Little Apples Day Nursery

Woodland play, a sensory room for babies and a garden recycling area give Little Apples Day Nursery a recognisable character. Children can investigate light and texture indoors, then move towards gardening, outdoor exploration and practical independence as they grow. This South Croydon setting accepts children from 3 months to 5 years and has capacity for 72 children in total.

At its November 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that its special educational needs coordinators worked effectively with families and outside professionals. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of every aspect of today's nursery day. The current offer includes four age-stage rooms, individual learning targets and woodland sessions for children over two.

Morning and afternoon attendance feature in the preschool routine, alongside the wider nursery day. Funding also comes with minimum attendance requirements, making the booking terms an important part of the choice.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room takes children from 3 months to around 14/16 months, with a maximum of 12 babies; sensory exploration includes messy materials, a sensory room and opportunities for outdoor play. That cap is useful for parents weighing the scale of their baby's first childcare setting. It describes the room's maximum, rather than the number attending on a particular day.

Red Apples also has a maximum of 12 children, spanning approximately 14/16 months to two years, with play emphasising communication, physical development and relationships through dancing and materials such as cornflour and pasta.

Green Apples accommodates up to 20 children aged two to three, with accessible toy storage, a home corner and construction activities supporting greater independence alongside indoor and garden play. Preschool, for ages three to five, has capacity for 32 children and combines an open-plan workshop layout with its own outdoor space and opportunities to manage everyday tasks.

Those are room capacities, not promised group sizes. Preschool alternates garden and group activities when more than 20 children attend, so the organisation of the day changes with attendance.

Learning and Activities

EYFS is the shared framework for children's learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, conversation, movement and practical experiences. Little Apples adds workshop play, arranging activity stations so children can make choices while practitioners extend their ideas. Sand, role play and small-world materials give children different ways into the same learning theme.

Next Steps are individual learning targets refreshed every six weeks. The practical value is a connection between a child's interests, observations of their development and what staff plan next. Families can contribute observations too, making experiences at home part of that conversation rather than a separate account of the child.

Babies have Tuesday-morning Zumba, using music and movement, and Thursday-morning Spanish with songs and props. These are concrete additions to the baby day. For preschool children, name writing is offered when they are interested, rather than required; later activities include work on sounds and numbers, followed by quieter choices such as books or puzzles.

In November 2022, younger children selected songs using a rhyme tree, while preschool children explored patterns with coloured shapes. Babies handled foam and older children investigated ice. These examples show how learning at that visit moved between language, sensory discovery and early mathematics, rather than relying only on adult-led group activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

Woodland Sessions give children over two opportunities for child-led exploration in a local park. Sessions run in blocks, with possible activities including bug hunting, den construction and cooking outdoors. Staff bring equipment and support children's choices, so the offer adds experiences beyond the nursery garden while retaining adult oversight of practical risks.

Within the setting, the mud kitchen sits alongside bikes, loose materials, sand and water areas. These provide different kinds of outdoor play: movement, building and investigating materials. Preschool has a separate outdoor area connected to its learning space, while babies' additional sensory room contains bubble tubes, mirrors and illuminated toys.

Surfers Against Sewage links recycling activities with a dedicated garden area. The Royal Horticultural Society Gardening Scheme involves growing flowers, vegetables and herbs. Both give environmental learning something children can handle and work on, rather than leaving it as an abstract message.

Read With Me extends reading into family life: parents share a picture of the book they have read, record the child's response and work towards small rewards. There is no campaign deadline. That makes participation easier to fit around the reading a family already enjoys.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker responsible for their development records. Parents receive photographic observations and learning summaries every six weeks, with opportunities to discuss progress at parents' evenings. The nursery also holds Meet the Director days every six weeks and parent sessions that allow families to join activities, providing contact beyond routine messages.

Settling is organised before the start date. Baby Pips, Red Apples and Green Apples have four settling sessions, divided between time with a parent and time apart; preschool has three, with a parent attending the first. This gives families a defined introduction to separation and the room routine. The room leader contacts families a month before starting to organise it.

In November 2022, comfort objects and family photographs helped children through separation, and staff gave extra attention to those who were upset. Children also borrowed resources for home use, and families shared experiences from outside nursery. These are useful examples of the relationship between home and childcare at that time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The current team includes SENCO and safeguarding lead roles. The sensory room can also be used for tailored sessions for children with special educational needs. This describes a practical support mechanism: an additional space and sessions adapted to individual needs, rather than a blanket promise about outcomes.

In November 2022, staff used visual prompts to explain what would happen next and offered targeted sessions for children needing help with interaction. Moves between rooms and preparation for school were planned. The current school-leaving arrangements include a Learning Journey of development records and an annual graduation party with hats and gowns, marking the transition for children and their families.

Sleep features in the younger rooms' routines. In Green Apples, practitioners sit near children as they settle, with gentle music accompanying rest. Everyday independence is encouraged through choosing snacks, serving food and practising toileting with family involvement.

Fresh food is cooked daily in the on-site kitchen by the catering team, using a rotating menu. The Healthy Early Years London programme informs the nursery's work on food and health.

Sessions and Attendance

Little Apples is at 18 Sanderstead Road, South Croydon, CR2 0PA; its contact address spans 18-20 Sanderstead Road. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm. The nursery operates across the year, with bank holiday and Christmas closures, and also closes for four staff training days annually.

The preschool routine includes morning and afternoon attendance, changing over at 1pm. That changeover sits between lunch and the afternoon activities. Opening hours describe the nursery's operating window; they should be kept separate from an individual family's contracted attendance.

Enquiries can be made using the contact form, telephone or email. After booking forms and a booking fee are returned, the nursery confirms the arrangement through a signed contract and terms. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months, with two-year-old and three-year-old funding options and entitlements described as 15 or 30 hours a week. Criteria-based options require a funding code, and funding starts in the relevant term after the age threshold is reached. The nursery also accepts the three-year-old 15-hour entitlement from the term following the third birthday.

A 15-hour funded arrangement requires at least 20 hours' attendance each week across the year, so funded hours and total booked attendance are different measures here. The 30-hour attendance threshold needs particular attention before signing a contract. The funding and fees page sets out the funding process and refers to surcharges in its fee calculation.

Uniform is optional. It is therefore a family choice rather than a requirement for taking part in the nursery day.

• Funded attendance and the full bill. The 15-hour option requires at least 20 weekly hours, while the 30-hour terms give conflicting minimums of 35 and 40 hours. Obtain the applicable attendance requirement in writing, together with how meals and non-food consumables are treated on funded and private hours.
• The operating week. There is an unresolved conflict over operating days: Monday to Friday, Monday to Saturday or every day. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm. Resolve which days can form part of your contract, and account for the four annual training closures.
• Teaching and representation. The November 2022 inspection identified a need for stronger support for staff interactions during activities and more opportunities for children to share their languages and backgrounds. Some activities also failed to match children's next learning needs. At a visit, ask how these points have changed planning and daily practice.
• The first room and settling. The youngest room has a 12-baby maximum and an approximately 14/16-month transition point. Use the settling discussion to explore how staff decide a child is ready to move and how the introduction fits their sleep and separation needs.

Little Apples suits families who value sensory play for babies and practical, outdoor learning as children grow. Woodland Sessions, gardening and the home reading campaign give that offer substance. For preschool families, morning or afternoon attendance provides two different ways to join the routine.

The Good November 2022 judgement provides a useful quality benchmark, with clear teaching and inclusion points to explore. Funding is the main contractual consideration: minimum attendance extends beyond the funded entitlement, and the conflicting 30-hour thresholds need resolving before a family commits.