Welcome to Starbeck
Primary Academy’s Nursery

Choosing a Nursery for your child is a very important decision and we are delighted that you are considering Starbeck Primary Academy Nursery. We have a talented and dedicated team of staff and superb facilities in which we will be working very hard to ensure your child makes a great start to their life in education. At Starbeck Primary Academy, we aim to build excellent relationships between home and school. The happiness, wellbeing and success of every child are of utmost importance to us and it is only through a supportive partnership between your child, yourselves and school that we can achieve this.

What to expect from our Nursery Class

Our Nursery class offers excellent education and care in our bright, stimulating and ever evolving setting. The children are happy and engaged, they love to come to school, they learn and grow in confidence in this warm and caring environment. The children access learning through play and have access to excellent provision both indoors and outdoors.

At Starbeck Primary Academy Nursery we aim to provide high quality education and care for children who attend our setting. The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is the centre of our work and during the week the children access a full and varied curriculum. We ensure that the children learn and develop at their own pace, they acquire some skills quickly while others take a little longer. A play-based environment allows the children to learn and practise skills in a way which is meaningful to them.  Children in our nursery class follow the curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which also includes Reception.  There are seven areas of learning:

• Communication and language, including listening, speaking and understanding
• Physical development, including moving and handling, and health and self-care
• Personal, social and emotional development, including self-confidence and self-awareness, managing feelings and behaviour, and making relationships
• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

Children take part in a range of learning activities, such as listening to stories, beginning to learn phonics, counting and measuring, singing and making music, drawing and painting, and PE, along with a lot of free play.  Outdoor play is an essential part of the curriculum. Nursery and Reception have their own lovely playgrounds as well as being able to use the school field in the warmer weather.  Equal importance is placed on learning in both the inside and outside classroom environment. Young children need opportunities to experiment, explore, investigate, observe and plan, implement, be imaginative and creative, and reflect upon their work and experiences. 

The Early Years in school are known to be particularly influential in developing the skills and attitudes necessary for children to ‘learn how to learn’.  Our Nursery class prepares children for the full school day that they will begin in Reception.  Then children continue with their learning journey and staff work together to ensure a smooth transition into Reception.  The Nursery staff introduce socialising skills, independence and skills such as counting, and pen control. They follow a rich and varied curriculum and sometimes join in with whole school assemblies. This ensures that when children attend Reception Class (the first year at school) they are ready to learn and feel part of the whole school community.

Links to our main school

The Nursery class is an important part of our school.  Children in our nursery classes wear school uniform and often join in with the rest of the school in activities such as lunchtime routines, assemblies, school plays and sports day. This helps them integrate with older children and learn some of the routines of the school day in readiness for starting Reception.  Choosing a School Nursery will help your child get used to their future school environment and the routines of the school day.  They’ll get to interact with other children who may be in their Reception class, and to get to know other children and teachers in the wider school.  Starting school properly will feel less nerve-wracking as they’ve already had a gentle introduction to school life.

Starting nursery is a milestone for both parents and children. We want to make sure that these first steps away from home are happy for you both. Parents are the first and most important teachers and we will work with you to ensure that your child's first experience of school is a positive one.  We stay in touch with parents and carers through regular newsletters, Stay and Play sessions, Parents Evenings and an annual school report.  We also provide parents access to ‘Tapestry’ our online Learning Journey.  Tapestry builds a very special record of a child’s experiences, development and learning journey through their early years and primary education. Using photos, videos and diary entries, the early years practitioners, along with parental contributions, tell the story of the child and how they are growing and developing. 

Joining our Nursery

Our Nursery class is for children age 3 years old and upwards with children commencing in the term after they turn 3. Our Nursery intakes are at the start of the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms in September, January and April.  

Nursery children are all able to access the Government Early Education Funding scheme entitling all children to 15 hours of free education.   Some working parents may be entitled to 30 hours funding.  More details can be found at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Our Nursery operates Monday to Friday during term time.  Nursery sessions are from 8.50-11.50am and 12.20-3.20pm.   Full day sessions are from 8.50am – 2.40pm.   We also offer additional paid wrap around care for children with siblings in school until 3.20pm.

If you would like to take a look around our Nursery then please contact us on 01423 884780 or email admin@starbeck.n-yorks.sch.uk to book your appointment.