Dormanstown Primary Academy Nursery

Stories, rhymes and play give Dormanstown’s nursery its clearest character. This is the school’s own nursery on South Avenue in Redcar, with children joining on or after their third birthday when a place becomes available. It belongs to Tees Valley Education, whose early years approach combines children’s choices with direct teaching.

Ofsted judged the school’s early years provision Good at the inspection on 22 and 23 November 2023. That judgement covers the early years provision within the school.

Play has a clear learning purpose. Across Tees Valley Education’s early years curriculum, children investigate, ask questions, try things again and discuss their ideas with adults and other children. Teaching takes account of their needs and what they have already achieved, giving adults a starting point for extending their learning.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) brings together learning, development and care before age five. Here, its priorities include communication, physical development and learning to manage feelings and relationships. These sit alongside early literacy, mathematics, creative expression and discovering the world. Development Matters and Birth to Five support the trust’s approach. For parents, this means play and adult teaching form parts of the same learning programme.

Indoor and outdoor learning areas are linked, and children can choose activities across spaces reflecting the curriculum. The emphasis is on exploring and making decisions, alongside taught knowledge and skills.

In November 2023, early years children encountered stories and rhymes from the start and enjoyed browsing readily accessible books. Nursery vocabulary flowers gave adults prompts for introducing words during play. Language support. Adults did not use these prompts consistently, leaving some chances to extend children’s vocabulary unused. Families should weigh this specific teaching concern alongside the emphasis on books and conversation.

Home reading had a practical invitation in November 2023: baskets containing blankets and hot chocolate encouraged parents and children to share books. The idea connected nursery learning with time together at home, rather than making reading solely a classroom activity.

Before admission, families have an opportunity to visit the nursery together and receive information about joining. This gives children an introduction to the setting before they start.

Additional support sits within a trust approach using an ASSESS-PLAN-DO-REVIEW cycle. When children need different or extra help, support and interventions follow that graduated process. Each academy also has a pastoral and welfare team, which prioritises children needing help from specialist staff or partner organisations. These are academy and trust arrangements, rather than a separate nursery staffing model.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Parents must apply separately through the local authority’s common application form, and the local authority allocates places. Choosing the nursery therefore leaves a further application to complete before school entry.

Preparation is a separate matter. A planned transition programme includes classroom visits, assemblies, lunchtimes and opportunities to try wider school routines. Families are required to attend the transition visits before their child is admitted to the academy. Parents attend short information meetings before their children start. These experiences introduce the next stage of school life; they do not secure admission.

For nursery enquiries, contact the academy on 01642 483696 or email dormanstown@teesvalleyeducation.co.uk. Families can arrange an academy appointment before expressing a school preference, and a nursery visit is offered before admission. Use that opportunity to discuss your child’s introduction to nursery and any support they need.