Funshine Day Nursery, Shirley

A mathematics library, fruit kebabs and shared toddler-and-preschool lunches give Funshine Day Nursery a considered character. At its 9 September 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged overall effectiveness and each of the four graded areas Outstanding, with safeguarding arrangements effective.

The Lake Road setting in Shirley has capacity for 38 children and describes its offer as running from three months to five years. Its current published attendance patterns include full weeks, single full days and funded morning or afternoon sessions for eligible three- and four-year-olds.

What gives the inspection account its force is the detail underneath the grades. Children used tools safely while making fruit kebabs, shared resources and extended one another's play; babies shared favourite books while staff modelled story language. The same report found a stable team working through curiosity, independence and kindness, rather than treating care and learning as separate jobs.

Learning and Named Experiences

The nursery follows the Early Years Foundation Stage, the framework that shapes a child's learning through play and planned experiences across seven areas of learning. Its online learning journal makes that work visible at home: parents can see photos, observations and videos, add comments or home-learning uploads, and receive update notifications.

In September 2025, language and literacy carried real weight. The curriculum used stories, songs and rhymes; children explored a word of the week, preschool children returned to a core story, and the dedicated mathematics library gave families resources to continue number work at home. This is a coherent thread from baby books to preschool comprehension, not a collection of isolated activities.

Forest School & Gardening adds a branch-specific outdoor strand: garden sessions are used for exploring the natural environment. Minibeast Discovery goes further than a quick look at insects, asking children to name, sort and group what they find. These are practical ways to build vocabulary and early scientific thinking from the garden.

Everyday Learning

In September 2025, children visited the library, dentist and park, alongside activities based on artists' work, recycling, festivals and cultural events. Those experiences gave children material for conversation and turned daily routines into social learning.

Daily outdoor access was planned to support physical health, while stories, songs and rhymes gave practitioners material for language-rich play. The detail matters because it shows a day designed around repeated opportunities to talk, listen, move and explore. Families looking for a setting where books, outdoor learning and practical routines sit together have a clear picture of the approach recorded that September.

Meals were part of that work too. Toddlers and preschool children ate lunch together, serving food, taking turns and practising table manners, while oral health and dental hygiene were taught alongside the routine. For families, that points to a nursery day that makes room for independence as well as adult-led activity.

Strong relationships were central to the September 2025 inspection account. It recorded practitioners who knew children well, offered reassurance and encouragement promptly, and worked through established key-person relationships. Low staff turnover and long-serving leadership were also identified, giving families a degree of continuity across routines, handovers and transitions.

Settling is planned to begin around two weeks before a start date. Each child has an individual plan agreed with parents around routines, needs and support for the move into nursery, while daily feedback, twice-yearly parent evenings, parent representatives and workshops provide several ways to keep that conversation going.

Current wellbeing arrangements include quiet, calming areas for rest, sleep and relaxation, plus one-to-one or small-group support when children need help with emotions. The inclusion policy sets out work with families on medical, cultural and dietary needs and inclusive learning for children with learning difficulties or disabilities. September 2025 findings included systems for SEND support and early identification, as well as proactive transition work.

The nursery publishes a designated child-protection role, DBS checks before employment and procedures for recording and reporting concerns. Safeguarding arrangements were effective at the September 2025 inspection. All staff are listed as first-aid trained, adding a current practical safeguard to those inspection findings.

Funshine Day Nursery is at 23 Lake Road, Shirley, Croydon, CR0 8DS. The published pattern is a full week Monday to Friday or a single full day from 08:00 to 18:00. Children can attend one to five days each week, but those days need to be consecutive and at the beginning or end of the week.

For eligible three- and four-year-olds, funded morning sessions run from 09:00 to 12:00 and funded afternoon sessions from 14:00 to 17:00. Funded hours are also accepted for eligible children from nine months, and the nursery spreads funded hours across 52 weeks for children attending all year round.

Three home-cooked meals and a daily fruit snack are part of the day, with dietary, cultural and religious requirements catered for. Meals and consumables are included for privately paid hours. For funded hours, food and consumables are listed separately as optional additional charges. The nursery provides a provider-specific written quotation for current prices.

Attendance pattern. One-to-five-day attendance must be consecutive and sit at the start or end of the week. This is a clear fit for families whose childcare days can be grouped, but less so for a split-week routine.

Funded-hours budget. Funded sessions have separate food and consumables arrangements, while privately paid hours include both. Ask how those categories apply to the attendance pattern you need before accepting a quotation.

Settling and care plan. The individual settling plan begins around two weeks before the start date and covers routines and needs. Families managing sleep, medical or dietary requirements should use that process to agree the current arrangements in detail.

Funshine Day Nursery is a strong choice for families looking for an inspection-backed early-years setting where language, books, early mathematics and social routines are treated seriously. The September 2025 findings are unusually specific, from the mathematics library and weekly vocabulary to shared lunches, fruit-kebab preparation and community visits.

It suits families using full days from 08:00 to 18:00, as well as those using funded morning sessions or funded afternoon sessions for eligible three- and four-year-olds. The main practical test is whether its consecutive-day attendance pattern and funded-hours charges match the family timetable and budget.