Nursery Provision
Our Nursery children love coming to school and the nursery classroom has a special kind of magic with children enjoying their learning through play. Our approach to teaching and learning is routed in the Gospel values with love, compassion, peace, humility, forgiveness and integrity being hallmarks of our provision.
Starting Nursery class is a big step in a young child's life and we appreciate that these changes can provide some challenges. Our talented staff are here to help you and your children make the transition to Saint Joseph's as smooth as possible.
The majority of children who attend our Nursery class make a successful transition into our Reception. While attendance at Nursery does not guarantee a place in Reception, children who attend our Nursery class, who are not Catholic, are categorised into a higher criterion in the over-subscription criteria. The skills that they learn in Nursery set the foundations for the rest of their schooling life and there is no better place to learn these essential learning skills than at Saint Joseph's.
We offer government-subsidised free childcare places in our Nursery and the majority of families can take advantage of the full 30 hours free childcare. Full-time places are recommended. 15 hours free part-time childcare are also available. We also take "Rising 3s" children if we have space. Please get in touch with the school office for more information. If families are not eligible for government-subsidised childcare, you can pay the school privately - please contact the school office for more information.
Our nursery offers flexible provision for families using the 30-hour funded entitlement. The funded hours cover attendance from 09:30 to 15:30 each day. Most families choose to take advantage of our full-time nursery provision, which aligns with the school day and provides 32.5 hours per week. This includes an additional 30 minutes per day, allowing children to attend from 08:50 to 15:30. The additional time is not covered by the 30-hour funding and is charged at £3 per day (£15 per week). 15-hour funded places are not affected by this arrangement.
Our nursery class are an integral part of our school and share the school day with the rest of the children at Saint Joseph's, including our lunch times. Nursery children enjoy a delicious lunch from our school kitchen. Click here for our current menu. Sharing a meal with friends and family in other classes is a great way to help children socialise and settle into school life.
Nursery children also take part in many of our other whole school activities such as acts of worship, masses, services, coffee mornings, Christmas productions and class assemblies.
Our school offers wrap-around care from 7:30am-5:45pm with our Before and After School Child Care Club. This popular service runs each day during term time between 7:30am-9:00am (Child Care Club colleagues drop children off at their classroom doors) then from 3:30pm-5:45pm (Child Care Club colleagues collect children from classrooms at the end of the school day). Our Child Care Club runs in the parish hall directly opposite school. Click here for more information about our Child Care Club.
Visits to school are warmly welcomed. We do not hold open days as we believe that families should be able to see our school as it is on any working day. We are very proud of our provision and we hope you will enjoy your visit. To arrange a visit, please contact the school office.
Important Documents:
Click here for the nursery admission policy.
Click here for the 30 hours free childcare with 2.5 hour additional fee nursery contract.
Click here for the 15 hours free childcare nursery contract.