Little Owls at Elworth Hall Primary School

Little Owls has a teaching link to the wider early years team: a teacher’s role spans both pre-school and Foundation Class. This is Elworth Hall Primary School’s own pre-school provision, on Lawton Way in Elworth, Sandbach. For families choosing a school nursery, that shared teaching role is a concrete connection to the school’s early learning provision.

In December 2024, Ofsted judged the school’s early years provision Outstanding. That judgement covers the school’s early years provision; it is not a separate Little Owls nursery rating.

Foundations for later learning shape the early years curriculum. In December 2024, the school had identified the knowledge children would need next and organised early learning around it. For parents, the emphasis is on building the starting points children need before tackling more demanding learning.

Creativity, problem solving and physical development feature in the school’s curriculum aims, alongside emotional wellbeing. Elworth Hall also aims to develop independence and responsibility. These are school-wide intentions rather than a timetable of nursery activities, but they explain the educational direction surrounding Little Owls: children’s development encompasses how they think, act and manage themselves as well as what they learn.

Support for additional needs follows the Cheshire East Inclusion Toolkit. A special educational needs co-ordinator has a designated role, while responsibility for provision extends across the school team. The school uses a graduated response: identifying a child’s needs, assessing them and planning support, then checking whether that support needs to change.

Parents participate throughout assessment, planning and review. Individual School Focus Plans organise support, and teaching assistant-led small groups are used where appropriate. Participation and children’s own choices remain part of that approach. For a family whose child needs adjustments, this provides a defined process for discussing needs and reviewing the response.

Partnerships extend to other professionals involved with the child and to arrangements when transferring between settings. Families can also be directed to Cheshire East Information, Advice and Support for independent guidance. This gives parents a route to advice alongside their conversations with school staff.

Attending Little Owls does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions process and meet the applicable deadline. Treat the nursery decision and the school-place application as two separate tasks.

School-place applications go through the local authority where the family lives, including when the chosen school is in another authority’s area. Elworth Hall also requires its own admissions form before an agreed school start date. That additional form does not replace the local authority application.

The Little Owls Expression of Interest Form provides an enquiry route for pre-school. Families can contact the school office on 01270 910456 or email admin@elworthhall.cheshire.sch.uk. Refer to the school for current charges.

The address is Lawton Way, Elworth, Sandbach, CW11 1TE. Keep Little Owls enquiries separate from the later local authority application for a school place.