Wimbledon Day Nursery

Children's interests become projects at Wimbledon Day Nursery, linking role play, experiments and conversations. At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that staff used probing questions to deepen children's thinking.

At 32 Montague Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1TA, it has capacity for 68 children aged three months to four years and 11 months. The nursery opposite operates independently. Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions serve different attendance needs.

A nine-baby room cap and secondary key person give families concrete care arrangements to weigh. Fee inclusions change between private attendance and funded age bands.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room caters for three to 18 months, with a maximum of nine babies per session, combining sensory exploration, songs and movement with care shaped around home routines. That cap is a useful starting point for parents who place room size high on their list.

Toddler One covers 18 months to two and a half years, using children's interests and experiences at home to develop projects as they become accustomed to nursery routines. Toddler Two serves two and a half to three and a half years, with children contributing ideas to role play and taking greater responsibility for everyday tasks. Pre School runs from three and a half years to four years and 11 months, with children helping decide how projects develop and practising independence alongside early literacy and numeracy.

Transition packs explain new routines and staff. Meetings let parents discuss development and meet the next key person before a room change.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS sets the learning, development and care requirements common to early years provision. Here, water play, stories and tidying connect language, physical and emotional development with early literacy, mathematics and creative work. Children explore ideas and practise independence through everyday play.

Projects organise learning around children's topics and questions. In August 2022, children explored how oil and water moved through pipes and played in a pretend mechanics shop, bringing experimentation, language and imagination together.

Across the two-site nursery group, Football Focus brings visiting coaches into nursery weekly for ball skills and movement games, while Teddy Tennis uses team games and physical play. French introduces another language through games and activities, with progress reports each term. These group-wide activities complement the EYFS with coached movement and language experiences alongside children's projects.

Outdoor and Community Life

Shared two-site facilities include two large gardens, a nature garden and a sensory room. Planting, climbing, mud, sand and water give children different ways to explore; outdoor play continues in different weather with suitable clothing.

Group-wide outings include seasonal park visits, shopping for cooking ingredients, local mechanics and the Buddhist temple in Wimbledon. Further trips using public transport require additional parental permission.

Come-and-play occasions for Mothers day and Fathers day involve families in nursery life. The group's annual Christmas Fayre includes crafts, games and visiting nativity animals.

Relationships and Communication

A secondary key person, or buddy, covers the primary adult's absence. The assigned key person can change during settling if a child bonds more closely with another practitioner.

Parents initially stay with their child, then remain on site during a short separation before sessions lengthen. Babies follow individual routines and sleep in individual cots when needed, with familiar comfort items brought from home.

Family story books and English as an additional language books hold photographs and familiar words. Baby Room families can borrow ICT story books for sharing in their home language. Baby sign accompanies songs and routines, with a termly song and sign morning for parents; Toddler One offers monthly take-home activity sheets.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified well-targeted SEND support, including professional collaboration. Current arrangements include work with Merton Inclusion Team and parent meetings with the SENCo and key worker before starting or when additional needs emerge.

Each building has an intercom entrance, collection and visitor policies, and restrictions on mobile-phone use inside.

Each site's kitchen prepares fresh food daily, with seasonal menus on an 11-day rotation. The nursery describes catering for dietary and allergy requirements; allergy-affected families should confirm current practice for their child.

School preparation includes development reports shared with parents and the next setting, discussions about school life and visits from new teachers who wish to meet children.

Sessions and Attendance

At 32 Montague Road, full-day sessions run from 7.30am to 6.30pm, mornings from 7.30am to 1pm and afternoons from 1.30pm to 6.30pm. The full-day registration form sets a minimum booking of one day per week. Ad hoc sessions are also offered subject to availability, which gives an additional attendance option rather than a guaranteed flexible place.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm on weekdays, with bank-holiday closures. A folded buggy can be stored in the site's buggy shed during the day. General enquiries can be made through the contact form or by email; waiting-list enquiries have a dedicated email address.

The waiting list is free to join. Allocation follows the order of applications within each age group, with sibling priority, and an offer needs a response within three days. These durable rules matter more for planning than any passing statement about vacancies.

Getting There

The address is 32 Montague Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1TA. South Wimbledon tube station, Wimbledon train station and Merton Park tram station are within walking distance, with local bus routes also serving the area.

Funding and Paid Extras

Private fees include food, drinks, baby milk, consumables and activities. Funded childcare includes the 15 Hours funding offer for three- and four-year-olds and Up to 30 Hours Funding offers for the nine-month-to-two, two-to-three and three-to-four age bands. Funding is stretched across 51 weeks, spreading the entitlement through the year rather than concentrating it into term-time attendance.

For funded attendance from nine months to two years, food, formula milk, nappies, wipes, suncream and the listed activities carry no additional charge. The funded arrangements for the older age bands charge separately for food and formula, nappies, wipes and suncream, and the activities category, which also includes early and late attendance. The child's age band therefore changes the charge structure substantially.

Fees are paid in equal monthly instalments, with bank holidays included and no reduction for sickness or holidays. A holding deposit is required after an offer is accepted; the fee terms describe its return at the end of attendance subject to one month's notice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, supported by its fees and funding page.

• Baby-room fit. The Baby Room has a nine-child maximum and follows individual routines. During a visit, discuss how sleep, feeding and settling would work for your baby, and confirm the starting-age policy before planning an early return to work.
• Annual attendance. Opening information gives 51 weeks, while the facilities description gives 52 weeks, both with bank-holiday closures. Clarify the annual calendar and how it relates to monthly billing before committing.
• Funded extras. The youngest funded band has no additional charges for the listed food, consumables and activities, while older funded bands do. Have the written quotation separate these categories for your child's age and attendance pattern.
• Responding to an offer. Waiting-list allocation includes sibling priority and a three-day response deadline. Keep contact details current so an offer can be considered within that window.

Wimbledon Day Nursery suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance, with projects that give children a role in deciding what they explore. The nine-baby room cap, buddy key-person arrangement and gradual settling process provide concrete points on which to assess the fit for a younger child.

For older children, project work, responsibilities within the room and preparation for the next setting give the day a clear direction. The August 2022 Outstanding judgement is a useful reference point. Families should weigh that dated assessment alongside the current care arrangements, the annual attendance calendar and the age-dependent charges on funded days.