High Spen Primary School Nursery

Chopwell Wood and a classroom focus on talking give High Spen’s nursery two distinct strands: outdoor exploration and learning to express ideas. Forest Friday includes nursery children, while work with Voice 21 is being tried in the nursery class. These are concrete reasons to consider the provision beyond its connection to the primary school.

Based at High Spen Primary School on Hugar Road, the nursery includes provision for two-year-olds. Its class is called Nursery - SG, and staff work together across early years. This places the nursery within the school’s early years team.

Two three-hour sessions shape the day: mornings run from 8:55am to 11:55am, and afternoons from 12:30pm to 3:30pm. For families organising work or other childcare, those separate start and finish times are the practical starting point.

Language has a named focus. Nursery staff are testing approaches with Voice 21, giving spoken communication a place in curriculum development. The curriculum page also links an ELS Sounds for Nursery progression document for 2025-26. Together, these identify talking and early sound work as strands of nursery learning.

Outdoor activity reaches beyond the school grounds. Nursery children take part in Forest Friday on a rolling three-week cycle, with Chopwell Wood as the base. The programme includes climbing, building shelters, using bushcraft tools and lighting fires, although these are programme activities rather than a list promised to each nursery child. A May 2026 nursery activity also involved welcoming lambs into school: an example of children encountering animals together.

At the June 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that early years children started learning well, with activities adjusted to individual needs, checks on remembered learning and effective extra help. In parent terms, the emphasis was on matching activities to the child and checking that learning stayed with them.

Early years staff operate as a team, and the school identifies a special educational needs coordinator as part of its staffing structure. Its SEND information page also directs families to Gateshead’s Local Offer and Axis, which began providing the Gateshead SENDIASS service in February 2026. Axis offers families confidential, impartial advice and support without charge.

Medical care requires advance coordination. The school’s policy asks for information about longer-term medical needs before admission and written parental consent before staff administer medicine. Medicines must remain in their original containers. The policy normally encourages parents to administer medication themselves; school administration is subject to its stated conditions, so families should plan around those procedures.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process. High Spen follows Gateshead Council’s primary admissions policy, so choosing the nursery and applying for a school place remain separate decisions.

Session timing. Morning and afternoon nursery have different collection times. Build childcare arrangements around the nursery timetable rather than the main school’s finishing time.

To arrange a visit, telephone the school on 01207 542373. Nursery enquiries can also go to highspen@gatedu.org. The school office can supply paper copies of website information without charge, giving families another way to read policies before joining.