Welcome!

Thank you for showing an interest in ‘Footsteps’ at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School.  Footsteps Nursery is managed by the Headteacher and Governors of St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. It falls under the same Ofsted regulations as the school and will be inspected in conjunction with the school.

We are committed to providing a happy, safe, secure, caring, supportive and nurturing environment where all children are accepted, valued, celebrated and encouraged to be the best that they can be.

Our aim at Footsteps is to provide a safe and happy environment for the children to learn, be independent and grow in confidence in preparation for school and life.

Our curriculum is based around our six images of the child which provides the foundation of our pedagogical approach:

1. Effective communicators – we recognise that children communicate in different ways, and we will support children to express their feelings, wishes and needs.
2. To develop creatively and to be critical thinkers – supporting children to be active learners, inquisitive, curious in order to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge.
3. To be respectful and form positive relationships – have awareness of their place in the school and wider community treating others with kindness, thoughtfully, fairly and without discrimination.
4. To be resilient and recognise that they are unique –to develop children’s confidence so they can freely explore, and not be afraid to make and lean from mistakes.
5. To take risks – enjoy new experiences and adventures, embrace challenge and independently make their own choices.
6. To work as an individual and part of a team to actively solve problems – developing their confidence and taking pride in what they do with a real sense of accomplishment

With our images in mind, we aim for the children to leave our Nursery on track for their developmental age in preparation for school and life. Development Matters-We will use curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage to check children are secure in their learning. Observation checkpoints will help us to notice if a child is at risk of falling behind and we can then make decisions about what sort of support is needed.

Please note that  admission to the nursery does not secure a St. Joseph’s Catholic school place; applications to St. Joseph’s School must be done through the local authority.