St John's Church of England School

Educational Benefits and Continuity

Providing high-quality education from age three enables us to intervene earlier and meet the developmental and emotional needs of children more effectively. It ensures: • Stronger transitions into Reception • Greater continuity of care and learning • Earlier identification of children who may require additional support or outside agency intervention By starting their educational journey with us, children build strong relationships with staff and peers, gain familiarity with routines, and develop confidence in a familiar setting helping them to thrive both academically and emotionally. For the school, this provides a clearer picture of projected intake numbers into 3 Putting Residents First Reception, supporting stability in planning, staffing, and resource allocation.

Introduction

The London Borough of Harrow and Governing board of St. John’s is seeking your views on proposals to extend the age range from 4-11 to 3-11. In order to support the government’s commitment to create or expand school-based nurseries across England, there is no longer a requirement for local authorities and governing bodies to follow the statutory prescribed alterations (‘change of age range’) process when they want to make changes to a school’s age range in order to add, remove or change existing nursery provision. Where these changes to nursery provision are made, we expect local authorities and governing bodies to have regard to ‘Changes that can be made outside of the statutory process’, including ensuring an open and fair consultation. Currently St. John’s Primary School is a school for pupils aged 4-11. The proposed nursery will cater for 30 places. The London Borough of Harrow is proposing to open the nursery provision from September 2025.

Identifying Demand in the Local Community

There is a clear and growing demand among our current and prospective families for Nursery provision for 3-year-olds. Interest has been expressed by parents during school tours and informal engagement, particularly from those with younger siblings and working parents seeking consistent and local care options. We have a strong precedent for successful growth in early years education within our partnership of schools. The partnership has set up 3 Nurseries which within 2 years have a full capacity of 30. This demonstrates our ability to build demand, deliver quality provision, and retain families within our school community. This new provision will continue our successful model, offering both 15- hour and 30-hour funded places, along with access to breakfast club and after-school care if required. These wraparound services are particularly attractive to working families and support our commitment to inclusive, accessible education.