Smilers Day Nursery, Leyton

Multilingual singing, seedlings and conversations woven into play gave Smilers Day Nursery, Leyton's July 2022 inspection its clearest character. At its July 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, received effective support. That is a dated assessment of care and education.

Based on Vicarage Road in Leyton, the nursery accepts children from 3 to 60 months. Its current offer includes age-specific rooms, a garden with different play areas and an in-house cook. These give children spaces for their stage of development, outdoor play and meals prepared within the nursery.

In July 2022, language threaded through ordinary activities. Practitioners put children's actions into words and introduced vocabulary during play, rather than keeping conversation to a separate lesson. Babies explored water, handled percussion instruments and joined action songs. These were concrete opportunities to connect movement, sounds and words.

Older children had their own practical learning. In July 2022, they investigated how coffee could help soil and used gardening vocabulary while moving seedlings between pots. Counting, recognising their names and exploring alphabet letters also featured. Gardening gave new words a tangible meaning: children could connect the language with something they were doing.

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning and care, with play supporting children's communication, physical development and relationships. It is the common early-years foundation, rather than a special programme unique to Smilers. Here, the age-specific room arrangement gives different stages their own space, while the garden extends opportunities beyond indoor activities.

Outdoor and cultural experiences added texture to the July 2022 nursery day. Children grew herbs and sunflowers, danced together and sang in different languages. Portuguese folk songs featured in singing and dancing, while older children's morning circle time included multilingual welcome songs. A visit to the fire station connected learning about people who help others with a real community setting.

In July 2022, children had close bonds with their key persons and talked with them about their interests and learning. Daily routines included eating, resting and play. Older children served themselves drinking water, younger children used open cups, and children helped put things away. These small responsibilities gave independence a practical place in the day.

Support for individual children in July 2022 involved shared strategies among staff, with advice from families and outside professionals informing their work. For parents, the useful detail is that support involved adults working to the same plan, rather than each practitioner taking a separate approach.

There was also a clear improvement point in July 2022: updated nursery policies had not reached every staff member. The required change was to circulate them across the team so that everyone understood the current procedures. This matters because written policies need to translate into consistent daily practice.

Following a regulatory call on 6 May 2026, Ofsted issued a welfare requirements notice covering safeguarding reporting about adults, staff vetting and recruitment, supervision, and healthy, age-appropriate food; it also found failures to notify it about staff-suitability matters and a manager change. At the 4 June 2026 monitoring visit, leaders demonstrated better safeguarding knowledge, reviewed recruitment checks, strengthened supervision and reviewed menus.

An in-house cook prepares meals for the Leyton nursery. Food preparation sits within the setting, alongside its indoor rooms and garden.

Sessions and Attendance

Smilers opens from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., Monday to Friday, for 51 weeks of the year. That gives families a weekday opening window across most of the year. The opening hours describe when the nursery operates; they should be considered alongside the attendance arrangement a family needs.

Getting There

The nursery's address is Smilers Nursery, 29a Vicarage Road, London, E10 5EF. Leyton enquiries go to helloleyton@smilersnursery.co.uk or 0208 558 1810.

Funding and Paid Extras

In July 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Families should distinguish that dated provision from the current funding and payment terms relevant to their circumstances. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Attendance within the opening window. The nursery opens for 51 weeks, with weekday hours from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. At a visit, what booking pattern would cover your required days, and how are funded hours, meals and consumables treated in the quotation?
• Age-specific rooms. Children have rooms organised by age and a garden with different play areas. On a visit, explore how your child's room uses the garden and how moves between rooms are managed.
• Safeguarding and supervision. The May 2026 welfare requirements notice required changes to reporting, recruitment, supervision and food. Improvements were recorded on 4 June 2026. At a visit, ask how those changes work in daily practice and what subsequent outcome has been communicated to families.

Smilers suits families seeking weekday childcare across most of the year, with age-specific indoor spaces, garden play and an in-house cook. Its July 2022 educational picture was especially memorable for language-rich play, multilingual singing and hands-on gardening. Keep that historical picture separate from the current experience: the strongest choice will be one whose room arrangements and attendance terms fit your child and your working week.