The Woodlands Academy Nursery Review

Specialist support is the defining context for early education at The Woodlands Academy in Scarborough. The school caters for children aged 2 to 16 with additional needs, including autism and complex needs. Its 136 planned places cover the whole school, rather than a nursery intake. Families need to distinguish that broad age range from a particular early years placement.

There is an important dated distinction: at the inspection on 6 and 7 March 2024, no children were attending the early years foundation stage. That finding concerns attendance at that time. It does not establish the position today or provide a nursery quality judgement.

Individual needs shape the school's approach. Woodlands describes personalised learning pathways and aims to help children develop independence to the extent their needs allow. For a family considering early education, the relevant emphasis is on what their child can learn and do, with support matched to that individual.

Across Horizons Specialist Academy Trust, learning plans connect education, health and care plan (EHCP) aims to targets reviewed annually or termly. The process follows assessment, planning, action and review. This gives families a concrete framework for discussing progress beyond a general description of development.

Trust teaching adaptations include individual work, visual timetables and extra time to process information. Autism resources, communication support and routines also form part of its approach. These are trust arrangements, rather than a description of a particular nursery session.

Parents have a role in reviewing support. Across the trust, annual discussions about special educational provision take account of family concerns, agree intended outcomes and clarify the next steps. Academies welcome contact from parents and carers and aim to maintain regular communication. That creates a route for sharing how a child responds to support at home.

Each academy has a parental support worker and a designated safeguarding lead, backed by a safeguarding team across the trust. Academy leaders can also draw on educational psychology, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy through trust provision. Specialist input contributes programmes or strategies intended to support learning; access to that expertise should not be read as a promise of identical therapy for every child.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Treat the next placement as a separate admissions question. Applications to Horizons academies go through a local authority, and admission takes place at a local authority's request. Families should use that route when considering their child's next stage.

Transition support has a different purpose from admission. Across the trust, induction can involve visits to the next setting, discussions about needs and an information handover. Families and pupils agree which information will be shared. These arrangements help the receiving team understand the child; they do not secure a place.

Woodlands is on Woodlands Drive, Scarborough, YO12 6QN. Contact the academy on 01723 373260 for enquiries. Information about provision can be discussed with the trust, while placement applications must go through a local authority.

For calendar planning, Woodlands has a separate 2026/2027 calendar from the other academies grouped together by the trust. Use the Woodlands calendar when arranging family commitments around school dates.