Kindred Twickenham Nursery and Pre-School

An indoor garden for babies and soft play for preschool children give Kindred Twickenham a practical answer to days when outdoor play needs an alternative. Large gardens add space for exploration, with a separate outdoor garden for the youngest children. This is a nursery whose physical spaces deserve attention as much as its activities.

On Hospital Bridge Road in Whitton, the nursery cares for children from birth to five and has 67 places in total. At its 28 March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and judged safeguarding effective. That judgement predates the current manager’s appointment, so it should be read alongside the present arrangements rather than treated as a fresh assessment.

Full days and half days sit alongside a shorter day option, giving families more than one way to organise attendance.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care: in everyday terms, play and daily routines become opportunities to develop communication, independence and physical skills. It is the shared framework for early years provision, rather than an extra programme exclusive to Kindred.

Cooking and Gardening bring practical tasks into the activity mix. MultiSports, French and Music are also included among the enrichment activities. These additions make the offer broader than indoor free play alone; their value for a particular child will depend on how they fit into that child’s attendance pattern.

In March 2023, toddlers explored early number ideas through finger rhymes, while preschool children corrected deliberately muddled stories together. Those examples give a useful picture of learning through participation: children were joining in, listening and contributing, rather than simply receiving instructions. Creative play also left room for children’s ideas, with staff supplying materials to help them take those ideas further.

Outdoor and Community Life

Babies have both an indoor garden and a designated outdoor garden. The indoor space gives sensory exploration a place inside the building, while the outdoor area gives the youngest children their own space beyond it. For preschool children, the indoor soft play area adds another setting for movement and physical play.

Access to the gardens runs through the day, with children able to choose between indoor and outdoor activities. That matters for children who engage better through movement or exploration: outdoor time is part of the routine rather than confined to one scheduled break. Crane Park is nearby, although the nursery’s own gardens are the clear physical feature of its daily offer.

In March 2023, preschool children cared for an allotment through changing weather. This was a concrete responsibility, connecting outdoor activity with looking after a shared space. Children also practised everyday independence, including preparing their own fruit and managing small self-care tasks.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with a three-day sequence. During the first hour, a parent remains with their child, gets to know the key person and fills in the All About Me book; the next session lasts an hour with the child attending independently, followed by a two-hour session. Additional settling sessions can be arranged when a child needs more time. The progression gives separation a gradual structure rather than making the first session a full nursery day.

Longstanding staff are part of the current team. Familiar adults can help maintain continuity as children get used to the setting, though the key person relationship remains the useful detail for parents to explore during a visit.

In March 2023, families received daily information and observations through an online app. Parents could use those updates to understand their child’s next learning steps and share concerns about development. The useful feature was the connection between nursery experiences and what families could support at home, rather than the technology by itself.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that preschool staff adapted speech and used signs to support different communication needs, but identified inconsistent communication support in the toddler room and insufficient help for children to connect their behaviour with other children’s feelings. Both points matter: knowing words for emotions is different from understanding the effect of an action, and toddlers need communication strategies suited to their individual needs.

The current day includes rest for children who need it after lunch, followed by afternoon activities and quieter play towards the end of the day. Meals are cooked each day by an on-site chef using an accredited menu. Food therefore forms part of the nursery routine alongside play and rest, with its charging arrangements differing between private and funded hours.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.45am to 6pm, and the nursery operates for 51 weeks of the year. Full Day bookings run from 8am to 6pm. Half Day bookings cover either 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm, making them useful for families organising care around part of the working day.

The Short Day option ends at 5pm. Its start time needs resolving for the relevant booking category, as detailed below. The opening window and the session booked are separate practical considerations: a Full Day begins after the nursery opens.

New-place enquiries use a dedicated telephone number, 020 8088 4957. One-to-one visits can be booked to discuss a family’s needs, including settling and funding.

Getting There

The address is Hospital Bridge Road, Whitton, Twickenham, TW2 6LD, near Crane Park and just a 13 minute walk to Whitton Station. One building has a driveway for brief collections and drop-offs, and free on-street parking is also available outside.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted, including the 30-hour entitlement for eligible working families and the 15-hour entitlement for children aged three to five, starting from the term after their third birthday. Funding is stretched across the year, so the entitlement’s headline hours should not be read as the same weekly allowance throughout an all-year attendance pattern.

Private fees include meals and snacks, together with nappies, wipes, milk and formula. For funded sessions, food, non-food consumables and activities have separate charges. Families who want to decline consumables alongside funded hours must give written notification and follow the Nursery Consumables Policy process.

A pre-payment is credited against the first full invoice; there is no separate deposit or registration charge. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation, and the Twickenham fees information sets out the different booking and funding categories.

• Toddler communication and behaviour. The March 2023 improvement points concerned communication strategies in the toddler room and helping children understand how their actions affect others. During a visit, ask for examples of how staff now handle both situations.
• Short Day timings. The 30-hour funding category gives a 9am start, while the 15-hour and private categories give an 8am start; the branch fee sheet also uses 9am. Resolve the start time for your booking before arranging work around it.
• Settling and the youngest children. Babies have their own outdoor garden and an indoor garden, and the initial settling sequence grows from one-hour to two-hour sessions. Use the visit to discuss the key person relationship and how additional sessions would work for your child.
• Funded-hour extras. Food, non-food items and activities are charged separately during funded sessions. Review those categories alongside the stretched entitlement when assessing the whole attendance pattern.

Kindred Twickenham suits families wanting either full-day care or morning and afternoon half days, with a shorter day option also in the mix. Its strongest current selling points are tangible: babies’ indoor and outdoor gardens, preschool soft play and frequent access to outdoor space.

The Good judgement from March 2023 provides a useful quality reference, while the toddler communication and behaviour findings give parents specific questions for a visit. For families who value gradual settling and several attendance patterns, this is a nursery worth considering on those concrete terms.