Colleges Nursery School

About Colleges Nursery School

Colleges Nursery School in Cambridge has been judged Outstanding by Ofsted in its most recent graded inspection, a significant step up from the Good rating it held previously. The inspection, which took place in 2018, awarded top marks for both leadership and management and overall effectiveness. A subsequent ungraded inspection in 2024 confirmed the school remains Outstanding, though with a note of 'concerns' attached. As a state nursery for children aged two to five, the school is part of a strong local picture: Cambridgeshire has three Outstanding nurseries out of seven total, and Colleges is one of them. The school's headteacher, Ruth Holman, leads a setting with 84 pupils, and the improvement from its previous Good rating to Outstanding suggests a focused and effective approach to early years education.

Because Colleges Nursery School caters to pre-school children, it does not participate in standardised academic metrics like Key Stage 2 SATs or Progress 8 scores. The most informative measure of its educational quality is therefore the Ofsted judgement itself. In its 2018 graded inspection, the school received a 1 (Outstanding) for both overall effectiveness and leadership and management, while the early years provision and personal development categories were not separately graded in that report. The previous inspection in 2014 had rated the school Good overall, with a 2 for early years provision, leadership, and management. The jump to Outstanding indicates a clear improvement in the quality of education and care provided, and the 2024 ungraded inspection confirmed that this high standard has been maintained.

The school offers a range of facilities that support its early years focus, including a Forest School, music rooms, a sensory room, and a chapel. Sports provision includes gymnastics, and extracurricular clubs cover gardening, eco activities, and art. For children with additional needs, the school has specialist provisions for speech, language and communication, and for autistic spectrum disorder. As a state nursery, admissions are managed through the local authority, and given its Outstanding rating and the limited number of similarly rated nurseries in the area, it is likely to be oversubscribed. This school will particularly suit Cambridge families seeking a high-quality early years setting with strong outdoor learning opportunities and targeted SEND support, especially those living within a reasonable distance of the nearest other Outstanding nursery, Brunswick Nursery School, which is 2.3 km away.

Key Details

Frequently Asked Questions About Colleges Nursery School

Helpful Guides for Parents