1st Place at The Elephant

Two outdoor play areas and a sensory room give 1st Place at The Elephant a practical counterweight to its central London setting. Planting, trikes and a reading corner sit alongside outings to parks, museums and the theatre. There is room for both active play and quieter exploration.

At its May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, children making good progress and good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That positive judgement comes with two clear improvement points: greater privacy during toileting and more precise supervision of staff practice. A later regulatory outcome also matters to the decision.

The nursery at 15 Hampton Street, London SE17 3AN has 100 places in total and accepts children aged 6 to 60 months. Both term-time and all-year attendance patterns are offered.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play and everyday routines are opportunities to practise language, movement, social skills and independence. Here, concrete examples from May 2025 show how those opportunities were used. Babies handled shells and explored paint, dough, water and sand; adults introduced words alongside the textures. Toddlers practised coordination on equipment and joined songs with actions. Older children used wheels and crates to invent structures and act out journeys by boat.

Those examples show different demands at different stages. For a baby, exploration can mean reaching, grasping and hearing a new word. For an older child, the same freedom to investigate can involve solving a construction problem with friends. In May 2025, children could choose resources themselves and develop their own play ideas, rather than simply follow an adult's activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds nature-based exploration through regular outings to parks and a nature reserve. The Hampton Street nursery also uses its central location for museum and theatre trips, travelling on foot or by bus. These outings extend children's experiences beyond the nursery's own play spaces; regular trips are part of the offer, rather than a claim of a fixed weekly timetable.

Inside, seven rooms include a sensory room. Outside, two secure play areas accommodate trikes, planting and a reading corner, giving children different ways to use outdoor time. Physical activity and books share the same space.

In May 2025, gardening involved watering plants and growing tomatoes and aubergines. Children mixed water with soil and developed their own imaginative game from the materials. Books also travelled beyond the nursery: a lending library let children take reading home to share with their families. That makes a useful connection between nursery experiences and time with parents.

In May 2025, new children received affectionate reassurance as they settled. Adults helped children recognise feelings, share resources and take turns, using gentle reminders about how their actions affected others. The emphasis was on helping children understand behaviour through daily relationships and routines.

Developmental assessments were used to identify what children could already do and plan their next learning steps in May 2025. Staff worked with parents and made referrals for specialist help where needed. Parents also received practical guidance, including support with toilet training and opportunities to learn about baby massage. For families, the useful detail is the connection between children's development, conversations at home and access to further support.

The May 2025 improvement points deserve equal attention. Toileting arrangements did not consistently protect children's privacy, and supervision needed to address gaps in staff knowledge and uneven interactions. These are concrete matters of daily care, rather than abstract management targets.

Following a March 2026 regulatory visit, Ofsted found a failure to notify significant company changes, concerning registered individuals. The outcome dated 19 March 2026 stated that the provider remained registered; it did not record a finding that the other safety, welfare, SEND or staffing concerns raised were substantiated. The notification failure is the latest published regulatory finding and should be weighed alongside the earlier Good judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The Elephant offers term-time places and full-time, all-year-round places. These are different attendance patterns: the opening window should not be treated as the hours of a particular booked session. The nursery closes for bank holidays and Christmas.

Enquiries can go directly to TheElephant@1stplace.uk.com or 020 7998 6430. Having a branch contact is useful for keeping arrangements specific to Hampton Street.

Getting There

The address is 15 Hampton Street, London SE17 3AN, near Elephant and Castle station. Walking and bus travel are used for trips to museums and the theatre, making the surrounding city part of children's nursery experiences.

Funding and Paid Extras

In May 2025, the nursery provided funded early education. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their chosen attendance pattern before making a financial commitment.

• Privacy and staff practice. The May 2025 improvement points concerned toileting privacy and consistency of adult interactions. During a tour, ask how the toilet arrangements and staff supervision now address those specific issues.
• The March 2026 notification finding. The latest published outcome recorded a failure to notify significant company changes. Ask what arrangements now ensure that required notifications are made promptly.
• Attendance and the written quotation. Both term-time and all-year patterns are offered. What hours would the proposed booking cover, and how would funded hours be treated in the written quotation?
• A small tour group. Tours are capped at two families per session. Use the visit to discuss how your child's settling period would work and see how the sensory room and outdoor spaces fit their day.

1st Place at The Elephant suits families considering either term-time attendance or care across the year who value outdoor exploration alongside access to London's museums and theatre. The sensory room, planting spaces and reading corner give the physical offer substance; the May 2025 examples add a clear picture of children's play at different ages.

The decision also needs to account for the toileting and staff-supervision improvement points and the March 2026 notification finding. A Good judgement is useful context, but those specific matters deserve direct discussion before joining.