Rachel Madocks School Nursery Review

Communication, sensory exploration and small steps towards independence give this nursery its context within Rachel Madocks School. The school serves children with severe learning difficulties and profound multiple learning difficulties, with personalised teaching and a team providing wellbeing interventions. For families, the focus is on learning shaped around a child's needs.

Early-years provision forms part of the school's educational structure. Discovery, the lower-school department, includes pupils aged two and a half to ten, grouped by both age and need. That departmental age range should be distinguished from nursery entry ages. Its classes are Parrots, Puffins, Wrens, Penguins and Robins.

Discovery's approach combines individual learning with sensory experiences. Communication and interaction with other children are central activities, giving early learning a practical purpose: helping children express themselves and build relationships. A high level of adult support accompanies that work.

The department uses communication aids including switches and Prox talkers, alongside PODD and PECs. These provide different ways to participate where spoken language alone may not meet a child's needs. Named teaching approaches include Attention Autism, Intensive Interaction and Makaton; the department selects approaches to suit pupils' differing needs.

Physical spaces extend learning beyond class activities. Discovery pupils can explore a sensory room, use the food technology room and play in soft play. The Aviary supports sensory integration, while the library provides a setting for books. These are departmental facilities, rather than a promise that each nursery session includes every activity.

Across the school, accessible playground equipment, specialist bicycles and outdoor musical instruments add further possibilities for movement and sensory exploration. The emphasis is on matching experiences to the learner.

Therapy support is part of Discovery's learning provision, including speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. The wider school also has visiting therapists in these disciplines each week, with on-site clinics involving dental, orthotics and wheelchair specialists. This brings education and specialist support into the same setting.

Home and school stay connected through individual communication in home/school books each week. Families can request a teaching-staff appointment through the book or the office, giving them a direct route to discuss progress or concerns. Every half term, family celebrations offer parents opportunities to share their children's learning.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Nursery and Reception admission are separate processes: families need to apply again through the appropriate normal route and meet the applicable deadline. Familiarity with the school should not be treated as an admission entitlement.

The school day runs from 08:50 to 15:00. These are whole-school hours, rather than a nursery session booking model.

Rachel Madocks School is on Eagle Avenue in Cowplain, Waterlooville, PO8 9XP. Visits can be arranged by contacting the school. The office can be reached on 02392 241 818 or at admin@rachelmadocks.hants.sch.uk.

Emergency closure messages use Teacher2Parents. Keeping family telephone numbers current enables the school to contact parents when circumstances change.