King's Oak Primary School Nursery Review

Fruit tasting, visiting farm animals and stories give King's Oak's early years provision a concrete, hands-on character. In one Nursery account, Handa’s Surprise prompted children to examine fruit seeds, taste unfamiliar flavours and practise words such as edible and creamy. Learning starts with something children can touch and discuss.

At the school's Dickerage Lane site in New Malden, the early years provision includes a Pre-School for two-year-olds alongside the Nursery. These are distinct groups, with separate accounts of their activities. For families, that distinction matters: the younger children's routines and experiences should be considered separately from the Nursery programme.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) connects learning with children's physical development, relationships and communication. Here, the Nursery curriculum includes exploring numbers and shapes, making art, developing early reading and writing, and investigating the world. These activities give children ways to express ideas through movement, conversation and creative work as well as words on a page.

Handa’s Surprise provided a Nursery link between storytelling, observation and language. Children tasted mango, avocado and other fruits, examined their shapes and discussed unfamiliar animals from the book. A visit from Manor Farm brought encounters with chicks, a pony and a snake. Both examples give children concrete subjects to talk about rather than relying solely on pictures.

For the younger Pre-School group, circle time combines a shared story with nursery rhymes. Outdoor choices include a construction area, bikes and role-play, while a climbing frame and slide have been used to practise climbing and taking turns. Dear Zoo inspired animal-sound guessing and acting out parts of the story. Physical play and listening activities sit alongside each other.

Creative work also has a practical purpose. Pre-School children have rolled paint-covered cars across paper and made chalk marks in a builders tray. Outside, den building has led to stories, songs and musical instruments. These examples connect movement and experimentation with opportunities to communicate.

A Pre-School welcome session used stay and play to let new children explore the room with their parents and begin meeting one another. It offers a shared first experience of the space before children continue attending.

Snack time gives the younger children practice in washing their hands, choosing food and sitting together at a table. Food also appears in learning: a Pre-School activity based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar included tasting pears, plums and oranges. A library visit allowed children to select a book to share at home, linking their experiences with family reading.

Blossom, the school's specialist resource provision, includes four Nursery Assessment Places for children with identified social communication needs, including autism, within the mild to moderate learning-needs category. Achieving for Children allocates these places. This is a separate specialist route for families considering assessment provision.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet its deadline. King's Oak directs school-place applications to Kingston upon Thames. Choosing the nursery should therefore be a decision about the child's early years experience, with the Reception application treated as a separate step.

To arrange a school visit, contact the office. The administration team can be reached on 0208 942 5154 or at admin@kop.rbksch.org. The school is on Dickerage Lane, New Malden, KT3 3RZ.

In one Pre-School library account, children chose books to share at home, with families asked to return them on Wednesdays for an exchange. It is a small, concrete routine that connects school reading with time together at home.