Ready Steady Go, St John's Wood

Bread baking, a pet guinea pig and fungi hunts in a meadow give this St John's Wood nursery a character rooted in purposeful, hands-on learning. It serves children aged two to five at 21 Alexandra Road and has capacity for 27 children.

The current inspection position is exceptional. In October 2024, Ofsted judged the setting Outstanding across education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management, and found safeguarding effective.

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the statutory educational programmes and learning goals. For a child, that means progress across connected areas of learning through play, conversation, movement and carefully chosen activities, rather than formal lessons. Staff turned children's interests into practical experiences that built language, physical coordination, independence and confidence. In October 2024, older children drew a map to help visitors find the meadow, baked bread for snack and helped care for a guinea pig. Younger children bandaged dolls and treated staff in a pretend doctor's surgery.

Teaching followed children's ideas rather than forcing a fixed theme. An interest in Halloween led to cutting herbs for pretend potions and sharing witch stories, connecting fine-motor practice with language and literacy. A magic stick prompted a fungi hunt in the meadow, where children discovered mushrooms in the grass. These are small, memorable examples of an ambitious curriculum made concrete. Children were not simply kept busy. They thought for themselves, showed sustained enthusiasm and became highly independent learners. Staff extended what interested them at the right moment, so a seasonal theme could develop vocabulary while herb cutting exercised hand control.

Social learning had equal weight. Staff promoted kindness, respect and appreciation of difference, while helping children regulate their behaviour and work through disagreements. That matters because confidence here was paired with the ability to participate in a group, listen and resolve everyday friction.

In October 2024, staff provided attentive support that helped children form strong bonds and become ready to learn. Leaders knew children and families closely, using that knowledge to plan targeted help. When some new children found large-muscle coordination difficult, the nursery sought occupational-therapy advice and introduced specific interventions.

Children with special educational needs and disabilities received individualised support through work with parents and other agencies. Parents were involved through daily conversations, shared photographs, a parent forum and parenting workshops. In October 2024, an open safeguarding culture focused on children's interests was in place. Staff were experienced and qualified, and reported feeling strongly supported in both their professional and personal lives. Leaders used their close knowledge of the team to plan training and improvements, giving the curriculum a clear line from oversight to daily practice.

Care was also tied to independence. Children formed secure bonds with attentive adults, then used that security to attempt more for themselves. The map-making, bread preparation and animal care each demanded responsibility as well as knowledge. For a parent, the useful thread is consistency: emotional security was treated as the starting point for learning, not as a separate add-on.

Ready Steady Go, St John's Wood is at 21 Alexandra Road, London NW8 0DP. It operates sessional care during term time for children aged two to five. Families should request a current, nursery-specific written quotation before comparing costs. The setting's capacity figure describes how many children it can accommodate in total, not how many attend together on a particular day or whether a place is open now.

In October 2024, parent communication included daily conversations, shared photographs, a parent forum and parenting workshops. Those channels gave parents several ways to understand learning and contribute information from home, rather than relying on a single formal update.

• Session fit. The term-time, sessional model is a specific proposition rather than year-round care. Families should establish how its current attendance pattern fits their working week.
• Inspection-era detail. The meadow activities, parent forum and targeted interventions were observed in October 2024. A visit can show how those practices look for the present cohort.
• Cost comparison. A written quotation will allow families to compare the complete charge structure for their chosen pattern.

This setting will suit families seeking term-time, sessional early education from age two, rather than a conventional long-day nursery. The 2024 Outstanding judgement is backed by unusually vivid evidence: responsive teaching, confident children, close work with families and precise support when a child needs extra help. Its strongest case is educational substance, not convenience.