Skallywags Day Nursery

A repurposed church, play shaped around children's interests and a practical emphasis on communication give Skallywags Day Nursery its character. Based at St Crispin’s Church in Rotherhithe, it accepts children aged 3 months to 5 years and has capacity for 48 children. The appeal is the combination of everyday play, individual observation and contact with home, rather than a collection of branded activities.

At its March 2026 inspection, Ofsted awarded Strong standard judgements for achievement, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, children's welfare and wellbeing, and behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines, with safeguarding standards met. These are area judgements rather than an overall grade. The detail gives parents useful points to weigh: practical language activities, help with emotions and purposeful preparation for school.

Full-day attendance and shorter morning or afternoon sessions serve different family routines, although the shorter sessions are restricted to the Toddler and Pre-School Rooms.

Rooms and Ages

The church building contains three rooms, with Baby Room, Toddler Room and Pre-School Room labels used for the different stages. This gives the nursery a staged structure across its overall age range. The distinction also affects attendance and food: shorter sessions belong to the older rooms, while families supply food for children in the baby room.

In March 2026, babies shared books with adults and practised movement across an outdoor bridge. Older children explored dough with tools, used tweezers to retrieve objects from sand and built models from magnetic shapes. These are concrete ways to practise hand control, vocabulary and early mathematical ideas through play. They also give parents a clearer picture of the day than a broad promise of educational activities.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning through play, covering development such as communication, movement, relationships and early literacy and mathematics. Activities are planned around individual children's interests, alongside adult-directed experiences and learning opportunities that arise during the day. The child's interests help determine the starting point; the framework supplies the breadth.

Observations take place every six weeks, with assessments every twelve weeks, including Wellcom as part of the development-tracking process. This creates regular opportunities to review how a child is getting on and plan support. The useful distinction for families is between enjoying an activity and using what happens during it to decide the next learning step.

In March 2026, shaving foam became a material for several kinds of learning: younger children counted and explored texture, while older children formed letters and pictures. Adults extended the activity through conversation. Oral-health activities were also adapted by stage, with babies exploring toothbrushes, dolls and model teeth, and older children discussing stories. Familiar routines became subjects for play and discussion.

Holi, the festival of colour, provided another example that March. Children celebrated with brushes and paint, moving around together and splashing colour. The activity brought cultural learning into physical play, rather than leaving it as an abstract explanation.

Outdoor and Community Life

In March 2026, outdoor experiences included riding bikes and cars, crossing the bridge and making broad movements with wet rollers and brushes. The outdoor area therefore supported both energetic play and the smaller experiments that build coordination. Babies and older children used it in different ways.

Planting areas and stronger community connections were development priorities at that point, including proposed care-home visits and community singing. These were plans, rather than established outings. Families drawn to those ideas should weigh the existing outdoor experiences separately from the intended additions.

Relationships and Communication

Famly is the app used to record development and communicate with parents and carers during the nursery day. It also supports information sharing as children start nursery. That gives families a channel for exchanging the details that matter to their child, alongside the nursery's observation and assessment routines.

In March 2026, children had close relationships with key persons, who understood their emotional needs. Adults talked through feelings and helped children find words for them. A space for calming down gave children somewhere to pause when they needed to regulate their emotions. The emphasis was on helping children recognise what they felt and practise responding to it.

Parent involvement that March included stay-and-play opportunities, shared reading and story sacks, alongside Mother's Day biscuits events. These offered different ways for parents to join in with children's learning. They are inspection-time examples of participation, rather than a timetable of current events.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2026 inspection, Ofsted found effective support for children with SEND, including adaptations, referrals and work with parents on individual targets, while identifying the next step as sustaining high standards and achieving a more substantial impact for children facing barriers to learning or wellbeing. The positive judgement and the development priority belong together: the aim is to deepen the benefit children receive.

The SEND policy gives the SENCO a coordinating role with families, key persons and outside professionals. Meetings with the child's key person take place every six weeks to discuss additional needs and review plans. Individual education targets include work for home, and parents receive copies of plans and reviews. These are practical mechanisms for keeping support connected across nursery and home.

In March 2026, a quieter area used a trampoline, an LED fish tank, a ball pit, a beanbag and textured surfaces to help children manage sensory overload. Visual prompts also helped adults tailor communication support. The value lies in the connection between a child's needs and the resources chosen, rather than the equipment alone.

Parents supply baby-room food; children moving into the toddler room are introduced gradually to the nursery menu, which includes breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea. The allergy policy asks families to give full details of allergies, intolerances and dietary requirements before starting, with arrangements discussed with the nursery.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day sessions run from 8am to 6pm, mornings from 9am to noon and afternoons from 1pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Morning and afternoon bookings are for the Toddler and Pre-School Rooms only. The minimum pattern is two full days or four part-time days, so occasional single-session attendance does not match the stated booking rule.

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays across the year, with Bank Holiday closures and a 1pm finish on Christmas Eve. An application places a child on the waiting list, which governs allocation. Contact is through the nursery's telephone, email or contact form.

A deposit is payable after accepting a place and is returned provided a month's written notice is given before leaving. Fees are paid in advance, with weekly, four-weekly or calendar-monthly payment options; absence through illness or holidays does not remove the charge. The registration terms also say missed attendance cannot be transferred to alternative days.

Getting There

The address is St Crispin’s Church, Southwark Park Road, Rotherhithe, London, SE16 2HU. Bermondsey station and local bus routes are nearby, giving families public-transport options alongside the weekday opening window.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including the Universal 15 Hours Funding and 30 Hours Funding, with Free Early Education Entitlements accepted for children aged 9 months to 4 years. Funding is delivered during term time; the 30-hour arrangement covers 38 weeks of the year. Eligibility conditions apply, and a valid code for the 30-hour entitlement must be reconfirmed every three months.

Families choose whether to attend in school holidays. Opting out means term-time attendance with no holiday charges; opting in means paying the full nursery rate for the same days and hours covered by term-time funding. That choice has a direct effect on the annual bill, rather than simply changing an individual week's attendance.

Funded hours cover care and education, excluding meals, snacks, nappies, wipes and additional activities or extras. Baby-room food remains the family's responsibility. Annual childcare costs are spread over twelve monthly payments, with changes to the arrangement affecting invoices; current prices come in the nursery's personalised written quotation. The fees and funding page explains the structure.

• Attendance pattern. The minimum is two full days or four part-time days, and shorter sessions are confined to the older rooms. Match those rules to the weekly routine you actually need.
• Holiday costs. Funded attendance is term-time, with holiday attendance charged at the full rate for the same days and hours. Decide whether the opt-in or opt-out arrangement fits your childcare needs.
• Individual support. The March 2026 priority was to deepen the impact for children facing barriers. At a visit, discuss how the SENCO, key person and family would agree targets and judge their benefit for your child.
• Starting nursery. Famly supports information sharing, and baby food comes from home. At a visit, ask how settling sessions would be organised around your child's routines and confirm current allergy arrangements where relevant.

Skallywags suits families seeking full-day care as well as those wanting morning or afternoon attendance for toddlers and preschool children, provided the minimum booking pattern works. Its church setting, interest-led activities and regular development reviews give the offer substance. Famly and the SEND planning arrangements connect nursery life with home.

The March 2026 judgements provide a strong basis for considering it, while the next step for children facing barriers deserves attention. The practical decision turns on attendance frequency, baby-room food and the cost of holiday care alongside term-time funding.