Blossom House School Nursery Review

Daily speech and language therapy shapes the nursery morning at Blossom House. Therapists join the nursery team’s planning and assessment, while play gives children opportunities to practise communication with adult help. For a child with speech, language and communication needs, learning and therapy share the same session.

Starting from age three, the nursery sits within the school’s Early Years provision at Motspur Park, on Station Road in New Malden. Groups are small, with a high proportion of adults to children. Ofsted graded the school’s early years provision Outstanding following its inspection on 7 to 9 November 2023. That judgement covers early years within the school.

The morning combines supported play, teaching through different senses and daily therapy. Children tackle skills in manageable stages, returning to them before taking the next step. Topic-related props and toys carry learning into free play, where adults help children practise what they have been taught. Repetition has a clear purpose: giving each child time to consolidate a skill.

The adapted Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum addresses individual learning needs and language disorders. In parent terms, play and early learning are adjusted to help children understand and communicate. A material qualification applies: the school has an exemption from the EYFS learning and development requirements. Its nursery approach should therefore be understood as specialist provision using an adapted curriculum.

Makaton supports communication during the day, and staff adjust their spoken language to children’s needs. Speech and language therapists also join play sessions during the week. Daily occupational therapy groups add another strand, with individual occupational therapy or physiotherapy where needed.

In November 2023, children practised making words with letters and writing them in glitter sand. Balloon activities and a box of pom-poms drew their attention to movement and sound, while a moving, illuminated toy prompted them to practise words for requesting more and indicating they had finished. These are concrete examples of sensory play serving communication goals.

Motspur Park’s shared facilities include a Movement Room and outdoor playground equipment. Nursery trips extend learning beyond the classroom to shops, a theatre and a farm, giving children other contexts in which to use their skills.

A teacher and a speech and language therapist jointly lead Early Years. Therapists contribute to children’s targets as well as classroom planning, bringing educational and therapeutic work together. Arts therapy can be arranged in blocks for children who would benefit from psychotherapeutic support.

Home visits formed part of the nursery’s September 2026 start. Once children attend, a fresh support plan each term gives parents a regular opportunity to contribute observations from home. Meetings also cover classroom vocabulary that families can reinforce. Informal conversations with Foundation Stage staff and appointments for longer discussions provide further contact.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Confirm the Reception application process with the admissions team; attendance should never be treated as an offer of admission.

Blossom House makes placement offers following assessment of a child’s educational, social and therapeutic needs. Its Foundation Stage guidance describes full-time Reception entry as usually possible from January in the year a child turns five, depending on the cohort. That timing describes the next stage of provision, rather than an entitlement to a place.

Nursery mornings begin between 9.00 and 9.15 and finish at 12.15. Joint attendance with a mainstream nursery is possible if the child spends at least three mornings each week at Blossom House. This gives families a specific way to combine specialist input with another nursery setting.

Uniform is optional for nursery children, and sensory adjustments can be made. Enquiries can go through the admissions website form or the admissions team on 020 8879 9901. The initial assessment includes a school tour and time for a speech and language therapist to meet the child; Foundation Stage trials normally last one or two mornings.