Thames Tiddlers Nursery

Clay, children's own questions and an on-site Forest School give Thames Tiddlers Nursery its character. The Reggio Emilia approach shapes enquiry-led learning: children contribute ideas, revisit projects and explore materials rather than simply follow an adult's activity plan. A large garden gives that work an outdoor setting too. This is a nursery where creative investigation has concrete space and resources behind it.

At the 22 March 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, with effective safeguarding, strong support for children with SEND and good progress from children's starting points. That is a dated assessment. Its strongest practical examples were children investigating clay, developing language through their interests and taking increasing responsibility for themselves.

Based at Shooters Hill Post 16 Campus in Woolwich, the setting has 42 places in total for children aged three months to five years. That whole-nursery figure is not a room size or a count of children attending together. The named rooms organise care by developmental stage, with the oldest room's activities described for children up to four.

Attendance includes full-day and half-day patterns, while funded hours run during term time. The choice matters: a family seeking shorter sessions has a different arrangement to consider from one combining funded education with paid hours across the year.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room serves children from three months to two years, emphasising early language, sensory discovery and close relationships with adults. For a baby starting childcare, those priorities put communication and familiarity alongside exploration rather than treating learning as a separate lesson.

For children aged two to three, the Toddler Room emphasises growing independence, conversation and social confidence through creative play. The Pre-School Room, for ages three to four, moves towards collaborative enquiry and problem-solving as preparation for school. These are different emphases, rather than a promise that every child progresses at the same pace.

In March 2023, babies practised movement with push-along toys and a wooden slide in an enclosed garden. Older children rode bicycles and used outdoor diggers. Indoors, children took off their shoes for the sandpit and helped themselves at meals: small, practical opportunities to do things independently.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the learning framework, covering children's communication, movement, relationships and growing understanding through play. Reggio Emilia adds a particular way of organising that learning here: educators plan around children's interests, and children join proposal and reflection discussions. Their ideas can influence what happens next.

Atelier session work gives those enquiries an art-making space. Educators support projects using materials in the ateliers, with work documented in sketchbooks, folders and displays. The point is exploration as well as the finished picture: children have resources for developing an idea and returning to it.

In March 2023, project rooms supported different investigations across the age groups. Babies explored the moon through a favourite story, toddlers made pictures of the night sky, and older children modelled volcanoes in clay. Conversations about dinosaurs introduced new vocabulary. These examples show how one interest can connect making, talking and investigating rather than sit within a single activity.

Yoga and Mindfulness brings a visiting teacher twice weekly, working with groups of eight children. It introduces time for calm and attention alongside the more active parts of the day. Billy Bear makes a different connection: a teddy goes home for a weekend with a diary for recording family adventures, giving children something familiar to share back at nursery.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School involves child-led outdoor exploration, including manageable challenges, cooperation and decisions about risk. Alongside the on-site space, woodland walks happen weekly, with a six-week project planned before children leave for school in September. The outdoor offer therefore extends beyond free play in the garden.

Growing food is another hands-on strand. Children plant fruit and vegetables, tend them, harvest them and eat what they have grown. That sequence links care for living things with an everyday experience they can understand: where food comes from.

Outings follow current enquiries, and small local walks can happen spontaneously when staffing permits. Past destinations include Bostal Woods, Victoria Gardens and The Science Museum; these are examples, rather than a fixed itinerary. Parents can volunteer on outings, and main trips usually carry a separate charge for transport and admission where applicable.

Relationships and Communication

A designated key person leads the relationship with each child and family, while other educators remain available to discuss care. That gives parents a familiar contact without making communication depend entirely on one adult. Changes of key person are communicated to parents, including where attendance patterns or relationships make a change appropriate.

Home visits and settling sessions provide a gradual start. The nursery aims to visit each child at home with their key person and a senior colleague, allowing families to exchange information in familiar surroundings. Settling visits last about an hour; a parent is encouraged to leave the child with the room team during the second visit, with further visits arranged according to need. The process normally spans around two weeks, but the child's response determines the pace.

Tapestry records individual learning journeys online, with parents able to access them and contribute. This gives families a way to see projects and development beyond a brief conversation. In March 2023, educators also offered ideas for activities at home, linking children's nursery learning with family life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SENCO works with the local authority's specialist team and with educators to adapt provision and make suitable materials accessible. A full-time one-to-one support worker is employed for children needing additional help, and children can use a sensory space with educators daily. These are specific support mechanisms; they do not mean that every child receives the same arrangement.

At its March 2023 inspection, Ofsted identified emotional understanding as the improvement priority: children needed more help to name their feelings and recognise how other people felt. Sharing and turn-taking were established, but responding to another child's distress needed more work. For parents, the useful distinction is between children managing routines and children understanding the feelings behind a disagreement.

Room changes are supported with visits and information sharing between the existing and new key person. Parents contribute their views, and the number of visits depends on the child. A move is therefore treated as a transition needing preparation, rather than simply a birthday milestone.

Preparation for school includes talking through children's concerns, using school-related role play and sending a transition document to the receiving school. Parents can read and comment on the learning report before it is shared. A Graduation Ceremony celebrates school leavers' work and achievements, adding a clear ending to their nursery experience without implying an admissions advantage.

Lunch comes from Zebedees, while the day also includes breakfast, snacks and a vegetarian afternoon tea. Packed lunches are not accepted under the nursery's policy, which cites allergy, safety and storage concerns.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Shooters Hill Post 16 Campus, Red Lion Lane, Woolwich, London SE18 4LD. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with full-time and part-time attendance offered across the year.

Models for 15-hour places include two full days from 8am to 3pm or 8am to 4pm, or three half-day sessions: mornings from 8am to 1pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. A shorter term-time option runs from 9am to noon, Monday to Wednesday. These patterns should be read alongside the funded-hours window: attendance outside funded hours attracts a separate charge.

Closures include bank holidays, up to two weeks at Christmas and four annual staff training days. Bank-holiday and Christmas closures are paid for in advance under the admissions terms, which matters when comparing the cost of attendance across a year. The contract requires four weeks' written notice for changes or departure; failure to give notice can leave the billing party responsible for a funding shortfall.

Tours can be arranged by contacting the nursery. Admission priorities include children already attending, siblings and those longest on the waiting list. Those rules describe how applications are considered, rather than how many places are free.

Funding and Paid Extras

The funded offer includes 30 Hour Funded Places, 15 Hour Universal Funded Places and 15 Hour 2-Year-Old Entitlement Funded Places, subject to eligibility. Funded hours are delivered over 38 term-time weeks, between 9am and 3pm, rather than stretched across the year. Working-parent eligibility codes must be renewed every three months.

Private hours can sit alongside funding, and attendance during non-funded weeks is paid for separately. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation, with their chosen attendance pattern and extras itemised. That makes the distinction between education funding and the total childcare bill clear.

Meals and snacks, and non-food consumables such as wipes and sun cream, are covered by a separate voluntary contribution rather than the funded education entitlement. Families using funded-only places through EYPP or the two-year-old entitlement are exempt from the meals and consumables contribution. Other families unable to contribute can discuss alternatives without losing their funded entitlement.

The contribution also supports art materials, enrichment and celebrations. Families may opt out of elements, although individual line items are not deducted; alternatives are discussed instead, and the full enhanced offer may depend on that support. This distinction deserves attention when comparing a funded-only arrangement with additional paid attendance.

• Emotional learning. The March 2023 improvement priority concerned recognising feelings, including another child's upset. During a visit, ask how educators now help children work through those situations.
• Funding and attendance. Funding is term-time, while session models include hours outside the funded window. Ask for a written breakdown matching the exact days and sessions your family needs, including non-funded weeks and voluntary extras.
• Food allergies. Lunch is catered and packed lunches are excluded by policy. Allergy-affected families should confirm the current arrangements for communicating dietary needs and supervising meals.
• The oldest age group. The overall age range extends to five, while the Pre-School Room's description covers three to four. Ask how attendance and room placement work for a child approaching their fifth birthday.

Thames Tiddlers suits families who want creative enquiry with tangible resources: ateliers, gardening and Forest School give children different ways to investigate their interests. Its attendance choices serve both families seeking full-day patterns and those wanting morning, afternoon or shorter term-time sessions.

The March 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality assessment, with emotional understanding the clear improvement point. For a parent weighing this nursery, the strongest practical combination is project-led learning, staged settling and specific SEND support mechanisms, alongside a funding arrangement that needs to match the family's calendar carefully.