Ivytree Nursery Hampton

Meadow-sweeping in Bushy Park and an enclosed garden give Ivytree Nursery Hampton a recognisable character. This is care for children aged two to five. Its base is United Reformed Church Hall on Hampton’s High Street.

At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Ivytree Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children, including those with SEND and those learning English as an additional language, made good progress. The detail behind that judgement matters: children practised doing things for themselves, borrowed books to share at home and explored the natural world. Independence was part of ordinary nursery life.

Morning, afternoon and full-day attendance sit within a term-time model, with separate breakfast, lunch and after-school clubs. That gives families several ways to shape attendance around their child and their working day.

Rooms and Ages

Ivytree accepts children aged two to five and has capacity for 33 children in total.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning through play, covering communication, physical development and relationships alongside early literacy, mathematics, creativity and understanding the world. It is the shared early-years framework, rather than an extra programme unique to Ivytree. Here, planned experiences and opportunities to choose activities translate those areas into the nursery day.

Rainbow rules make expectations concrete: children practise listening, sharing, kindness and caring for their surroundings. Those are useful habits for a group of young children learning how to play together. Caterpillar Music Sessions take place on Friday mornings, adding a recurring music session to the week.

In June 2024, pretend ice-cream selling prompted conversations about invented flavours and prices, linking imaginative play with language and early mathematics. Story sessions included puppets, and a lending library let children continue sharing books with their families. These were practical connections between talking, playing and learning, rather than separate lessons imposed on the day.

The same visit captured children watching caterpillars and discussing their transformation into butterflies. Hatching chicks also visit annually as part of the current nursery programme. For children interested in living things, these experiences put change and growth into something they can observe directly.

Outdoor and Community Life

An enclosed garden gives outdoor play a defined space. Children use it in winter as well as summer, with water play, a sand-pit, a den area, hoops and bikes; gardening is another part of outdoor life. There is room for movement and for quieter investigation, so the garden serves more than one kind of play.

Bushy Park outings include meadow-sweeping, while trips to local shops connect nursery experiences with the surrounding area. Their value is in the change of setting: children can investigate beyond the garden and encounter everyday community life. In June 2024, outdoor experiences also included tricycle riding and visits to parks and an allotment.

Festivals from different cultures feature in nursery celebrations. Parents’ evenings and social events provide another connection between the nursery and its families.

Relationships and Communication

Settling can proceed at the child’s pace. Parents may remain while their child becomes comfortable, whether that takes hours or weeks. For a child finding separation difficult, the practical benefit is time to become familiar with staff and surroundings before managing goodbye independently.

In June 2024, home visits helped children become familiar with their key person and supported settling. The key-person relationship gives settling a personal connection, rather than making it solely a matter of learning the daily routine. That dated practice complements the current offer of allowing parents time to stay.

EyLog is an online learning journey used to record observations and build a picture of each child’s development. Parents can add photographs and written accounts of experiences outside nursery, and staff can use those contributions when planning for the individual child. A new interest at home can therefore become useful information for the nursery day.

In June 2024, family support included workshops about children’s behaviour. Children also practised everyday independence: toddlers attempted their own shoes, older children managed hygiene routines, and children served food and poured drinks. These small tasks matter when preparing for the next stage because they give children practice in managing familiar needs themselves.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The team includes SENCO roles, a designated safeguarding lead role and staff with paediatric first-aid training.

At the June 2024 inspection, Ofsted asked for some group activities to be better matched to individual children’s interests and abilities, and for staff support and training to address individual development needs more closely. Some children had too little challenge or insufficient reason to join particular activities. This is the main qualification to an otherwise positive account: choice of resources alone does not ensure that a planned group activity works equally well for every child.

Meals are cooked fresh each day, with menus rotating over four weeks. Lunch Club includes a hot meal, and the after-school clubs include tea, placing food within those attendance arrangements.

Sessions and Attendance

Term-time nursery sessions run Monday to Friday. Morning attendance is from 8.45am to noon, afternoon attendance from 1pm to 4.15pm, and a full day from 8.45am to 4.15pm. Families can therefore choose a shorter session or attendance across the main nursery day.

Breakfast Club begins at 8am daily. Lunch Club runs from noon to 1pm, bridging the morning and afternoon sessions. These are separate named arrangements, so a morning session should not be treated as automatically including the lunch period.

After School Clubs run Monday to Thursday. One option is 4.15pm to 6pm with tea; another runs from 3.15pm to 6pm and includes pick-up and tea. The distinction matters for families matching collection arrangements to the end of another setting’s day. These club times should be considered alongside the main nursery sessions when deciding which pattern fits.

Getting There

The address is United Reformed Church Hall, 35b High Street, Hampton, TW12 1NB. Enquiries can be made by telephone or through the email contact route; weekday telephone contact hours are 8.30am to 4.15pm.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded nursery education is offered for three- and four-year-olds, starting in the term after the child turns three. Ivytree also participates in Richmond upon Thames’ Early Education Funding scheme. Funding sits within the nursery’s term-time attendance model.

Private childcare is also offered.

• Matching activities to your child. The June 2024 improvement points concerned individual challenge, interests and staff development. On a visit, ask how a planned group activity is adapted for a child who needs more challenge or a different way to participate.
• The whole attendance pattern. Morning and afternoon sessions have a lunch interval between them, and after-school clubs run Monday to Thursday. Discuss the combination of sessions and clubs that would fit your week, including the term-time calendar.
• Funding and the complete quotation. Funding for three- and four-year-olds begins in the term after the third birthday. What does your chosen funded or private arrangement include for meals and non-food consumables, and how are any club charges handled?

Ivytree suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions as well as those wanting a full nursery day with club arrangements around it. Its appeal is concrete: an enclosed garden, Bushy Park exploration and an online learning journey to which parents can contribute.

The June 2024 Good judgement carries meaningful strengths in independence and children’s progress, balanced by a clear need for more individual tailoring in some activities and staff development. Families who value play, outdoor experiences and time for settling have good reasons to consider it, while weighing how the session pattern fits their week.