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Nursery at The Orchard School
Last reviewed: October 2026 · Inspection data and key information above update regularly, however, this review below is refreshed bi-annually and may not reflect recent changes. Contact the nursery directly to confirm current arrangements. If you spot anything outdated or inaccurate, please let us know.
Sensory learning and individual care give Orchard’s early years provision its character. This is part of a maintained special school serving children with severe, profound and complex learning difficulties, including medical needs. Learning is organised around each child’s development and Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), rather than a single pace for the class.
Ofsted graded early years provision Good at the inspection on 15 and 16 July 2025. There were no nursery-age children attending at that time, so that judgement should not be read as an assessment of an occupied nursery class.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sits within the school’s individual approach to learning. Each child has a tailored programme, with EHCP priorities linked to curriculum content and divided into smaller learning steps. For parents, the practical emphasis is on skills their child can work towards at an appropriate developmental level.
Communication, independence and movement sit alongside literacy, maths and creative learning. Personal, social and emotional development includes individual goals for relationships, confidence and handling feelings. These everyday skills have a place alongside subject learning.
The school day runs from 8:50am to 3:00pm, with two morning teaching periods, a break, lunch and afternoon learning. Dining also counts as teaching time. That gives eating and drinking a learning purpose alongside classroom activities.
Physical provision includes dark and white multi-sensory studios, a Sensory Integration room and accessible changing facilities. Outside, the Forest Garden has planters and a water wall; elsewhere there is a sensory garden and a willow tunnel. Adapted swings and a roundabout accommodate wheelchair users. These are school facilities, giving the early years setting a wider physical context than its classroom alone.
Support combines the class team with health and therapy professionals. Community nursing, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy contribute to provision, while healthcare assistants help children needing medication or gastrostomy feeding. Care therefore needs to be understood alongside the individual child’s EHCP.
Before a child starts at Orchard, education and health professionals meet school staff to pass on information. Staff make home visits and, where applicable, visit the child’s existing setting. Families meet a class-team member as part of this preparation, creating opportunities to explain familiar routines and individual needs.
Food exploration can begin with looking, touching or smelling before tasting. The school aims to work with families whose children have restricted diets, recognising that textures and preferences differ. This makes food a shared home-and-school concern.
A daily home-school diary carries information about activities and learning, alongside the Evidence for Learning family app. In January 2026, following inconsistent sharing, the school instructed classes to send families one curriculum-focused item each week. That was an instruction to improve communication, rather than proof of consistent delivery.
Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Discuss the Reception placement process with the local authority and school. The local authority decides Orchard’s special-school placements after consulting the school; children enter with an EHCP. Keep the placement decision separate from any preparation for starting school.
Contact the administrative team on 0121 569 7040 or email info@orchard.sandwell.sch.uk for enquiries. The school is on Causeway Green Road in Oldbury, B68 8LD.
Transport eligibility. School transport is restricted to pupils aged 5–16, with allocation dependent on home-to-school distance. Families considering nursery provision should factor this age condition into their travel plans.
No. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a place. Discuss the Reception placement process with the local authority and school.
Early years provision was graded Good on 15 and 16 July 2025. No nursery-age children were attending at that time.
Children have tailored learning programmes, with EHCP priorities linked to curriculum content and broken into smaller steps.
The school uses a daily home-school diary and the Evidence for Learning family app. In January 2026, classes were instructed to share one curriculum-focused item each week following inconsistent sharing.
The administrative team handles enquiries. Call 0121 569 7040 or email info@orchard.sandwell.sch.uk.
