St Anne's RC Primary School Nursery Review

Playing, learning and prayer belong together at St Anne's, where the nursery is the youngest class in a Catholic primary school. The school takes children from age three and organises teaching into eight classes, each covering a single age group. Nursery therefore has its own place within the school’s class structure.

Love, respect and responsibility are the school’s central values. Children from other faiths are welcome, with their spiritual development included within the Catholic ethos. For families choosing this nursery, faith is part of the everyday educational setting.

A bespoke early years curriculum draws on Development Matters and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The school aims to give children a foundation for their education and prepare them for later learning. This is an early years curriculum with its own developmental basis.

Number work has an explicit place: the EYFS includes a daily mastering number programme. Children learn to count and develop mathematical understanding, giving them number skills to build on in later learning. Alongside the curriculum, the school describes children playing, learning and praying together, with Catholic faith practised during the school day.

First-hand experiences are part of the school’s curriculum ambition. Its stated aim combines learning with children’s wider development, while treating emotional wellbeing as equally important as academic achievement. Those aims help explain the educational character families are choosing.

Inclusion sits within the school’s wider accessibility aims. These cover adapting the curriculum, addressing physical barriers and making information accessible to children and their families. The distinction matters: support can involve how a child learns, how they use the premises and how a family receives information.

There is a SEND coordinator and a governor with SEND responsibility. Families also have routes to support through Oldham Council’s Local Offer, POINT Oldham and the Family Information Service. These provide additional places to seek advice and resources alongside contact with school.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place or confer priority in the oversubscription criteria for September 2026 entry. Families must make a separate Reception application through Oldham Council, using its online admissions route or a Local Authority Preference Form. Nursery attendance and Reception allocation are separate decisions.

For that September 2026 intake, the application deadline was 5pm on 15 January 2026. Parents seeking consideration under the religious criteria also had to submit the school’s supplementary form. These dates belong to that past intake. Faith, looked-after status, siblings and residence feature in the admission criteria; attending nursery does not replace the application process.

The nursery is at the school on Greenacres Road, Oldham, OL4 1HP. For enquiries, telephone 0161 770 5401 or email info@stannesrc.oldham.sch.uk. The school also supplies paper copies of its online information on request, giving families another way to receive information.