The Weatheralls Primary School Nursery Review

A place within the school’s Reception classes gives Weatheralls’ nursery its distinctive shape. Pre-school children share those classes’ hours, so this is provision built around the school day. The nursery is part of The Weatheralls Primary School on Pratt Street in Soham. Limited places are offered for children who turn 4 during the current academic year.

Ofsted graded the school’s early years provision Good at the inspection on 18 and 19 October 2023. That judgement covers early years within the school; it is not a separate nursery rating.

Open-ended activity is the nursery’s stated approach: it aims to encourage children to think independently and creatively, with their ideas helping shape learning. The emphasis is on allowing children to develop at their own pace rather than expecting identical progress.

Early reading forms part of the early years experience. In October 2023, children started learning to read from their entry into early years, and staff had phonics training. Checks picked up children needing additional help, with support following. Books matched the sounds being learned, giving children practice with familiar material.

A concrete example from March 2020 shows how nursery learning has used play: animal toys or photographs and a miniature railway supported an activity about repeated initial sounds within Letters and Sounds Phase One. Children joined in a cumulative train story and remembered the animals encountered. This is a historical example, rather than a current session timetable.

Learning about other people begins early. In October 2023, the youngest children explored different family structures, while children from early years onwards learned about personal safety and the adults they could approach with worries. Those are practical foundations for understanding difference and asking for help.

Arbor’s Parent Portal handles correspondence as well as payments, and parents must register for it as a condition of entry. The nursery also aims to keep families regularly informed about children’s learning activities. Parents therefore need access to Arbor as part of their everyday arrangements.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place or confer admissions priority. Families must make a separate application through their home local authority’s normal admissions process. Cambridgeshire residents can apply online, and the local authority sends the offer.

For entry in 2027–28, priority categories cover children in care or previously in care, siblings, Soham residents, qualifying children of staff and children outside the catchment. Nursery attendance is not a category. Being familiar with the school and being allocated a place are separate matters.

School-day care. Weatheralls accepts nursery children during core school hours only; they cannot use its extended-hours provision. The pre-school follows the hours of the Reception classes in which children are placed. Families needing a longer childcare day must plan around that restriction.

For 15 funded hours, the minimum booking is 3 sessions each week. Session changes depend on availability. Applications can be returned to the school office, and parents accept or decline offered sessions by email.

Charges may cover consumables such as wipes, nappies and food, or additional activities; any such extras are invoiced. Contact the school for current charges. Funded-session cancellation requires at least two weeks’ written notice; non-funded sessions require four weeks.

Children remain their parents’ responsibility until staff receive them and they are signed in. Nursery pupils may not leave unaccompanied, and repeated late collection can attract additional charges.