nursery children doing puzzles

Early Years


The Early Years Department is made up from our Nursery and Reception classes. Both classes provide our youngest girls with a happy, safe and stimulating introduction to school life.

They embody all the themes of Early Years Foundation Stage, ensuring that girls get off to a flying start where their education is concerned. Every Child Matters is central to our Early Years’ ethos; it translates into a broad, stimulating timetable which covers everything from visits from the fire engine and trips to the teddy bear factory to Phonics, painting and story-telling.

The girls’ daily routine includes opportunities to learn and play in the garden. Nursery often joins Reception class for projects and themed activities and this is a great opportunity for them to interact with girls from a different age group.

Attendance in Nursery is flexible.  However, girls attend full-time when they go into Reception.

Early Years focuses on learning through play and introduces girls to a wide range of experiences, from which they learn different skills. We also recognise that girls develop rapidly and often want to learn to read and write at an early age. Our teaching actively supports this; introducing phonics for reading, letter forming for writing and number work at an early age – alongside Topic, Art and Design and Computing.  Spanish, PE and Music are provided by our specialist staff.

In Reception, the girls are gradually introduced to a more structured routine in readiness for their transition into Form I.

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