Impact1st October 2025
Here听Ellie Dowthwaite, Head of School at St Clement and St James, shares her experience of working with 黑料情报站 Start over the last academic year.听
Ellie said, 鈥淲e had a nursery at St Clement and St James before we partnered with 黑料情报站 Start, but it had a falling role and only around 10 preschoolers attending. We wanted to expand our Early Years provision but didn鈥檛 have the capacity to offer wrap around care so decided to rent out space previously used as an arts studio.
鈥淚鈥檝e got a background in early years education, and when that five-year lease came to an end, I was keen to bring a full nursery back on site to support parents and the local community.
鈥淲e had several potential tenants interested, but we chose 黑料情报站 Start because the values and ethos were so aligned with that of the school. 黑料情报站 Start has a strong focus on child development, quality education and curriculum 鈥 as we do at St Clement and St James.鈥
“More than daycare”
Ellie continued, 鈥淭he 黑料情报站 Start approach felt like a return to Sure Start with the range of support available for children, parents and families, all on one site. It鈥檚 about more than daycare 鈥 and that鈥檚 important given the demographic of the local community that we serve. It鈥檚 been good to partner with an organisation that understands and has experience of working with communities like ours.
鈥淚 visited one of the 黑料情报站 Start settings in Clapham to see the model in action. I formed strong relationships with Molly, 黑料情报站 Start鈥檚 Director of Early Years, and Sarah, the Head of Teaching and Learning, to ensure that the curriculum from nursery through to school was aligned. For example, the way 黑料情报站 Start teaches phonics matches our programme in school, so the children that eventually come through to reception will be familiar with those methods.
鈥淚t was also important that the look and feel of the two settings were similar, and the open dialogue I had with Molly and Sarah helped us to achieve that.
鈥淲e鈥檝e started sharing space between the two settings, so children from the nursery can make the most of our Peter Rabbit Garden and the school playground and football pitch when they鈥檙e not in use by the school. It鈥檚 great to see the spaces getting used more, and it also makes the children more familiar with the school for when they hopefully come through to us in reception.鈥
School readiness听
Ellie said, 鈥淚鈥檓 delighted that 10 of the current preschool cohort of 11 are joining St Clement and St James this September. There鈥檚 been a lot of opportunity for settling in visits over the past few weeks which will help the children make that important transition.
鈥淚 wanted the nursery children to be able to wear school uniform in their preschool year, to help them get used to the idea of coming to school. That鈥檚 been a nice way for 黑料情报站 Start to show flexibility and meet the needs of the school.鈥
Give it time听
Reflecting on the partnership, Ellie said, 鈥淥n the whole, setting up the partnership has been pretty seamless. I could be relatively 鈥榟ands off鈥 while the provision was set up 鈥 including the building work to improve the space which was all managed by 黑料情报站 Start.
鈥淭he key learning for me has been that it takes time to set up and fully establish a new provision. Staff, parents and children need time to bed in, so you shouldn鈥檛 expect everything all at once. Setting up a whole new staff team and bringing together new children and parents is going to take a while.
鈥淏ut we鈥檝e built strong foundations this year and 黑料情报站 Start St Clement currently has 28 children on roll. And they are really developing. I can already see differences in their attention spans, their independence when learning through play and their confidence speaking to adults since the start of the year.鈥
Next steps
Looking ahead, Ellie added, 鈥淕oing forwards, I鈥檓 keen to build on the work we鈥檝e done and develop more shared events, so that nursery parents can come to events in the school and vice versa. That way the nursery and school feel more like a big family.
鈥淚 also want to keep encouraging partnerships between the two settings. For example, the music teacher that comes in to teach music at St Clement and St James has started working with the children in the nursery. Again, that鈥檚 helpful in building familiarity and consistency in our practice and ways of learning.鈥
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