Acorns Nursery
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Hello and thank you for showing an interest in Acorns Nursery! We are the nursery class of Woodmansterne Primary School and we enjoy busy days full of learning and fun.
In our Acorns Nursery class, we aim to provide a happy, nurturing environment where your child can learn, develop and have fun. We offer 15 or 30 hour places plus optional half day top up sessions and wraparound care from 7.30am to 6pm. We offer fully funded spaces or parents can pay fees if their child is not yet eligible for the funded hours.
We cater for 3 and 4 year olds and have a fantastic, experienced and well-qualified team overseen by the school's Early Years Leader. The team are specialists in early years education and ensuring your child is ready for Reception when they move on.
Acorns is in our Early Years unit with access to a large, enclosed garden set in the 5.5 acres of school grounds. Acorns pupils have full use of all school facilities (astroturf pitch, outdoor classroom, library, all-weather track, animals, specialist Music Teacher etc) and regularly visit our Reception classes which means children have an excellent transition to school as well as learning experiences that are tailored to each child.
The school was Ofsted inspected in July 2023 and has retained its 'Good' rating. 
Comments from the Ofsted Report (July 2023)
"Strong relationships between staff and pupils are at the heart of this happy school."
"Right from the early years, staff's skilled interactions ensure that children are engrossed in their learning."
"They get off to a particularly strong start to their education in the early years."
"Right from the early years, staff have high expectations and are ambitious for all pupils to achieve their very best."
A selection of Parent reviews (survey March 2021)
"Excellent nursery with kind & friendly staff. Great links to Primary School and all the resources that brings."
"Encourages learning, fantastic and caring staff, great grounds and facilities, my son is really happy there and has thrived."
"Friendly, caring, fun interactive and engaging activities. Provides a good balance of indoor and outdoor learning."
"I would highly recommend Acorns Nursery... the entire team are so approachable and professional . My daughter has never been happier. In fact all the children when I drop her off are always happy and excited to start their day which speaks for itself."
Session Options, Funding & Payments
Our Nursery is open term time only. We offer 15 or 30 hour places plus optional (payable) Wednesday top up sessions and wraparound care (for 3 years+) from 7.30am to 6pm. We offer fully funded spaces or parents can pay fees if their child is not yet eligible for the funded hours.
Nursery Session Options
- 15 hours - Monday 9am-3pm, Tuesday 9am-3pm, Wednesday 9am-12pm *
- 15 hours - Wednesday 12pm-3pm, Thursday 9am-3pm, Friday 9am-3pm *
- 30 hours - Monday to Friday 9am-3pm
*We also offer optional payable top up half days on Wednesday so that your child can attend 3 full days, subject to availability*
Funding and payments
Your options:
- 15 hours funded for all 3 and 4 year olds* (Click here for more information on Free Early Education funding)
- 30 hours funded for eligible 3 and 4 year olds (Click here for more information on 30 hour funding).
- 15 hours paid for by the parent for 3 year olds who are not yet eligible for a funded space**
- 30 hours - 15 funded hours with a top up 15 hours paid for by the parent.
- Optional 3-hour top up sessions on Wednesdays paid for by the parent (subject to availability)
We are registered with multiple childcare voucher providers as well as the government's Tax-Free Childcare scheme.
For more information, please have a look at our Acorns Nursery Information Pack.
**When will my child be eligible to receive funded early education?
Children become eligible to receive the funding from the start of the funded period following their third birthday. These periods are set by the Department of Education rather than following school term dates.
| Child born between | Can have a funded place from |
|---|---|
| 1 April 2020 to 31 August 2020 | September 2023 (Autumn) |
| 1 September 2020 to 31 December 2020 | January 2024 (Spring) |
| 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 | April 2024 (Summer) |
If your child is 3 but not yet eligible for a fully funded space, they can join Acorns with a parent-funded space. You would then pay fees (£6 per hour from September 2023) until the term their funding starts.
A Day at Acorns Nursery
This section is about a typical day at Acorns Nursery.
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This is the uniform that you will wear.
A green Acorns jumper and t-shirt. Black bottoms and black shoes. |
You can have your own wellies and wet play suit to wear outside too. Why don’t you practice dressing and undressing yourself ready for nursery? |
There is lots to do in the nursery:
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Practising our writing...
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Practising our sounds...
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Joining in singing and stories...
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Playing…
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…building...
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...and working together.
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We like to look at books:
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With our friends......
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...and with teachers.
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In our outdoor area we enjoy:
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Bike riding......
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...exploring...
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...climbing...
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...and scooting.
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Building...
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...the mud kitchen...
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...playing in the sand...
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...and playing with friends.
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Walks around the school grounds are so much fun!
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We visit our school chickens...
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...and investigate muddy puddles...
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...we explore nature...
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...and play on the MUGA.
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At Acorns Nursery:
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We play nicely with our friends big and small...
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...and are kind to each other.
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Sometimes we may even have exciting visitors!
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Fire Brigade
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Terrapin
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Police Dogs
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Guide Dogs
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You will have lunch at nursery and you can bring your own lunch box or have a school dinner.
After lunch we carry on our learning, practising our maths and writing skills.
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Then we have either free play or outdoor learning until it is time to tidy up.
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Once we have tidied all our toys away, we sit down on the carpet and sing some songs together.
Then your grown ups arrive to collect you and take you home. You sit until your name is called and then you can go and tell your grown ups all the exciting things you have done in nursery that day!
Applications and Visits for Prospective Parents
To request a visit, please contact us on school@wps.org.uk.
We accept applications on a rolling basis. If we have space available, your child is welcome to start at other times. For example, if you move into the area in October 2023 and would like your child to start straight away, as long as we have space available they could start mid-term.
The Information Pack for Nursery including how to access your free funded hours can be found here.
The answers to frequently asked questions can be found here.
The admissions criteria can be found here.
To apply for a place, please complete this application form. If you have any queries please contact us on school@wps.org.uk or call 01737 353120.
Starting at Acorns Nursery?
Reading and singing are vital to developing a child’s vocabulary and listening skills. Try to do some every day! Our nursery teachers have recorded lots of stories and songs for the nursery children to watch and join in with at home. You can find a list of links here.
Here are some independence skills that will be particularly important when your child starts in Reception, but it is never too early to start practising! Below is one of our children practising the coat 'flip trick' to put their own coat on.
We don’t expect children to start nursery with all of these skills, but they are very good things to start practising at home now. We will continue working on these skills with them once they start nursery and will celebrate every little independence milestone they meet!
Suggested Resources, Activities & Games
Fine motor skills games
Small toys and toys / games that require concentrated work with the hands are a great way to prepare your child’s hands for writing. Some examples could be shape sorters, threading activities, lego, puzzles and small world toys such as dolls houses.
Manipulating playdough helps to strengthen hand muscles and develop control over the fingers. Snipping playdough sausages helps develop scissor cutting skills.
I Spy!
I Spy doesn’t have to be played with just letters, you can insert shapes, colours, objects in the environment for example: “I Spy with my little eye, something the colour Red!”
Bug Hunt
There’s no better way to learn about nature than to go looking for it! Here is a handy Scavenger Hunt sheet you can tick off while you go on your bug hunt!
Water Painting
The clean way to practise mark making skills! Give your child a paint brush or paint roller and a bucket of water and let them paint the walls, fences, concrete etc around your garden. They’ll see the marks they make, gain confidence in their mark making skills and you won’t be left with permanent reminders! For added fun, let your child draw with chalk and then use the water as “magic paint” to make the drawings disappear!
Numbers and Shapes
You can incorporate maths skills into everyday activities. Why not count how many jumps your child can make from one side of the garden to the other? How many birds can they see? Is that a big bird or a small bird? Is your plate a square or a circle?