Childs Play Nursery School

Two gardens with sharply different characters give this small Surbiton nursery its clearest identity. The setting operates from the ground floor and gardens of a large Victorian house, publishes a daily maximum of twenty children, and takes children from two to five years old.

Ofsted's current record lists the latest full inspection, on 14 February 2020, as Outstanding. The frozen inspection archive contains the outcome but not the report itself, so this review does not attribute detailed observations to inspectors.

Learning and Named Experiences

Childs Play follows the Early Years Foundation Stage across its seven areas of learning. In everyday terms, staff combine planned experiences with child-led play, observe what interests each child, and use those observations to shape the following week's activities. Children can investigate and try ideas, persist when something is difficult, and make links between experiences rather than working through a fixed programme at one pace.

Activities are open to the whole group, with staff adapting them to children's interests, needs and understanding. This creates a mixed-age experience rather than a sequence of named, age-banded rooms.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor offer is unusually well described. The Bicycle Garden has bikes, scooters, tunnels, tyres, giant chalkboards and wooden structures that change theme with children's current interests. The Bouncy Garden is reached by a wheelchair-friendly ramp and adds climbing equipment, three wooden playhouses, den-building spaces and a deck beneath a sycamore tree. Children also tend a wormery, seeds, fruit and herbs there. Free-flow access lets a child choose indoor or outdoor play when the gardens are open.

Relationships and Communication

Each child is assigned a key person who works with the family from the settling period onwards. The nursery usually recommends three or four free morning settling visits and provides a social-story picture book showing the setting, the child's key person and the staff team. Observations from staff and parents feed an Individual Development Map, giving conversations about progress a shared record rather than relying on an occasional snapshot.

School transition is practical. The nursery invites receiving teachers to visit children in familiar surroundings, may take children to visit their future schools, and shares progress and interests with parental consent. This supports continuity but does not confer priority for any Reception place; families still apply through the relevant admissions process.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Published SEND provision includes tactile toys, story props, visual aids, a visual timetable and a quiet room for individual or small-group work. Activities are differentiated, and the nursery says it works with families and outside agencies where appropriate. Meals are freshly prepared on site each day. Children eat in small groups with a member of staff, while the chef adjusts food for dietary requirements rather than relying on a fixed weekly menu. Allergy-affected families should confirm current arrangements directly.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery publishes weekday opening from 8am to 6pm across the year, apart from bank holidays and a published closure period around Christmas and New Year. Full-day attendance runs within that window. Part-time attendance is accepted, but the admission page says there are no single-day places and no separate morning and afternoon sessions.

A separate funded morning pattern is published for 15 hours a week during term time. This is a purely funded arrangement, separate from privately paid attendance.

Getting There

The address is 31 St Matthews Avenue, Surbiton KT6 6JQ, in a residential area. The nursery describes the location as well served by public transport.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded provision is offered. A written, provider-specific quotation should cover funded and private hours before costs are compared.

• Attendance pattern. Part-time attendance is possible, but single days and separate general morning or afternoon sessions are not. Check that the available combination matches the week your family actually needs.
• Published inspection detail. The current Ofsted record gives an Outstanding outcome dated February 2020, while the frozen archive contains no report text. Read the current Ofsted record and ask the nursery what has changed since that inspection.
• Mixed-age organisation. Children aged two to five share the setting. Ask how activities, rest and routines are adapted across that span.
• Cost detail. Request current written terms covering funded and privately paid attendance before comparing providers.

Childs Play has the character of a deliberately small, mixed-age setting rather than a nursery organised around a long list of branded rooms. Its strongest published details are concrete: the Bicycle and Bouncy Gardens, weekly planning from children's interests, a key-person-led settling process and food cooked on site.

It is best suited to families seeking full days or a part-time pattern of more than one day, and it also publishes a term-time funded morning arrangement. Families needing single-day care or stand-alone general morning and afternoon sessions will find the stated model less flexible. Its mixed-age organisation and attendance rules deserve careful consideration alongside an otherwise distinctive local offer.