St Joseph’s Nursery
Welcome to St Joseph’s Nursery
St Joseph’s is a small and friendly school at the heart of our community where we love, live, learn and celebrate together.
We create an environment built on kindness, respect and support. Every child who joins us is encouraged to explore, create and have a voice, surrounded by adults who celebrate their uniqueness and help them to shine in their own way.
Children learn that they are special to one another and to their families. Together, as a school family, we learn to love, respect and forgive each other.
We are committed to providing an inclusive education for all as we believe that all children are individuals, diverse and competent, each with their own strengths and interests. In our Nursery, we celebrate the individuality of every child and nurture them with love, care and encouragement so they can continue to grow into confident, kind and respectful young people.
We look forward to welcoming you into our St Joseph’s family, where your child’s journey begins with love, respect and curiosity.
Our Nursery
St Joseph’s Nursery is school-based, and our nursery children are important to our whole school family. The Nursery is staffed by a qualified teacher and highly experienced teaching assistant who create a welcoming, nurturing environment where children feel safe, loved and cared for.
At the heart of our approach is creating warm, supportive relationships with our children and their families too. We work closely with you to ensure your child settles well and feels valued. Right from the start, our caring team take time to listen to children, share in their interests and gently support them in building friendships and developing confidence.
Our Nursery is a happy, vibrant place where children feel a strong sense of belonging, pride and joy in themselves and others. We offer rich learning experiences to encourage children to develop a love of learning. Children have a wonderful sense of adventure, an innate curiosity that helps them make sense of their world. We believe it is our responsibility to give all children the confidence to explore, play creatively, ask questions, problem-solve and think independently, empowering them to flourish and be ready for the next step in their school journey.
Our Nursery
Our dedicated team know that the first five years of a child’s life are the most important time for their learning and development. The staff create engaging environments for our children, filled with natural and open-ended resources, and take great pride in knowing that they lay the foundations for a lifetime of learning and future happiness.
Through high aspirations for all our children, adaptive teaching, personalised curriculum and a supportive environment we believe all our children will thrive. We ensure that children needing additional support are identified at the earliest possible opportunity and share this information with parents / carers to enable everyone to work together to provide appropriate support and challenge to ensure children have quality learning experiences.
At St Joseph’s Nursery, we look forward to welcoming you and your child into our caring, family focused community.
Meet Our Team
Here is the team who hope to make your child’s Nursery experience a special one, not just for your child but for you too.
Mrs N Brownless Nursery Teacher
Mrs D Hurst EYFS Teaching Assistant
Mr A McGeeney Headteacher
Mrs A Welford EYFS Lead
Mrs C Willis PSA
Nursery Session
8:45 – 11:45am
For families who need additional childcare, we also offer a Breakfast Club from 8:00am until 8:45am at a cost of
Our Nursery Offer
All children are entitled to 15 hours of free nursery provision during term time. Children aged 3 and 4 are welcome to start a fully funded nursery place from the term after their
Uniform is not compulsory in Nursery. However, it is strongly encouraged as it creates a sense of belonging to our nursery family and school
Our uniform consists of:
Yellow polo shirt
Green jumper/cardigan
Grey trousers/skirt
Alternatively, in the warmer weather, children can wear a green and white gingham dress/ grey shorts.
Uniform Snacks and Milk
For further information, please scan the QR code.
All children enjoy a healthy daily snack, such as fruit, toast, or vegetables, supporting positive eating habits.
We also provide free milk for all nursery children. In addition to this your child will need to bring their own water bottle clearly labelled with their name.
Nursery Curriculum
St Joseph’s Nursery curriculum is thoughtfully designed around highquality books that spark children’s curiosity, build language and inspire a love of learning. Learning experiences are enriched through national days and celebrations making meaningful connections to the wider world we live in. Our curriculum has been created to be flexible and responsive in order to capture and build upon children’s strengths and interests, reflecting the locality and the families and the children we serve.
The curriculum is supported by ‘Development Matters’ and encompasses all seven areas of learning, as set out in the statutory framework for the EYFS 2021, ensuring that our teaching meets national guidance.
We prioritise the first three areas of learning, called the prime areas, as these are particularly important to ensure our children have a strong foundation for all other learning.
Prime Areas of Learning
1. Communication and Language
We help children develop strong speaking and listening skills through stories, songs, conversations and play. Children are encouraged to share their ideas, build vocabulary and enjoy communicating with others.
2. Physical Development
Children develop both fine and gross motor skills through climbing, running, building, drawing, threading and lots of outdoor play. We also teach good self-care routines like hand-washing and healthy habits.
3. Personal, Social and Emotional Development
We support children to build confidence, make friends and understand their feelings. They learn to share, take turns, solve problems and develop independence.
The following 4 areas are called the Specific Areas of Learning and these build on the prime areas
4. Literacy
Children enjoy story and rhyme time, ‘ready to learn’ time and early phonics activities. We spark a love of books and help children begin to recognise print, handle books and make meaningful marks making, rhymes and early phonics activities.
5. Mathematics
Through play and their environment, children explore counting, sorting, patterns, shapes and simple problem-solving. We use everyday objects, games and practical activities to build early maths skills in a fun and natural way. We use everyday objects, games and practical activities to build early maths skills in a fun and natural way.
6. Understanding the World
Children learn to make sense of the world around them using their senses. They enjoy nature walks, exploring materials, celebrating different cultures and talking about family, community and special events.
7. Expressive Arts and Design
We offer lots of opportunities to paint, draw, sing, dance, build and imagine. Children express themselves creatively through music, role play, and crafts.
Our creative curriculum is essentially play based and experiential with carefully chosen resources and well-planned tasks to allow children to build up concepts, ideas and skills across all areas of learning Adults observe and model, initiate activities and sensitively interact in meaningful ways to move learning forward, building on previous knowledge and understanding.
Step Into Our Environment
We believe that our nursery environment drives learning and development. It reflects the curriculum, children’s interests and attends to the emotions and well-being of our children.
As you explore our nursery spaces, happy faces smile back at you, exciting learning experiences are around every corner indoors and outside! All areas of the curriculum can be spotted with many overlapping as children explore, discover, design, create, question and wonder about the diverse world in which they live.
Books play an intrinsic part of our learning, so we have books everywhere!
We love talking about our favourites and sharing new ones too! Through sharing high quality books, we hope to instil a love of reading and fire up your child’s imagination now and for many years to come!
At St Joseph’s we are fortunate to have lots of space for outdoor exploration and learning adventures. Outdoor learning is an important part of our everyday routines, It helps children connect with nature. Being outdoors promotes physical and mental health, it encourages children to work together, and it is a place of awe and wonder.
Our rich learning landscapes incorporate carefully designed areas to ignite the spark each child has and deepen knowledge and understanding.
Creative Area
In our creative spaces, children are invited to paint, draw, craft, build models or simply enjoy getting messy! They express themselves freely while developing fine motor skills using a wide range of tools.
Construction Area
Construction is always on offer for our budding designers and engineers who love building homes, towers, tracks and imaginative structures. This hands-on play builds independence, early maths and problem-solving skills.
Maths in the Environment
Number and maths resources are woven throughout the setting, giving children plenty of playful chances to count, sort, match, measure and explore shapes.
Language & Learning Everywhere
Wherever children choose to play, there are endless opportunities to develop language, early maths concepts and confidence through exploration.
Sensory Area
Sensory experiences are everywhere - from calming toys and play dough to mud, sand and water. These activities encourage language development, fine motor skills and even early scientific thinking.
Small World & Role Play
Our small world and role play areas help children act out real-life experiences, express feelings, build imagination and grow social skills. They learn to take on different roles, work with friends and celebrate diversity.
Quiet & Calm Spaces
Children also need moments of calm. We offer tranquil places to sit alone or with a friend, read, reflect, imagine, draw or mark-make quietly.
Group Learning Time
Each day includes opportunities for group time - listening, sharing ideas, singing and learning together. Wherever their interests lead, communication and language skills are nurtured in everything we do.
Help Prepare Your Child for Nursery
✔ We believe that children thrive when parents/carers and school staff work together, each holding the child’s learning and well-being at the heart.
✔ No one knows your child better than you, the more you support us to get to know your child, the more effective we will be in helping them reach their full potential.
✔ The Nursery team are committed to building a strong partnership between home and school. We will encourage you to share in your child’s very special journey through sharing your child’s interests with us, sending in photos and comments about what your child can do, at home or when out and about.
✔ We take pride in inviting you into our nursery to share in our nursery stay, pray and play sessions where we love to celebrate your children’s achievements with you.
✔ And so we start the journey together…
Starting nursery is an exciting step but can also be overwhelming for some children. Here are a few things you can do at home to help prepare your child, ready for their exciting nursery adventure.
Build Independence
✔ Encourage your child to practise putting on their coat, shoes and tidying away toys.
✔ Encourage your child to use the toilet by themselves, remembering to flush and wash their hands.
Encourage Early Communication
✔ Spend time talking, singing nursery rhymes and reading stories together.
✔ Count things all around you and name the shapes and colours you can see.
Develop Social Skills
✔ If possible, build early friendships through play, learning to share toys and take turns.
✔ Help your child use simple words to say how they feel, like “happy,” “sad,” or “I need help.”
We hope you have found this booklet helpful. Please get in touch if you have any questions and if you would like to arrange a visit. We would love you to meet the nursery team and our little learners and we would be delighted to show you around our setting.
