Bushy Tails Nursery & Pre-School

An allotment gave children something tangible to investigate at Bushy Tails: herbs to crush, vegetables to grow and materials to turn into wildlife habitats. Those August 2022 experiences give this Teddington nursery its clearest character, with practical exploration running alongside early communication and independence.

At its 3 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Bushy Tails Good and judged safeguarding effective, while asking for better participation by quieter children during group activities and longer pauses for children to answer questions. That balance matters: there was plenty to engage children, but adult-led conversation did not consistently give everyone enough space.

Bushy Tails Nursery & Pre-School has 80 places in total for children aged 6–60 months. It operates at the National Physical Laboratory and is restricted to employees of NPL, OPSS or LGC. That employment condition is a decisive first consideration for families.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the expectations for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, play, conversation and practical activity become opportunities to develop communication, movement and independence, rather than simply fill the day.

In August 2022, babies experimented with paint using sponges, exploring texture while practising small hand movements. Toddlers crushed herbs from the allotment with a mortar and pestle and talked about their smell, while preschool children investigated mixtures of water, food colouring and shaving foam. Each example put children in contact with materials they could manipulate themselves. The learning was concrete.

During that same month, baby-room staff combined spoken commentary with gestures and sign language. This gave babies ways to express needs before spoken language was established. Older children's experiments also called for persistence: they tried out materials and continued working on their ideas rather than merely watching an adult demonstrate them.

Outdoor and Community Life

In August 2022, growing fruit and vegetables connected outdoor activity with the natural world. Children watered plants and discussed the harvest ahead, making change over time something they could follow directly.

Reused household objects became planters and spaces for wildlife, and children took regular outings nearby. These experiences brought sustainability into practical activity: caring for plants and finding another use for an object were things children could do themselves. The outings were regular, with no fixed weekly schedule implied.

In August 2022, staff used praise, gentle prompts and encouragement to help younger children understand expectations; older children were practising sharing and cooperative play. Relationships mattered alongside the activities. Staff's detailed knowledge of individual children helped them plan learning around children's development.

Communication with families then included conversations each day, meetings with parents and an online communication system. These gave families several ways to exchange information, from immediate care updates to a fuller discussion of learning. A digital update was one part of that exchange, alongside direct conversation.

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that language development was generally supported well, including for children with speech delay and SEND, although questioning sometimes needed more challenge and more thinking time. For parents, the useful distinction is between opportunities to hear new vocabulary and opportunities for a child to formulate an answer of their own.

In August 2022, an on-site chef cooked meals that sometimes used vegetables grown by the children. Children also practised serving lunch and pouring drinks, linking mealtimes with everyday independence.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 0LW. Bushy Tails opens Monday to Friday throughout the year, with bank holiday and Christmas closures.

Full Days run from 7.45am to 6.15pm; Mornings finish at 1pm after a 7.45am start, and Afternoons run from 1pm to 6.15pm. The all-year booking plans include five mornings, five afternoons, or full-day attendance across two to five days. Full-day bookings require at least two consecutive days, with either Monday or Friday included. This is a structured weekly commitment, rather than a selection of unrelated days.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and private hours are both offered. The entitlements include Working Parent funded hours, the Two Year Old Offer, Universal funded hours and Extended Entitlement funded hours, subject to the relevant eligibility requirements. For all-year bookings, funding is spread across 51 weeks: the 15-hour schemes provide 11 hours weekly, and the 30-hour scheme provides 22. Additional private hours sit alongside that allocation.

Breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea are included in the booking-plan prices, including plans with funded hours; food charges for funded sessions have a separate opt-in or opt-out choice. A private-place offer carries a non-refundable registration charge and a deposit; the deposit is credited to the final account, with cancellation refund conditions linked to six weeks before the agreed start. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Green LEYF is an optional contribution towards sustainability programmes. Bushy Tails also has its own terms and conditions for eligible employee families, so those branch terms belong alongside the chosen booking plan when weighing the commitment.

• Employee eligibility. Bushy Tails serves employees of NPL, OPSS or LGC. Establishing that your family meets this condition comes before comparing attendance plans.
• A fixed weekly pattern. Full days require consecutive attendance and a Monday or Friday; morning and afternoon plans cover five sessions. Consider how each pattern fits your working week.
• Quieter children in groups. The August 2022 improvement points concerned participation and thinking time. During a visit, ask how practitioners now include a hesitant child and allow time for answers.

Bushy Tails suits eligible employee families seeking either consecutive full days or a regular morning or afternoon pattern across the week. Its August 2022 examples of growing, experimenting and communicating give a useful picture of learning through practical activity. The key judgement for parents is how that experience now works for their own child, especially one who needs encouragement to join a group or extra time to respond.