Rivendell Flying High Academy Nursery Review

Nursery rhymes, stories and learning to listen give Rivendell’s nursery a clear starting point: language and relationships. Children can start in the term following their third birthday, subject to space. This is the school’s Foundation 1 provision, with a nursery teacher who also leads early years, connecting the nursery’s teaching with the wider early years team.

At the Ofsted inspection on 11 and 12 March 2025, early years provision was rated Outstanding. That judgement covers the school’s early years provision, rather than a separately inspected nursery.

Listening and interacting with adults and other children are part of learning from the start of Nursery. These are practical foundations for joining activities, expressing ideas and taking part with others. Stories and nursery rhymes also feature from the beginning, alongside an early start on phonics, giving children experience of language and sounds.

The school’s curriculum principles are called DEAL: Diversity, Experiential, Aspirational and Language Rich. Its aims include developing vocabulary, independence and resilience. For parents, this gives a clear sense of the intended emphasis: learning through experience, encountering different perspectives and building the language to talk about them.

In March 2025, achievement across early years was high and children were very well prepared for their next educational stage. The strongest evidenced picture of the nursery day is therefore its attention to communication, social interaction and early learning.

For children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), support follows a repeating cycle of assessment, planning, action and review. Parents contribute to decisions about adjustments and interventions. SEND Support Plans include children’s strengths, needs and strategies, with termly targets and reviews by the class teacher each half term. This gives families specific goals to discuss as support changes.

A SENCo coordinates provision with teachers, families and external specialists. Speech and Language Therapy and the SEND Inclusion Service’s early years team are among the services that may be involved when needed. The school also has a nurture room, ramp access and accessible toilets with a shower: physical features relevant to planning support around a child’s needs.

Lunch can be a school meal, charged separately, or a packed lunch brought from home. That choice lets families decide which arrangement suits their child.

Separate application. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place and gives no admission priority. Families must apply again through their local authority and meet the relevant application deadline. Nottinghamshire County Council provides the online application route, with telephone applications also possible.

For the September 2026 Reception intake, the closing date was 15 January 2026. That application cycle is now past. Nursery attendance and Reception allocation remain separate decisions.

Where SEND transition support is needed, arrangements may include extra visits, meetings with parents and staff, and an individual transition plan using photographs or passports. These support a child’s adjustment; they do not confer admission priority.

Four Monday-to-Friday patterns shape the nursery week: a 30-hour day from 8:45am to 2:45pm, a longer day ending at 3:15pm, mornings from 8:45am to 11:45am, or afternoons from 12:15pm to 3:15pm. The half-day patterns each cover 15 hours. A preferred morning or afternoon place cannot be guaranteed, so families need to allow for either allocation.

The extra half hour on the longer day is charged, including when a child is absent through sickness or holiday. Additional charges also apply to topping up funded hours from 15 to 30 and to school meals. Ask the school for current charges.

Morning children use the Nursery Classroom door for drop-off and school reception for collection; afternoon children use those points in reverse. The Lime Trees Company provides nursery-inclusive wraparound care from 7:30am to 8:45am and from 3:15pm to 6pm. Nursery applications are returned to office@rivendellfha.co.uk; enquiries can also go to 0115 6489833.