Scallywags Parent Partnership Nursery

Parents take a working role at Scallywags: they join play and food shifts, learn routines alongside staff and contribute to the nursery day. This is a practical partnership, rather than simply an invitation to occasional events. For a family choosing childcare, the appeal and the responsibility come together: parents can understand their child's experiences closely, but need time to participate.

The nursery occupies ground-floor accommodation at Mowlem Children's Centre on Wadeson Street, London, E2 9DL, with capacity for 25 children aged 24 to 60 months. Two nursery rooms and two gardens give indoor play, outdoor activity and growing their own spaces. Everything is on one level.

At its July 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. The current attendance offer centres on term-time care, with a core session and afternoon extensions on selected weekdays. Its strongest character comes from the combination of parental involvement, play shaped around children's interests and outdoor spaces that include planting areas.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, exploration and active experiences. Scallywags uses observations of children's interests to plan what happens next, indoors and outside. That makes a child's interests useful information for staff, rather than something separate from the learning programme.

Children's Early Learning and Development Record (ELDR) brings those observations together. Parents can contribute to it and discuss its contents with key workers. Planned observations during the term give additional attention to individual children, and families are told when their child is receiving that attention. This creates a clear opportunity to connect what a child does at home with what staff see at nursery.

Capoeira adds a physical activity combining a Brazilian martial art with dance, music and acrobatics. It gives movement a different form from playground play. Staff also bring Every Child a Talker (ECaT), a programme supporting positive communication, into the setting. These additions sit alongside the EYFS rather than replacing it.

In July 2022, children exercised their hands by pressing and squeezing play dough, discussed familiar stories and talked about caterpillars becoming butterflies. Older and younger children shared activities, giving younger children opportunities to watch their older companions. Ofsted identified two improvements at that July 2022 inspection: activities needed to involve younger children more effectively, and children learning English needed more support to use their home languages. Those points matter when judging how the shared provision works for an individual child.

Outdoor and Community Life

The two gardens contain playground equipment and planting areas. Outdoor activity spaces include places for reading, sand play and building dens, so the garden supports quieter interests as well as movement. Children can play with one another, independently or alongside adults; parental participation extends beyond the indoor rooms.

Growing plants and vegetables connects outdoor activity with food. In July 2022, children grew strawberries and considered turning them into yoghurt. It is a concrete example of an experience linking growing, conversation and something children might eat. The useful distinction is that the growing area belongs to the nursery's current provision, while that particular strawberry activity belongs to the dated account.

The rooms themselves accommodate different activities and learning arrangements. The whole-setting capacity is not a measure of the size of any one activity group.

Relationships and Communication

Parental involvement starts with induction. New parents shadow shifts, become familiar with routines and learn about child protection, healthy eating, behaviour and health and safety. They continue working alongside staff and other parents until confident with activity and food shifts. Participation therefore has a preparation stage; it is not simply turning up to help.

A termly rota organises play and food shifts, with the number depending on how many days a child attends. This is central to the nursery's model. It offers families a direct role in the setting, while making the practical demands of childcare different from a service where parents only deliver and collect their children.

Communication with key workers helps staff understand children as individuals. The learning record gives that communication something specific to work with: observations, interests and discussion about development. Parents are also welcome to raise concerns about its contents, allowing their knowledge of the child to contribute to planning.

In July 2022, parents spent time reading with children and helping with food preparation. Staff discussed children's needs with families, shared updates and sought help from external agencies when needed. Parents could remain inside to support separation. These are dated examples of how the partnership worked in practice, rather than promises about an individual child's settling timetable.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In July 2022, adults explained care routines to children and used visual signals to seek their agreement. Children practised handwashing before eating, taking turns and pouring drinks. Such ordinary routines gave them opportunities to communicate preferences and attempt tasks themselves.

The manager holds vocational qualifications and a degree in early childhood studies. Ongoing training for key staff supports their own learning, and the parent induction gives participating adults guidance on nursery practice. The professional team and parental contribution have different roles within the same model.

Preparation for school takes place during the child's final term. Staff talk with children individually and in groups about what school may be like, and discuss parents' concerns. The emphasis is on helping children understand the change ahead.

Sessions and Attendance

Scallywags operates from the ground-floor space at Mowlem Children's Centre, Wadeson Street, London, E2 9DL. Admissions enquiries go to the nursery manager.

The nursery runs for 38 weeks a year. Its opening hours are 9am to 1.30pm, Monday to Friday, with afternoons continuing until 3pm from Monday to Thursday. This is term-time provision, so the attendance pattern needs to fit the family's arrangements during school holidays.

The core session runs from 8.50am to 1.30pm. Afternoon sessions run from 1.30pm to 3pm, Monday to Thursday, and must be added to an earlier session: they cannot be booked independently. Parents can stay briefly for a soft start, with departure requested by 9.15am; children are asked to be in by 9.30am to protect settling and play time.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both 15 hours of Funded childcare and 30 hours of funded childcare are offered. The 15-hour arrangement consists of two short days, 9am to 1.30pm, and one long day, 9am to 3pm. For children entitled to 30 funded hours, childcare fees for a full-time place are covered. Funding is delivered within the term-time offer.

Families extending beyond 15 funded hours can add afternoons to short days or book additional days, with those extra hours or days charged separately. Day choices are offered wherever possible at the start of a placement. Private childcare is also offered, including an alternating pattern of two days one week and three the next.

Meals and non-food consumables are outside childcare fees, including funded childcare: parents supply nappies and wipes, and provide food for children and adults on their rotating food-shift day. Additional activities and trips are also outside the childcare fee; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, while the fees and funding page explains the structure.

Parents prepare vegetarian snacks and lunches, with menu planning supported by the Healthy Early Years Team and a recipe book developed within the setting. The nursery's dietary arrangements include provision for allergies and other dietary requirements.

Childcare fees are paid monthly, across 11 months of the year. The combination of term-time attendance, parent shifts and food contributions makes the overall commitment broader than the childcare bill alone.

• Time for parent shifts. A termly rota links participation to attendance. At a visit, discuss how induction, play shifts and food shifts would fit your working pattern, including the responsibility for supplying food on your shift day.
• Younger children and home languages. The July 2022 improvement points concerned participation in activities and support for home-language use. Ask how today's planning addresses those two issues for your child.
• Term-time attendance. The 38-week calendar and afternoon extensions from Monday to Thursday suit some schedules better than others. Consider both holiday arrangements and the shorter Friday before choosing an attendance pattern.
• Food and allergies. Parents prepare meals within the nursery's dietary arrangements. Families managing allergies should confirm current practice, including how guidance is applied across rotating food shifts.

Scallywags suits families who want to participate in nursery life and can make room for a termly shift rota. Its core sessions and longer days with afternoon extensions offer genuinely different attendance patterns, within a term-time calendar.

The two gardens, growing area, Capoeira and shared learning records give the partnership concrete substance. The July 2022 improvement points also give families specific issues to explore. This is a choice about a way of taking part in early education as well as a timetable: the parental role is a central part of what families sign up for.