We are a maintained nursery school. Maintained nursery schools are unique and should be treated as treasured resource hubs within the community and wider education system. There are approximately 400 maintained nursery schools across the country. Many of which were set up just under a century ago to bring better health and education opportunities to young children and their families.
They adopted pioneering approaches that are just as relevant today with a focus on play, outdoor learning and the holistic development of the child. Maintained nursery schools are state funded and specialise in the 3-5 yr old age range (although many have now expanded to also accept 2yr olds). This means that just like nursery classes in primary schools, we employ fully qualified teachers. However, we differ in that we also have a headteacher who is an early years specialist. This means that the focus can be on delivering play-based age-appropriate education to children at a crucial stage of development, which requires a quite different set of approaches to later primary school. We also have a SENDCo who holds the national SENCo qualification in addition to being a qualified teacher. The rest of our staff team are also well qualified and highly experienced, with level 3 or level 2 qualifications. Together, this enables us to deliver high quality care and specialised teaching. We are inspected under the same rigorous Ofsted criteria as primary schools, rather than those used for early years settings in the private and voluntary sector. Nursery schools also tend to have a far higher proportion of ‘outstanding’ judgements than primary schools or the rest of the early years sector.
Our nursery school was purpose built in 1937 and is self-contained with its own drive and entrance. It is a low wooden bungalow with a large veranda at the rear leading on to a garden area. There is one large, open plan teaching area which is divided into three smaller ‘homebase’ areas. These areas each have different ‘workshop’ style zones covering the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. Our garden area is also set up to reflect this with a flexible open play area with safety surface, large sandpit, variety of other outdoor equipment and resources. In addition, we have several separate indoor spaces which are used for smaller groups, lunchclub and workshops.
We all work together to ensure we offer the children at Slough Centre Nursery the very best start possible. We do this by having respect for and appreciation of others and valuing the uniqueness of each child, their circumstances and what they contribute in order to promote a positive self image; by developing trusting relationships and partnerships between children, parents and staff; by nurturing the foundations for life-long learning through careful observations and supportive interactions with each child, encouraging them to extend their thinking and engagement with different learning opportunities and to become independent thinkers and learners; by focusing on how children learn and not only on what they learn; and by offering a safe and secure learning space within a rich environment offering meaningful and relevant experiences. This is underpinned by a culture of continuing professional development and reflection on our own practice to ensure continued excellence in early education.
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