St Charles' Catholic Primary School Nursery

Two full days and a shorter Wednesday session give this nursery its distinctive weekly rhythm. St Charles' Catholic Primary School's nursery sits within a Catholic primary school on Regent Farm Road in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. The school takes children from age three. For families weighing up the week, the split between its two attendance options is a useful starting point: each concentrates nursery attendance into one end of the working week.

Learning through play has a clear purpose here. In September 2023, early years learning combined play with planned opportunities to develop children's communication, early reading and writing, and number skills. These are foundations for later classroom learning. The emphasis is on building those beginnings together, rather than treating play and learning as separate parts of a child's experience.

The timetable also gives children different lengths of session within the week. Both options combine days running from 9am to 3.15pm with a shorter Wednesday slot. That makes Wednesday a practical consideration in its own right: one group finishes before lunch, while the other attends during the afternoon.

For families of children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), Newcastle's Local Offer brings together information, advice and support for children, young people and their families. It provides a route to understanding the wider help families may need alongside nursery attendance, with information covering both the child and the family.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place at St Charles'. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process to their home local authority, meeting the deadline for their child's admission year. For Newcastle applicants, the route is Newcastle City Council's school-place application service.

The 2021–22 arrangements gave no oversubscription priority for nursery attendance. They ranked applicants through categories involving care status and faith, with sibling priority within each category and distance used to resolve ties. That historical position should not be treated as an entitlement for a later intake. Choosing the nursery and applying for Reception remain separate decisions.

Nursery Option 1 covers Monday and Tuesday, 9am to 3.15pm, followed by Wednesday, 9am to 11.30am. Nursery Option 2 starts on Wednesday, 12.45pm to 3.15pm, then continues on Thursday and Friday, 9am to 3.15pm.

Weekly pattern. Each option includes a shorter Wednesday session. Families need to plan collection or drop-off around that slot as well as the longer days, especially when coordinating nursery with work or another child's timetable.

Nursery application forms can be obtained from the school office or downloaded online. The school can be contacted on 0191 285 2553 or at admin@stcharles.newcastle.sch.uk. Use the nursery application route for the nursery place; the later Reception application goes through the local authority.