Shield Row Primary School Nursery Review

Stories, conversation and practical discovery give Shield Row’s nursery its character. Books run through the learning, while the school’s REAL curriculum aims to connect ideas with hands-on experience. The emphasis is on children talking, exploring and making sense of things.

Nursery forms part of Shield Row Primary School in Stanley, where the school’s age range starts at three. A class teacher and teaching assistant make up the nursery teaching team, placing this first stage of learning within the wider primary school.

Communication runs across the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the framework for early learning and development. Adults join children’s activities, demonstrate ways of expressing ideas and introduce vocabulary. Frequent reading brings together poetry, factual books, rhymes and stories, giving children different reasons to listen and talk.

Practical work gives those conversations substance. Early-years activities include building with blocks and reclaimed materials, working with clay, printing and preparing food. Children investigate how objects fit together and try different ways of shaping paper. This makes learning something they can handle and test.

Number work develops understanding of numbers to 10 through physical objects, alongside exploration of measures, shapes and space. Music involves instruments, familiar songs and children’s own dances; movement work develops coordination and strength. These are foundations for learning rather than a timetable of separate school subjects.

Discovery also reaches into the natural world: children explore materials, grow plants and consider changing seasons and life cycles. The wider school grounds include planting beds, a playground and a reading area. Those are school facilities, rather than a description of a separate nursery garden.

In November 2023, inspectors found that nursery stories and rhymes encouraged enthusiasm for books, while early-years children developed highly positive learning habits. They also identified weaker teaching of early letter formation within the school’s phonics programme, a relevant caution alongside the emphasis on reading.

Learning to manage feelings is part of the early-years curriculum. Children receive support to recognise emotions, develop friendships, cooperate and work through disagreements. Care and learning meet here: becoming comfortable with other children is part of the work, alongside language and practical skills.

For children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the school uses Assess, Plan, Do, Review. Support plans identify provision and agreed outcomes, with parents involved in the process. This gives families a role in reviewing how support develops.

Before a child starts, parents are asked to discuss identified needs so that support can be prepared. The school has a SEND coordinator and a designated learning support assistant for behavioural and emotional needs. Safeguarding concerns can be raised through the school office by telephone, email or in person; the safeguarding team includes the early-years lead.

Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal school admissions process. Shield Row uses the same admissions basis as Durham Local Authority, with Tudhoe Learning Trust acting as admissions authority.

Keep the nursery decision and the later school application separate. Choosing this provision for its books, practical activities and teaching team should not be treated as securing the next place.

The school is on King Edward VIII Terrace in Stanley. For enquiries, contact the office on 01207 239 661 or email office@shieldrow.co.uk; a contact form provides another route.

Road and public transport provide access to the school. The Sustrans coast to coast path also offers a walking or cycling route away from busy roads, a useful practical detail for families planning the journey.