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Nursery at Langside 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 If you spot anything outdated or inaccurate, please let us know.
Touch, movement and communication shape the early years offer at Langside. Little Acorns is the class for the youngest children, within a specialist school supporting profound and multiple learning difficulties and complex medical needs. Admission begins at two years and six months, subject to the school's placement criteria.
This is an offer built around individual needs. In May 2025, there were no nursery-aged children attending Langside. Families should therefore distinguish the early years provision from an inspection judgement about an occupied nursery class.
Little Acorns follows the Early Years framework, with support from the BCP Early Years Team. For parents, the practical emphasis is on learning through routines, sensory experiences and small individual steps. ImPACTS supplies the assessment and curriculum approach: targets connect communication, physical skills, understanding, emotional wellbeing and using technology to influence the immediate surroundings.
Communication can begin with a response rather than a spoken word. Staff use Intensive Interaction to support shared attention and turn-taking, while TaSSeLs provides touch-based signing for sensory learners. Objects, sounds and tactile cues help explain a change of activity or person. Each pupil's communication profile records how they express themselves and how adults can recognise their preferences.
The school's learning spaces include the Imaginarium, a Music Therapy Room and outside space, alongside soft play, hydrotherapy and rebound therapy. These learning environments serve the school. Music therapy takes place both individually and with the class, giving children another route into interaction. Physiotherapy programmes are also woven into classroom activities, so movement and learning can share the same timetable.
Technology gives children ways to affect what happens around them. Eye gaze, switches and iPads are among the tools used across Langside, with interactive whiteboards in every classroom. Individual targets guide this work through one-to-one sessions, class activities and opportunities within other parts of the day.
Settling can be gradual. Families are welcomed into the class, and the timetable can accommodate a settling-in period. The first term of a placement includes a full assessment, with parents able to arrange classroom observations and discussions with relevant staff. That gives families a part in establishing the child's starting point.
Across Langside, classes of six or seven have a qualified teacher, a higher-level teaching assistant, a therapy assistant and two learning support assistants. Nurses and therapists also contribute to class provision. Registered nurses supervise care and medicines, with nursing cover during school hours and on school visits.
Feeding is part of the support rather than simply a break from learning. Speech and language therapists help develop eating and drinking where appropriate, including desensitisation and oral hygiene work for children unable to progress with oral feeding. The nurse and therapy team can attend to enteral feeds during the day. Nourish communication and termly progress updates help parents follow their child's learning; reviews for children under five take place every six months.
Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families should discuss the next placement decision with the school and their local authority.
For a Langside placement, an Education Health & Care Plan must name the school and identify physical disability and learning difficulty as priority needs. Admission also depends on a suitable place in the appropriate class. Families can contact both the school and their local authority about placement. Keep that admissions decision separate from the familiarity a child develops through attending early years provision.
Langside is a day school. After a placement is allocated, the local authority arranges transport between home and school. The school can adapt the timing of the day for high dependency or social needs, allowing attendance arrangements to respond to the child.
Uniform is optional: families can choose their own practical clothing or embroidered T-shirts, hoodies and polo shirts. For an enquiry or an appointment to visit, contact the school on 01202 518635 or office@langsideschool.org.uk.
Little Acorns is Langside's early years class for its youngest pupils.
Little Acorns works within the Early Years framework. ImPACTS supports individual assessment, planning and targets across the school's key skill areas.
Yes. Families are welcomed into the class, and the timetable can accommodate a settling-in period. Parents can arrange observations and staff discussions during the first-term assessment.
No. A Langside placement depends on the child's EHCP meeting the school's criteria and a suitable class place being available. Discuss the next placement decision with the school and your local authority.
No. Families can choose their own clothing or the school's embroidered polo shirts, T-shirts and hoodies.
