Fennies Eltham, Westmount Road

A racetrack, water feature and mud kitchen give the garden at Fennies Eltham, Westmount Road a clear purpose: children can move, experiment and practise taking turns. This purpose-built nursery combines outdoor access from every room with spaces for art, cooking and sensory exploration. The physical offer is substantial.

At its November 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall. That judgement is a useful starting point, but the detail matters: the visit also highlighted quieter children being missed in group activities, insufficient attention to babies’ outdoor needs and opportunities to better recognise children’s home languages.

The nursery accepts children aged 3 to 60 months and has 75 places in total. Attendance centres on a standard day, with a separately charged Early Start option.

Rooms and Ages

Creators, for children aged 24–36 months, emphasises creative exploration; Inventors, for children aged three and over, has indoor and outdoor access that allows play to move between the two environments. The baby room includes sensory experiences intended to encourage movement and communication. A separate baby garden adds an outdoor space for the youngest children.

Across the nursery, every room has free-flow access to the garden. Its water feature, racetrack and mud kitchen give children different reasons to play outdoors, from active movement to shared exploration. An art studio and cooking studio extend the physical offer indoors. For families, these are concrete spaces to weigh alongside the room their child would use.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care, with children developing skills through play and exploration. Here, guided play and group activities include opportunities to cooperate, share and communicate. These everyday interactions connect learning with being part of a group.

In November 2022, babies explored dough and practised crawling, climbing and using steps. Older children used puppets during stories, discussed characters and brought mathematical vocabulary into creative activities. Preschool experiences included rhymes, vocabulary and early connections between letters and sounds. These examples show how communication, movement and early literacy were brought into ordinary play at that time.

The same November 2022 visit exposed uneven engagement: quieter children were sometimes missed during group work, and babies’ needs outdoors received too little attention. Some children also had too few chances to share and value their own languages and backgrounds. These are useful points for families to explore alongside the attractive rooms and garden.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is personalised, with introductory sessions and a gradual plan developed with parents. Moving between rooms also follows a structured transition programme with ongoing parent communication. The practical benefit is continuity: starting nursery and changing rooms are treated as separate adjustments requiring support.

In November 2022, staff gathered information from parents about children’s needs and used familiar routines and comfort objects from home during settling. Support for practitioners included regular discussions about children’s learning and visiting practitioners who advised on phonics and additional learning needs. That describes the approach at the time, rather than today’s staffing arrangements.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, personal care and health needs well met, and children needing extra learning help engaged in targeted teaching. Those findings concern that dated visit; families should weigh them alongside the current settling and transition arrangements.

An onsite chef prepares meals, with breakfast, snacks, lunch, tea and drinks included in private fees. Nappies, wipes, suncream and other personal care consumables are included too, reducing the everyday items families need to supply on that fee arrangement.

Annual graduation day marks children’s departure from nursery. It gives the move onwards a shared occasion, while room transitions are supported through the separate programme described above.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 37 Westmount Road, Eltham, SE9 1JF. The standard day runs from 7.45am to 6pm; Early Start covers 7am to 7.45am and carries an additional charge. Half-day services are not offered, so the choice is between the standard day and adding the earlier start, rather than morning or afternoon sessions.

Opening days are Monday to Friday, across the year, with closures for bank holidays and the Christmas period. Fees are paid in advance of the month they cover, and annual increases take effect in September. This makes both the attendance pattern and the timing of payments relevant to a family’s budget.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery accepts eligible government childcare funding, including the 15 and 30 hours free childcare for working families. Private childcare is also offered. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

For funded attendance, food and consumables attract separate voluntary supplements, incorporated into the quoted fees. Families wishing to opt out and supply their own items arrange a meeting with the nursery manager about the relevant policies. Funded hours therefore need to be considered separately from the private-fee arrangement, where these items are included.

A non-refundable registration charge applies except for funded-only placements. A deposit is deducted from the first month’s fees, and joining the waiting list is free of charge. These terms describe the booking process rather than whether a place is free now.

Getting There

Onsite parking and a buggy store support different travel arrangements. Eltham train station is a 5-minute drive away.

• Full-day attendance. Half-days are not offered; the standard day ends at 6pm, with Early Start available for an additional charge. At a visit, discuss how the day’s routines would fit your child and your working hours.
• Participation and outdoor care. In November 2022, quieter children could be missed in groups and babies’ outdoor needs needed more attention. Ask how practitioners now involve less-confident children and adapt garden experiences for babies.
• Home languages. The November 2022 improvement priorities included more opportunities to recognise and share children’s languages and backgrounds. Explore how your family’s language and routines would become part of your child’s day.
• Funded extras. Food and consumables have voluntary supplements on funded attendance, with an opt-out process for supplying items yourself. Review that arrangement alongside the standard day or Early Start you intend to use.

Fennies Eltham, Westmount Road suits families choosing a standard day or a standard day with Early Start, and who value direct garden access, creative spaces and personalised introductions to nursery. The racetrack, mud kitchen, art studio and cooking studio make the physical offer easy to picture.

The November 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark. The decision should also give weight to its teaching priorities, especially participation for quieter children, babies’ outdoor experiences and recognition of home languages. For funded attendance, the supplement and opt-out arrangements deserve equal attention to the daily timetable.