Millie's House Nursery & Pre-School, Boatmans Court

A two-storey garden gives Boatmans Court its strongest physical character: water play, wooden stepping stones, mud kitchens and a herb garden bring different kinds of exploration into the same outdoor space. Inside, underfloor heating and sensor lighting sit alongside naturally lit rooms and resources children can use in different ways.

The Putney nursery has capacity for 74 children, accepting ages from three months to five years. No Ofsted inspection has been published for this setting yet. Families can choose full days or half days, with separate attendance arrangements for funded childcare.

Four rooms organise the nursery. Their environments are adapted to children's developmental stages and interests. The physical offer is substantial, but the useful distinction is how those spaces support different activities: the garden combines movement across stepping stones with water exploration and gardening.

The EYFS provides the required educational framework, with children learning through play across areas including communication, physical development and early literacy. Alongside it, the nursery’s curriculum, Millie’s Map to Meaning, sets out aims around communication, resilience, creativity, health and feeling secure. These are curriculum intentions rather than inspected outcomes.

Children's ideas help shape their learning. The approach draws inspiration from Montessori and Froebel, with independence, creative activity and outdoor exploration forming its stated emphasis. Baking, yoga and gardening add practical experiences to that approach: children can work with ingredients, try movement activities and take part in growing plants.

The building's design brings comfort into the everyday offer. Underfloor heating and natural light are concrete features; the rooms also contain open-ended resources, allowing children to decide how to use materials rather than follow a single prescribed activity.

Settling-in sessions are charged at the applicable hourly or session rate. That makes the settling period part of the financial decision, rather than an incidental extra. For families using funded hours, food and consumables carry no additional charge, so those categories do not add to the funded-session cost.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 3 Walkers Place, Putney, London SW15 1PP. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, across the year, with bank holidays and a week at Christmas excluded. Enquiries go to the Boatmans Court team by telephone or email.

Full-day and half-day bookings sit alongside funded days running from 10am to 6pm or 11am to 6pm. Universal funding is allocated to afternoon attendance, from 1pm to 6pm. These are different ways of using the nursery, so the attendance pattern matters as much as the opening window.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible working families can use extended funding from the term after their child turns nine months, stretched over 51 weeks to a maximum of 22 hours each week. Eligibility must be reconfirmed every three months. Taking the full extended-funded allocation requires attendance on at least three days per week, with seven funded hours on two days and eight on one day; additional attended hours are charged separately. Universal funding provides 15 hours per week over 38 term-time weeks from the term after a child turns three, allocated across afternoon sessions, also requiring at least three days for the full entitlement.

Food, activities and consumables incur no extra charge during funded hours. Enrolment carries a non-refundable registration charge, and settling sessions are paid for separately. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• The youngest children's room. Four rooms serve the full age range. During a visit, ask which room your baby would join and how sleep and changing fit into its layout.
• Funding and your working day. Funded attendance starts at 10am, 11am or 1pm, depending on the arrangement. Earlier attendance can therefore mean buying additional hours.
• Settling costs. Settling sessions are charged. Include the proposed settling pattern when requesting a written quotation.

Boatmans Court suits families comparing full-day care with half-day attendance, including those whose routines fit funded afternoons or later-starting funded days. Its strongest tangible assets are the purpose-built rooms and layered outdoor space. The funding structure is also useful to understand early: the allocation, attendance requirement and paid additional hours need to work together for the family's week.