Banana Moon Day Nursery Wimbledon

A natural adventure area, a separate space for babies to sleep and a parent app that follows the small details of the day give Banana Moon Day Nursery Wimbledon a clear practical identity. This Russell Road nursery has 74 places in total, accepting children from three months to five years. Its offer spans early baby care through to preparation for school, with room stages that follow mobility as well as age.

At its February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The important qualification concerns continuity: staff needed to share information more consistently when a child's key person was away. That matters because a familiar relationship should be supported by colleagues who understand the child's needs, rather than depend on one adult being present.

Full-day and half-day attendance sit alongside funded childcare stretched across the year. For parents, the strongest combination is the separation of sleep from play, daily outdoor time and communication that covers both learning and everyday routines.

Rooms and Ages

Banana Moon's group-wide room stages distinguish babies who are becoming mobile from children already confident on their feet. The progression gives parents a useful way to understand a move between rooms: readiness matters alongside birthdays.

Baby Moons takes children from three months until confident mobility, with sensory exploration through texture, colour and shape as its emphasis. Teenie Moons is the next stage for confidently mobile children up to two, using painting, songs and messy activities to encourage exploration. Mini Moons covers ages two to three, combining child-chosen activities with growing independence and support for toilet training. Full Moons serves children from three to school age, bringing play choices, individual learning and outdoor activity into preschool preparation.

The group-wide Baby Moons arrangement specifies a maximum of three children per adult, matching the statutory minimum for children under two. These are different stages of the same nursery journey. For younger children, the transition is linked to what they can manage physically; for older children, the emphasis moves towards choosing activities and doing more for themselves.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, language activities, physical play and opportunities to practise independence put those areas into everyday routines. Alongside it sits the group-wide Banana Moon Early Learning & Development Programme, which uses children's interests to shape teaching and draws on observations and conversations with families. Its practical value is the connection between what a child enjoys, what adults notice and what they plan next.

The curriculum programme describes play as the starting point for both activities and the learning environment. Open-ended resources allow children to explore possibilities rather than follow a single adult-set answer. This is an approach to planning within the EYFS, rather than a replacement for it.

In February 2025, toddlers practised handling spoons through a cornflour activity, while older children developed control with scissors. Babies' songs included props and bubbles, and children acted out The Bear Hunt. These examples connect everyday play with hand control, language and participation in stories. The tasks are small; the skills they practise have uses beyond the activity itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

Children spend time outdoors every day across the year. A secure playground and natural adventure area provide a separate setting for movement and exploration, giving outdoor play a regular place in the routine rather than reserving it for special occasions.

In February 2025, movement activities included balancing, climbing and jumping, with adults demonstrating movements and helping children attempt manageable challenges. Staff also contributed to plans for changes to the garden. That gives useful context to the outdoor offer: physical activity was accompanied by adult guidance, rather than simply access to outside space.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is flexible, with parents attending introductory sessions and discussing their child's routines and particular needs. For babies, continuity with home routines is part of the arrangement. This lets staff begin with information about the individual child, rather than expecting every family to fit an identical settling pattern.

Each child's key person observes learning and records development. The group-wide Parent App adds a practical communication channel: it shares sleep, snack and learning records, photographs and personalised learning journals. Families can respond from home, and access can extend to named relatives. For parents whose working day keeps them away from nursery, this connects the ordinary details of care with the longer picture of development.

The limitation is the handover behind that relationship. In February 2025, a buddy arrangement existed, but some parents and staff did not understand who would take over when a key person was away. Better communication between staff was the improvement required. An app can share information with families; it does not replace colleagues knowing how to continue a child's support.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified additional needs promptly, developed targeted plans with parents and supported good progress, including for children with SEND. The mechanism matters as much as the judgement: observations led to specific support, with home and nursery working towards the same goals.

In February 2025, staff collected words and pronunciation from families and brought children's home languages into songs, stories and everyday routines. Children could contribute familiar words themselves. This made language support part of ordinary nursery life, rather than something confined to a separate activity.

The dedicated sleep room has natural wood cots and subdued lighting, with individual bedding washed on site. Staff make checks alongside CCTV monitoring and aim to follow established sleep routines. A baby can rest in a space set aside for sleep while other activities continue elsewhere.

Fresh food is prepared by the nursery's chef in its own kitchen, with two cooked hot meals daily, a separate weaning menu for younger babies and a policy of accommodating allergies and dietary requirements.

Fingerprint Biometric Access controls entry, while visitors without registration wait for a member of staff to admit them. CCTV also operates throughout the nursery. These are concrete access and monitoring arrangements, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

The group-wide Little hearts, bright futures initiative has brought a CardiAid automated external defibrillator to reception, accessible to the wider community. Big moments, bright futures has added a LifeVac anti-choking device, alongside attention to food preparation and supervision at mealtimes. These describe equipment and prevention arrangements; the key parent decision remains how care is organised and delivered day to day.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 33 Russell Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 1QN. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

Both full-day and half-day bookings are offered. The funded day shown in the fee structure runs from 8am to 6pm, which is different from the wider opening window. Parents comparing schedules should distinguish the hours of that funded session from the hours the building is open.

The nursery recommends either two full days or three half-days each week to help children settle and take part in learning. This is a recommendation, rather than a stated compulsory minimum. Fees remain payable during sickness and family holidays, and are charged over 51 weeks, including bank holidays. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or callback form.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 and 30 funded hours, stretched around the year, as well as privately paid attendance and additional unfunded hours. Subject to eligibility and the applicable entitlement, funding starts in the term after children turn nine months or after the relevant birthday. Stretching is the delivery pattern here, so the funded entitlement and the booked attendance need to be considered together.

Meals and snacks are included in private childcare fees, while funded sessions carry a separate food-consumables charge. Non-food items also attract a charge in the funded-session structure; nappies, wipes and formula are excluded from childcare fees.

For families unable to pay the consumables charge, Nil charge sessions provide a separate attendance option on specified days of the week. Their schedule is restricted to those days. A registration charge applies per family, except for fully funded places; siblings registering together incur one charge, while a sibling joining later incurs another.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees page provides the route to its fee information, with funded attendance, additional hours and consumables treated as separate parts of the cost.

• Key-person cover. The February 2025 improvement concerned information sharing when a key person was absent. During a visit, ask how the buddy arrangement now works and how colleagues receive each child's learning and care information.
• Funded hours and your timetable. The funded day runs from 8am to 6pm, within longer opening hours, and funding is stretched across the year. Ask for a written attendance breakdown showing funded hours, private hours and consumables for your chosen pattern.
• Dietary needs. The nursery accommodates allergies and uses a separate weaning menu for younger babies. Families affected by allergies should confirm current kitchen, serving and individual-plan arrangements before starting.
• Baby-room size. Baby Moons moves children on when they are confidently mobile, making the youngest stage more than a fixed age band. Ask how many babies normally share the room on your proposed days and how the move to Teenie Moons is agreed.

Banana Moon Wimbledon suits families considering either full-day attendance or a shorter half-day pattern, including those using stretched funded hours. Separate sleep provision, daily outdoor play and the Parent App make its care arrangements tangible, while its group-wide learning programme gives child-led play a clear planning structure.

The February 2025 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position. The key-person handover concern deserves equal attention because continuity depends on colleagues understanding a child's needs when the usual adult is away. Families should also distinguish funded session hours from opening hours and understand which extras accompany their attendance pattern.