Davies Lane Primary School Nursery

Language, counting and learning to share give Davies Lane’s nursery its character. Provision includes two-year-olds alongside places for children aged three and four, making this an early starting point within the primary school in Leytonstone.

The school occupies North and South sites a few yards apart. That is useful context for families arranging their nursery routine: Davies Lane operates across two nearby sites rather than a single building. Ofsted judged its early years provision Outstanding at the inspection on 18 and 19 June 2024. This is an early years judgement within the school’s inspection.

Communication receives close attention from the beginning of Nursery. In June 2024, children in early years were learning to count and measure accurately using rulers. These are concrete foundations: expressing an idea, understanding a number and trying a measuring tool give children practical ways to make sense of what they are doing.

Development Matters guides the Foundation Stage curriculum. In parent language, its seven learning areas bring together movement and self-care, relationships and emotions, speaking and listening, then literacy, mathematics, creative expression and understanding the world. Daily opportunities include exploring through play, concentrating on a task and testing children’s own ideas. The school aims to connect learning with real life.

Bug Club begins with Phase 1 in Nursery. Parent workshops support learning at home, giving families a way to participate in this early literacy work. Social learning matters alongside it. In June 2024, early years children were developing safe play, sharing and turn-taking, skills that help them join activities with other children.

Leadership includes an EYFS lead, while the staffing structure also includes a Nursery Lead and early years practitioners. Families therefore have nursery and early years roles within the wider school team.

For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), the school aims to include children in school activities and seek outside support when needed. The SENCO provides a contact for concerns about a child’s needs. This gives families a route for discussing support as well as the nursery application itself.

A nursery lunch break runs from 11:30am to 1:00pm. Across the school, Lunch Bunch gathers children’s views on meals and discusses menus with the cook. Its remit covers school dinners and packed lunches, connecting lunchtime with the school’s work on healthy eating.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place and gives no priority for one at Davies Lane. Families must make a separate Reception application even when their child already attends the nursery. Familiarity with the school does not replace that application.

Reception applications go through Waltham Forest using eAdmissions. Nursery applications take a different route through the school office, so families need to treat the two processes separately.

Morning sessions run from 8:55am to 11:55am; afternoons run from 12:25pm to 3:25pm. The full-day option is 8:55am to 3:25pm. These choices let families select a shorter session or a day spanning lunchtime.

For three- and four-year-olds, the nursery offers 15 funded hours each week across 38 weeks, during term time, with 30 hours for children meeting the eligibility criteria. Two-year-old places include funded and paid options. Contact the school for current charges.

Collect a nursery application pack from the school office. Applications require a child’s birth certificate or passport as identity evidence. For enquiries, call 020 8539 2466 or email office@davieslane.arboracademytrust.co.uk.