Fountain Nursery

Fountain Nursery makes play practical and purposeful, from a garden sensory space used in small key groups to weekly Love the Ball sport and Monkey Music. This 40-place New Malden nursery organises children across three age-based rooms. Ofsted rated it Good in June 2022.

Robins supports babies to follow familiar home routines, Sparrows gives toddlers increasing independence, and Owls extends learning for preschool children. The nursery opens from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and requires attendance on at least two days each week.

Rooms and Ages

Robins is the youngest room, with its published upper age around 24 months. Individual routines shape care, while accessible resources let babies explore at their own pace. The archived visit recorded babies investigating wooden rings and building blocks.

Sparrows serves children aged 24 to 36 months. Creative and messy activities sit alongside construction, role-play, mark making and physical play; direct access to low-level toilets supports toilet training, while sleep mats provide a quiet post-lunch rest option.

Sparrows also builds independence through self-registration, preparing snacks, setting tables and serving meals. From around 36 months, children move to Owls, where a home corner and dressing-up area support imaginative play.

Learning and Named Experiences

The play-based curriculum combines planned, child-initiated and adult-led activity indoors and outdoors. It follows the Early Years Foundation Stage, meaning children develop through seven connected areas spanning communication, physical and personal development as well as literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts.

Weekly Love the Ball coaching gives toddlers and preschool children structured opportunities to practise movement, fair play and respect. Monkey Music adds songs, music and games through a progressive early-years programme. Weekly cooking, library visits, local park trips and visits to the high street broaden the routine further. Cultural and religious celebrations include Diwali and Chinese New Year, alongside events exploring gender diversity. Across ordinary days, younger children practise turn-taking and sharing, while older children work on recognising feelings and their effect on others. Accessible resources allow children to choose and combine materials for themselves: fabric exploration supports toddler creativity, dressing up feeds older children’s imaginative play, and outdoor ball games build catching and kicking skills.

The June 2022 visit found strong work on communication, physical development and early mathematics: staff used gesture, facial expression, stories and songs, while children counted, compared height and built towers; it also asked leaders to improve questioning for older children and manage indoor noise more consistently so children could concentrate.

Every child has a key person who works with the family to personalise care. The Blossom app carries learning-journal photographs, progress updates and a daily diary, giving parents a regular view of nursery life.

Children needing reassurance received close attention and settled quickly during the archived visit. Warm relationships and effective staff deployment supported children, while staff understood how to identify and report concerns and gathered dietary and allergy information with families.

Meals come from Care Catering, delivered hot and designed for childcare settings. Breakfast is served before 8.45am, with fruit snack, lunch, afternoon snack and afternoon tea placed through the day. A quiet period follows lunch for sleepers, while other children can choose calm tabletop activities. The nursery includes meals, refreshments, nappies and baby wipes in its all-inclusive offer, while the caterer accommodates allergies and dietary requirements.

Sessions and Attendance

Full days run from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with a minimum commitment of two days a week. The nursery operates for 50 weeks rather than offering term-time-only places, closing for bank holidays, the final week of August and the Christmas period described by the provider.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months to four years for eligible working parents. Entitlement covering 38 weeks is stretched across the nursery's 50-week year. Families should request a current written quotation and funding information directly, since eligibility and the structure of a child's attendance both affect the arrangement.

Getting There

The nursery is at 10 Burlington Road, New Malden, KT3 4NY, close to Fountain Roundabout. The building was converted specifically for early-years use and has a garden sensory space for small-group work. The published daily routine includes circle time, nursery rhymes, small-group learning, story time for Robins and show and tell for Sparrows and Owls. This gives the long day recognisable anchors rather than treating 8am to 6pm as one undifferentiated block.

• Two-day minimum. Every child must attend at least two days each week, so this will not fit families seeking a single weekly day.
• Year pattern. Funding is stretched across 50 weeks and term-time-only places are not offered, which matters when comparing monthly budgets and holiday arrangements.
• Indoor concentration. The June 2022 improvement points concerned indoor noise and questioning for older children. Families may wish to discuss how practice has developed since then.
• Room transitions. Children move through three rooms around 24 and 36 months, so parents can ask how each transition is paced for their child.

Fountain Nursery suits families seeking full weekday care across most of the year, especially those who value clearly separated age rooms and a play-based day enriched by sport, music, cooking and local outings. The two-day minimum and absence of a term-time-only pattern narrow the fit, but the room progression, key-person model and regular Blossom updates give the offer a coherent shape.

Its June 2022 Good judgement rests on strong relationships, communication and broad learning experiences, balanced by specific improvement points around questioning and indoor noise. The strongest practical distinction is the progression from individual routines in Robins, through practical self-care in Sparrows, to broader imaginative and early-years learning in Owls.