbles, placing named language-support programmes alongside the class teaching structure. An assistant headteacher holds the SENDCo role, and the wider school team includes a family support officer.

Support for additional needs. In July 2025, school-wide identification of SEND was accurate, but teaching adjustments were inconsistent and some children did not receive sufficiently adapted learning. Attendance work also failed to reach some pupils effectively. These are whole-school concerns, rather than findings specifically about the nursery; families should weigh them alongside the positive early-years curriculum finding.

Food arrangements sit within the school’s catering provision. Juniper Ventures supplies lunches, with vegetarian, halal and meat choices on a rotating menu lasting two weeks. Families report food allergies using a form from the office. Weekly school newsletters arrive by email, with printed copies on request, giving parents another route to follow school news and dates.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet its deadline. Choosing this nursery should therefore be a decision about the nursery experience itself, rather than an assumption that a later school place is secured.

Nursery top-up payments are handled through ParentPay; the school office is the contact for current charges. Enquiries can go to admin@st-saviours.towerhamlets.sch.uk or 0207 987 4889. The school invites families to book a visit.

Travel and access. Parking is very limited, and the school recommends public transport. Langdon Park DLR Station is a two-minute walk away; buses 309, 108 and 15 are listed as alternatives. The building has no stairs, and its areas are accessible by wheelchair, which matters for families planning the daily journey.