St William's Primary School Nursery

Child-led play shapes the learning here, with adults joining children's activities and planning what comes next from their interests. St William's Nursery serves three- and four-year-olds on the primary school's site in Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich. Its morning and afternoon sessions give families a choice of shorter days, while paid lunchtime care can connect both sessions.

Kindness has practical expression: children help care for resources, hear stories about caring for others and receive praise for considerate behaviour. Independence starts with looking after their belongings and helping with nursery tasks. These are small responsibilities with a clear purpose: learning to contribute as well as take part.

Most learning happens through activities children choose. Staff play with them, introduce resources that invite exploration and use what they learn about children's thinking to shape later experiences. Alongside this, adults organise small-group teaching and individual activities. Children therefore have opportunities both to pursue an interest and to receive focused help.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework. In parent terms, that means building communication, movement and social confidence alongside early reading and writing, maths, creativity and understanding the world. Play, persistence and developing ideas are part of the learning process. The nursery's approach gives children room to investigate rather than making every activity an adult-directed task.

Conversation, songs, stories and handling objects help develop language. In April 2025, Ofsted identified group singing as a feature of early-years learning: children learnt actions and lyrics alongside melodies, developing coordination and communication together. Nursery's community partner is St William's Way Library, giving its early learning a named connection beyond the school.

Early identification of children's needs has a concrete role in teaching. In April 2025, early-years staff adjusted activities to suit individual needs, including extra practice with pencil grip and coordinating hands and eyes. Support could therefore focus on a specific developmental skill rather than asking every child to tackle an activity in the same way.

Across the school, SEND support uses the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process, with families contributing to reviews and targets reconsidered each term. Parents can contact the SENCo at senco@stwilliamsprimary.org.uk. This gives families a route for discussing additional support.

Food brought into school must be nut free. For families using lunchtime care, that restriction matters when preparing anything their child brings. Urgent requests, including changes to collection arrangements, should go to the school office by telephone.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through Norfolk County Council's normal admissions process. For the September 2026 intake, the closing date was 15 January 2026; that deadline has passed. Nursery booking and Reception allocation are separate decisions, so choosing sessions here should not be treated as securing the next stage.

Sessions run Monday to Friday during term time: mornings are 8.30am to 11.30am, and afternoons are 12.15pm to 3.15pm. Each lasts three hours. Families can purchase lunchtime care to join a morning and afternoon on the same day, making the arrangement useful where a single session is too short.

Funded entitlement is delivered consistently, with access to provision independent of whether families purchase optional hours. Additional sessions and lunchtime care are charged extras; contact the school for current charges. Invoices are issued at the beginning of each term, and payment for these extras uses School Money.

To apply, return the nursery application form to the school office. Nursery enquiries go to nursery@stwilliamsprimary.org.uk, or telephone 01603 434128.