Happy Nursery Days

A large garden and a progression from Little Chicks to Clever Swans give Happy Nursery Days its character: space for babies to explore, then a more organised preschool day as children grow. This Tulse Hill nursery accepts children aged three months to five years and has capacity for 63 children. Its spacious playrooms sit alongside a garden used for outdoor play, with children able to move between indoor and outdoor activities.

At its April 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Happy Nursery Days Good and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of today's practice. The useful detail beneath it includes shared stories, cooperative play and practical independence, alongside improvements required in assessment and home-language opportunities.

Morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside funded attendance patterns, making this a nursery with more than one way to organise the week.

Rooms and Ages

Little Chicks accommodates babies from three months to two years, with crawling space and care organised around their individual routines. Keeping the child's familiar rhythm matters here: the room's approach connects daily care with communication between parents and practitioners, rather than expecting every baby to follow the same timetable.

Little Ducklings is the intermediate toddler room, where children begin practising everyday tasks for themselves before moving onwards. That makes the transition between baby care and more independent play a stage in its own right.

Cheeky Ducklings gives toddlers access to creative materials, role play and messy activities in their own room. A quiet corner also accommodates books and naps, so energetic play and rest have different places within the room.

Clever Swans is the preschool room, with greater structure to the day; its activities include scientific exploration, computer use and imaginative play. The emphasis shifts towards independence and preparation for school, while activities are planned around individual children rather than a single learning pace.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guides planning throughout the nursery: children learn through play across connected areas such as language, movement, relationships, early reading and number. This is the educational foundation, while the room arrangements show how the day changes with age. For a baby, exploration may start with crawling; for a preschool child, it can include investigating materials or working through an imaginative activity.

Planning starts with watching children's play and talking with parents about interests and abilities at home. Practitioners then use those observations to choose the next activity. This gives parents' knowledge a practical role: a favourite interest or newly acquired skill can inform what their child does next at nursery.

In April 2023, daily group reading centred on a chosen book, with questions encouraging children to predict events and explain their ideas. Conversations also extended to growing fruit and vegetables. The point was active participation, with children contributing their thoughts rather than simply hearing a story.

Outdoor and Community Life

The spacious garden supports movement between outdoor and indoor play. Its value is practical: children can change the setting for their activity, rather than having the nursery day confined to a playroom.

In April 2023, outdoor experiences included riding wheeled toys, circle games and hopscotch, bringing movement and counting together. Babies also practised climbing steps and using a slide, with reminders about waiting until another child had moved away. These were opportunities to practise coordination and taking turns in the same activity.

Annual Graduations mark the move beyond nursery. They give that transition a shared event for children and families, alongside the everyday preschool emphasis on doing more independently.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who links care, learning and communication with the family. This practitioner plans next steps, follows progress and acts as the main contact for parents. For families, the benefit is continuity: conversations about home life and development have a clear starting point.

Before a child starts, a briefing meeting covers routines and policies as well as their individual needs. Parents can stay during the early settling period, and settling sessions are adjusted to the child. The arrangement allows the family and staff to build familiarity together, rather than treating the first day as a fixed deadline for separation.

Parents' evenings take place at the end of each term, providing a regular opportunity to discuss progress and contribute feedback. The Nursery Users’ Group gives families another route to discuss ideas, proposed changes and concerns with staff. Everyday contact and scheduled discussion serve different purposes: one keeps care information moving, while the other makes room for a fuller conversation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the April 2023 inspection, Ofsted identified two areas for improvement: organising the age-two progress assessment and making its records easier to access, and giving children more opportunities to use languages spoken at home during play. These points matter to families who want assessment information they can use, or whose child communicates in more than one language.

The medication policy requires written parental permission for each medicine and provides for work with parents and professionals to arrange child-specific training where administration needs specialist skills. This is a concrete support mechanism, with the child's requirements determining the preparation needed.

Rest is also part of care planning. Alongside the quiet corner in Cheeky Ducklings, the illness policy provides for a child who becomes unwell to wait in a calm space with their key person wherever possible while a parent collects them.

An in-house cook prepares meals in the nursery kitchen, serving Halal meat and adapting to dietary requirements; menus change each term. The health and safety policy prohibits nuts and requires allergen information for families, so allergy discussions need to address the child's particular requirements.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Valens House, 132A Upper Tulse Hill, London, SW2 2RX. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, with year-round operation and closures for bank holidays and Christmas; the brochure also provides for staff-training closures of up to three days annually.

Morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. The current funding timetable places 15 funded hours across two days, from 9am to 4.30pm; its 30-hour options are three full days from 8am to 6pm or four days from 9am to 4.30pm. These are attendance patterns, distinct from the longer opening window.

The brochure's general booking policy asks for a minimum of three days, while the 15-hour funding timetable specifies its two-day arrangement. That distinction matters when matching a work schedule to a particular type of place.

An application form starts the joining process. A card-paid administration charge and an advance deposit apply, with the deposit credited to the final bill when the required month's written notice has been given. Written notice of one month also applies when ending childcare or changing attendance days.

Getting There

Bus routes 432, 415, 201 and 2 serve the nursery. Surrounding streets have unrestricted parking, giving drivers an on-street option.

Funding and Paid Extras

Term-time funded places include the Early Learning Offer for eligible two-year-olds and Universal Entitlement for eligible three- and four-year-olds. The funding timetable also covers 15 hours for children from nine months and a 30-hour pattern; eligibility remains a condition of funded childcare, while private paid care is also offered.

Meals are included in private fees, but funded children have a separate daily meal charge. Parents supply nappies, wipes, required creams and labelled formula feeds, so those care items need to be prepared at home for nursery use.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Payments are accepted by card or standing order, with cash excluded; meals, funded hours and any additional paid time should remain separate parts of the family's cost planning.

• Assessment and home languages. April 2023 brought recommendations about age-two assessment records and home-language play. At a visit, ask how these work now for your child.
• Matching the funded timetable. The 15-hour arrangement uses two days, while general bookings use three. Discuss which pattern applies to the place you are considering before arranging work or other childcare.
• Allergy management. The policy prohibits nuts and the kitchen caters for dietary requirements. Families affected by allergies should confirm current handling and meal arrangements for their child's needs.
• Settling around familiar routines. Parents can remain during early settling and sessions are tailored to the child. Discuss how Little Chicks would accommodate your baby's feeding and rest routines.

Happy Nursery Days suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as those using its multi-day funded patterns. Its strongest practical attractions are the garden, the gradual progression through named rooms and a key-person arrangement that connects home information with activity planning.

The April 2023 Good judgement provides a useful quality reference, with clear assessment and language questions to pursue. For parents who value outdoor play and an active role in their child's nursery life, there is a concrete offer here to weigh against the booking pattern and funded meal charge.