Chivenor Primary School, part of Griffin Schools Trust, is consulting on a proposal to expand the school’s age range to include nursery children aged 3 and 4, enabling the school to open a school-based nursery for up to 30 places as part of the national School-Based Nursery Fund capital programme.
We are proposing to update the school’s age range from ages 5-11 to include ages 3-4, allowing us to deliver early years provision onsite. This will help respond to increasing local need for high-quality early education and childcare, support families within the community, and make effective use of available space at the school, all while allowing us to deliver our Trust pillars of Proud Traditions, Wide Horizons and High Achievement to younger pupils.
Why is this change needed?
Local data and informal feedback indicate increasing pressure on nursery and early years places in Birmingham and particularly the Castle Vale Ward, as families seek funded provision that is high quality, inclusive, and closely aligned with their primary school of choice. This expansion is closely aligned with Birmingham’s city-wide Childcare Expansion Programme, which aims to increase early years capacity in response to the expanded 30-hours entitlement and rising demand. Establishing onsite nursery provision through an age range expansion to include 3-4 year olds will meet this need and:
- Provide families with a seamless transition into Reception
- Offer convenient, joined up provision for families with siblings
- Expand the availability of funded childcare places in the area
- Make effective use of school facilities and surplus space
This proposal has been developed in collaboration with the Local Authority in line with local childcare sufficiency needs.
How to share your views
We invite you to complete our short online consultation survey. Your views will help shape our proposal and will be summarised in our application to the Department for Education. Please submit your response by no later than 10th of December 2025 (17:00) via the link below:
