Penwortham Primary School Nursery Review

Clay, songs and classroom breakfast give Penwortham's nursery a practical, hands-on character. Children experiment with stamps and tools, learn poems and rhymes, and begin their day with food supplied through Magic Breakfast. This is the nursery within Penwortham Primary School in Streatham, on Penwortham Road.

Ofsted graded the school's early years provision Outstanding at the inspection on 19 and 20 June 2024. That judgement covers early years within the school, rather than a separately inspected nursery. The nursery-specific examples give it substance: children became absorbed in working clay, while songs and rhymes supported preparation for later reading.

The full nursery day runs from 8.45am to 3.05pm, with lunch at 11.30am. Part-time attendance is organised around the beginning or end of the week, with a Wednesday handover between the two patterns. Families therefore need to consider the weekly pattern as well as the daily finish.

Learning follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). In parent language, this brings together communication, physical skills and emotional development with early literacy, mathematics, creative work and understanding the world. Staff observe children's actions, interactions and explanations to decide what learning comes next. Penwortham's WE ARE curriculum connects this work with wellbeing, equality, aspiration, relevance and environment.

Practical exploration has a clear place. In June 2024, nursery children used their hands, stamps and tools to shape clay; early years children chose activities and maintained concentration with adult support. Maths Meetings introduce mathematical vocabulary through pictures, questions and songs. Concrete objects help children explore numbers before moving towards more abstract ideas. Songs, poems and rhymes also give nursery children an enjoyable starting point for reading.

Breakfast happens in the classroom through Magic Breakfast, which supplies cereals, bread, crumpets and bagels. Nursery children are explicitly included. Lunch follows at 11.30am, giving the day a defined meal routine.

For emotional support, Penwortham uses Zones of Regulation throughout the school, with repeated emotional check-ins and a classroom Zones area. Its school-wide settling approach pairs children needing extra help with someone from ELSA or Place2Be. These arrangements provide a named route for support when a child needs more time to settle.

Parents can follow early years development through Tapestry and add observations about interests and achievements at home. This gives families a way to share learning and interests from home. The school's SEND provision includes specialist input and focused adult support; its sensory room is a school facility for children with additional needs. Penwortham also recognises that some complex needs may require specialist provision elsewhere, so individual suitability matters.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate application through the normal Reception process and meet its deadline. Penwortham directs applications to eAdmissions or the Wandsworth admissions website, and explicitly requires nursery families to apply in the same way as other applicants.

Preparation for the next stage is a separate matter. Nursery songs, poems and rhymes were identified in June 2024 as useful preparation for reading. That learning benefit does not change the application requirement.

Drop-off and collection use the Nursery gate on Pretoria Road. Children attending at the start of the week finish at 11.30am on Wednesday; those attending at the end begin at 12.30pm that day. The split makes Wednesday's collection or start time an essential diary detail.

For enquiries and visits, call the school office on 0208 769 3949. The Early Years lead runs Thursday tours at 2pm with advance booking. Penwortham's admissions page also links to information about applying for 15 or 30 hours of free childcare.