Butterflies Childcare

Babies have their own address at Butterflies: 20 Beulah Road is the dedicated under-two setting, separate from the preschool building. That distinction matters. This Wimbledon nursery's character centres on early independence, familiar adults and a day that makes room for both play and rest.

At its September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Butterflies Good and judged safeguarding effective, while identifying conversation skills and opportunities for children to interact with one another as areas to strengthen. The useful reading is therefore balanced: there is a positive overall judgement, alongside specific improvements relevant to very young children.

Full-day care, morning and afternoon sessions, and term-time attendance give families several ways to organise childcare. The strongest practical attractions are the separate under-two site, outdoor space and a communication system that allows parents to contribute as well as receive updates.

Rooms and Ages

Babies and Toddlers belong to the under-two provision at this address. The baby room has a cosy layout, keeping the environment suited to its youngest children rather than borrowing the open-plan preschool arrangement. The whole-setting capacity should be read as a total across the nursery, rather than the number a baby will share a room with.

In September 2025, children used steps and equipment suited to their development to practise climbing and movement. Activities exercised both hand control and larger movements. For a parent choosing infant care, this is useful detail: physical development involved opportunities to try things, rather than simply time spent watching adults demonstrate them.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the framework for learning and care: children develop through play, exploration and active experiences, indoors and outside. Butterflies adds its own approach across its settings, starting with what each child can already manage and building experiences around their interests. The framework is the foundation; the child-led planning is how Butterflies organises its teaching.

Under this approach, practitioners adapt the environment to the children using it and give them choices. Daily routines also become learning opportunities, with children encouraged to attempt manageable tasks for themselves. For babies, the practical value is an emphasis on participation, rather than a timetable made entirely of activities done for them. The curriculum page explains this approach.

In September 2025, paint exploration gave children a way to experiment with marks, while interest in animals led to activities involving their sounds. Singing and a box-based circle-time activity brought children together. These examples show how early learning can begin with something a young child notices or enjoys, then develop through an adult joining the play.

The limitations were equally specific. In September 2025, adults sometimes missed opportunities to expand children's vocabulary during play, and sometimes gave too little encouragement for children to play together. Enjoyable activities alone do not settle those questions. The relevant next step is more purposeful conversation and more support for interaction between children.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor space is part of the offer at both Butterflies premises, including this nursery. The Butterflies approach provides outdoor access twice daily in all weather, making movement and exploration recurring parts of the day rather than occasional additions.

Dundonald Park is a frequent destination across Butterflies' settings. That gives the wider offer a recognisable local connection, although the important feature for a baby remains the combination of suitable experiences outside and a routine that allows rest afterwards. Outdoor activity and quiet time both have a place in the baby timetable.

Relationships and Communication

At the September 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children turned to their key persons for comfort, staff gathered detailed information from families, and regular communication helped parents support learning at home. The relationship had a practical purpose: adults knew the children they cared for, and parents contributed information that helped shape that care.

ParentZone, used across Butterflies, is a two-way communication app through which families can see daily experiences and add notes to their child's learning journey. Parents can send information to the key person rather than relying entirely on an exchange at collection. This is useful when something that happens at home helps explain a child's interests or needs at nursery.

Parent evenings take place three times annually, with online meetings also offered. Families can speak directly with the key person or manager. Together, these arrangements provide both ongoing contact and scheduled opportunities for a longer conversation, rather than leaving all discussion to brief daily exchanges.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The team includes a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator with experience of autism, developmental delay and visual and hearing impairments. Butterflies uses processes to identify needs, assess them and review support. These are concrete arrangements for discussing a child's circumstances, rather than a blanket promise about what support every child will receive.

Professional childcare qualifications are held across the staff team. The nursery's first-aid policy requires current paediatric certificates for staff and annual refresher training; these are stated arrangements, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

The baby routine includes a sleep or quiet period after lunch, and Butterflies accommodates routines followed at home. That matters for families whose baby still needs a familiar rhythm of rest and activity. Settling is also built into enrolment: the non-refundable enrolment charge covers administration and 12 hours of settling time.

Food is cooked daily on the Wimbledon premises by the catering lead, with menus changing weekly. Breakfast, lunch, an early evening meal, snacks and drinks are provided, and special dietary requirements are accommodated.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. Full Day Care begins at 7.30am, with collection between 4pm and 6.30pm; morning sessions run from 7.30am to 12.30pm, and afternoon sessions begin at 1.30pm, with collection between 4pm and 6.30pm.

The minimum booking is two full days or three half-day sessions. For full-day and morning attendance, children should be in by 9.30am; afternoon attendance starts by 1.30pm. These rules make the offer flexible in its choice of patterns, while keeping a defined structure within each booked day.

Term Time Only attendance covers 39 weeks, with payments annualised. Extended hours can also be requested. Booked sessions cannot be exchanged free of charge when a child misses a day, so an additional session brings an additional charge.

Closures include bank and public holidays, a week at Christmas and three INSET days for training and maintenance. Closure days are included in fees, and family holidays do not attract refunds or discounts. Payments are made a month ahead, on the 25th of each month.

Getting There

The address is 20 Beulah Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3SB. Wimbledon train, tube, bus and tram stations are a two minute walk away, making several forms of public transport relevant to the journey.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by email. Completing the enrolment form leads to a call to arrange a viewing.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and additional private childcare are offered. For this under-two setting, the relevant offer includes the 30-hour working-parent entitlement, subject to eligibility; funded hours are stretched across the year rather than confined to school terms. Funding is organised term by term, so entitlement hours and the nursery's attendance pattern need to be considered separately.

Meals are included in the full-day private-care package. For funded attendance, meals and non-food consumables carry separate charges, and the charging structure also separates private childcare from those items. Butterflies additionally describes an Enhanced Provision Rate for provision outside government-funded entitlement hours.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funding and pricing page separates childcare, meals and consumables, helping families distinguish the funded deduction from the remaining bill.

• The move beyond baby care. This address is the dedicated under-two site. At a viewing, discuss how a move to Butterflies' separate preschool setting would be handled as your child grows.
• Conversation and shared play. September 2025 brought clear recommendations on vocabulary and interaction between children. Ask for examples of how practitioners now extend a baby's communication and encourage children to engage together.
• Your weekly pattern. The minimum is two full days or three half-day sessions, and missed bookings cannot be swapped free of charge. Consider that combination alongside work commitments and the annual closure calendar.
• The funded bill. Meals and consumables are charged separately for funded attendance, with further provision outside entitlement hours also identified. Request a written quotation for the exact pattern you intend to book, and discuss dietary arrangements if your child has an allergy.

Butterflies suits families seeking a dedicated under-two setting with a choice between full days, morning or afternoon sessions, and term-time attendance. Its separate baby-care address, outdoor provision and two-way parent communication give the choice substance. The September 2025 recommendations on language and interaction remain the most useful questions to take into a viewing, while the booking minimum and funded charge structure deserve careful attention before committing.