Academy and School Maintained Nurseries

School maintained nurseries are usually attached to an infant or primary school and offer funded early education sessions. They are inspected by Ofsted as part of the school’s inspection process. Your child usually starts in the September after their third birthday but some offer termly intakes.  Parents and carers will still need to apply for a primary school and should be aware that attendance at the nursery school does not guarantee a place at the school for statutory education.

Academy Schools are state funded schools, which are directly funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and independent of Local Authority control.  

Academy trusts are not-for-profit companies. They have trustees who are responsible for the performance of the academies in the trust. Trusts might run a single academy or a group of academies.

Some academies are supported by sponsors such as businesses, universities, other schools, faith groups or voluntary groups.