New Intake Information Page

Thank you for considering St. Mary's Nursery for your child. We hope the following information will be useful for you.

Application & Intake Schedule - Entry September 2025

If your child will be ready to start Nursery in September 2025, you must apply to Salford Council by January 2025
You will hear whether your child has a place in April 2025
You MUST then confirm that you want the place by providing proof of address and your child's Birth Certificate into school or emailing as soon as possible.

June 2025: School hold an Introductory Meeting. It is important for you to attend this meeting as further dates are given out at this time.
Late June 2025: Children will visit Nursery in small groups to introduce them to the setting. Individual Parent meetings will be held during this session. This gives you an opportunity to tell us more about your child and ask any questions you may have at this time.
Beginning September: Nursery Staff visit your child at home. This meeting reminds your child of the people they will be left with during the day in Nursery and allows us to meet your child in an environment where they are comfortable. These meetings are short (10-15 minutes) and we have found them very effective in helping children to settle into Nursery.
Phased start dates in September: Children start school part-time in small groups, starting with the youngest children then adding the older children within the next 2 weeks. This allows us to give more support to the youngest children who are likely to need more attention during their settling in period. You will be informed of your child's start date by the end of July.
Late September: Children start school full time. We will let you know this date as soon as we are able.

The Magic Coat Trick

It takes a long time to put on 30 children's coats, so we teach this to children to foster independence (and to give them more playing time) until they can manage to put their coat on one sleeve at a time. If your child can already put their own coat on, they do not need to learn this trick.

1 – Place coat flat on floor

2 – Stand by the hood

3 – Place both hands in sleeves

4 – Raise both hands above head to move coat over head then slide hands fully into sleeves

Useful Links and Documents

St Mary's Prospectus Expectations on entry to Nursery First Day and Daily Parent Schedule

Finger Rhymes

Stages of Speech and Lanuage Development Dummies and Talking Making the Most of TV

Nursery Home