What  we  are

Margaret Mcmillan founded Low Hall Nursery School in 1929. Church Hill Nursery School opened in 1971. In 2014 the two schools joined together as the Forest Alliance of Nursery Schools (FANS for short). Our name celebrates how close we are to the glories of Epping Forest.

As schools, our business is education, not profit. We base all our decisions on the education of the children. This goes from how we assess children and report to parents, to how we manage snacks.

As nursery schools, our business is early education, not Phonics tests or SATS.

Read more about this on our Why is a maintained nursery school special? page.

Our aim

We don’t just get children 'school ready', we get them ready for life-long learning.

The best early education

Our staff are both experienced and highly-qualified.  Each week they think about what the individual children need, and plan the meaningful activities which will help them learn. Each day they spend having high-quality interactions with the children. They model concepts and extend the children's language. This is all built around what children love: play!

How we deliver

We organise and furnish our building and garden for play. The education we deliver has four pillars: the evidence-based theories of Margaret McMillan, Friedrich Fröbel, Lev Vygotsky, and the Reggio Emilia Educational Project.  
To this strong foundation, we add the latest in early years thinking: the East London Research School, the Education Endowment Foundation, and the Forest School Association.

Find out more about what, how, and why we teach this way on the Curricular Goals and pedagogy page.

Ofsted and parents say

Ofsted tells us we are both 'Outstanding': Church Hill Ofsted Report and Low Hall Ofsted Report.

In our Summer 2024 Family Survey, people said:

"Church Hill Nursery is a friendly, welcoming and inclusive setting where children thrive. I am thrilled that my child has the opportunity to attend this nursery, and am so grateful to all the staff for everything they do to support her physically, emotionally and academically. Staff at Church Hill clearly have a thorough understanding of early child development, and are outstanding at preparing children for primary school."

"All the staff are really good at their jobs and are so welcoming when children come to nursery. Since my daughter has been coming to Low Hall she has learnt so much and is so happy to be going to nursery. I'm pleased I chose this nursery for my daughter."

Inclusivity in practice

We welcome everyone from all faiths and none, from all cultures, and with the widest range of needs.

We ensure the very best for every child, regardless of their starting point, tailoring learning to each child’s specific needs.

Working together

All children in our schools have a key person. They plan for a child's learning, take care of them, and are the link between nursery and home. We work in partnership with you to ensure that your child will make fantastic progress. Our aim is that they become independent, make friends, and love to come to nursery every day.

Read our Settling in information to make a good start.

We always want to hear what parents have to say so that we can improve, and so that we know what we are doing well. Learn how on our Comments and compliments, concerns and complaints page.

Our community

We want to improve the education of all Waltham Forest children, not just those who come to our schools. To do this, we work hard to share our practice with other settings in the borough. We provide support and training through the Waltham Forest Early Years training programme and through our partnership work with the WF teaching school hub.

Helen Currie (Executive Headteacher)