Mouse House Nursery School SW11: The Kindergartens

Daily visits to Wandsworth Common give Mouse House Nursery School a clear outdoor character: city nursery life extends into a substantial public green space, with nature sessions and neighbourhood outings alongside classroom play. This is the SW11 setting on Mallinson Road, accepting children from six months to five years and with capacity for 95 children in total.

At its 18 March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and judged safeguarding effective. That judgement predates the expansion into baby care: Mouse Hole was introduced for January 2026. In March 2024, children attending were aged two to four; the baby-room arrangements belong to a later phase of provision.

Attendance spans morning bookings, longer term-time days and full-time care across 48 weeks. The choice has practical substance, with different annual calendars as well as different collection times.

Rooms and Ages

Mouse Hole takes babies aged six to 18 months in a cosy room designed for their first experience of care away from family, with exploration and early independence forming its emphasis. The age band makes it a separate starting point for babies rather than an extension of the older children's classroom.

Lowers accommodates children from 18 months until around three years, encouraging them to attempt more tasks themselves while developing confidence and social skills through activities. Uppers begins at three, with a spacious classroom supporting play, friendships and preparation for the next stage of learning.

These rooms provide a progression from early exploration towards greater independence. The important distinction is developmental rather than simply a change of room name: the youngest children are beginning to explore their surroundings, while older children are practising doing more for themselves and learning alongside friends.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the required framework for children's learning, development and care: in everyday terms, play supports communication, physical development, relationships and growing understanding of the world. It is the starting point for provision, rather than an extra unique to Mouse House.

Beyond that foundation, children of all ages have Forest School sessions with a teacher, learning about nature and ways to interact with it. Music, sports and ballet add other forms of activity. The nursery's charging arrangements distinguish optional enrichment from the core EYFS provision; children who do not take part in optional sessions continue with that core provision.

In March 2024, children's interests shaped practical projects. An interest in transport led to road layouts made with tape, construction resources and conversations about police work and road safety. Story characters prompted children to sketch possible homes and then make them from blocks. These are useful examples of how a single interest can connect conversation, design and making, rather than ending with one adult-directed task.

A fire-station visit also carried into subsequent play in March 2024. Children built a fire vehicle from large boxes, made thank-you cards and took them back to the firefighters. The sequence linked an experience outside nursery with construction and an act of appreciation afterwards. It shows more about the learning process than a list of trips alone would.

Outdoor and Community Life

Wandsworth Common is used daily, giving outdoor activity a regular place in the timetable. Visits to local shops, parks and the library happen regularly too, extending children's experience beyond the classroom and into their neighbourhood.

Outdoor play in March 2024 included mixing water with mud and using large rollers to paint paper attached to trees. Adults responded to children's ideas and offered ways to extend them. The physical materials mattered: rollers, water and mud gave children opportunities to experiment on a different scale from tabletop work.

For families who value nature in an urban setting, the daily Common visits are the clearest practical attraction. Forest School adds guided learning about the natural world, while the community outings give a separate opportunity to become familiar with everyday local places. No weekly frequency should be assumed for those outings.

In March 2024, Ofsted found that staff knew their key children closely, built strong emotional relationships and tracked development effectively enough to identify learning gaps promptly. Attention to individual interests was paired with monitoring: staff developed activities around what children enjoyed while keeping track of their learning.

Communication in March 2024 included detailed accounts of children's days, parent seminars and guidance for learning at home. Children also practised independence through ordinary responsibilities, such as distributing cups and plates at snack time. School preparation here was visible in manageable daily tasks, alongside the confidence to discuss ideas with adults.

Staff development had its own structure. In March 2024, the nursery employed 21 staff, of whom 15 held early years qualifications; supervision discussions addressed children's needs and practitioners' development, and staff could access further training. These are dated staffing details, separate from the current room offer.

The SEND policy applying to Mouse House sets out a key-person system and a SENDCo role within each nursery. Support follows assessment, planning, action and review, with parents involved in agreeing outcomes and strategies. Plans are shared for use at home where appropriate, and their impact is reviewed after six to eight weeks. This gives families a defined process for discussing whether support is working.

For children receiving additional support, transition arrangements include contact with the next setting, discussion with parents and relevant professionals, and transfer of profiles and support information. Those mechanisms concern continuity of care and learning; they do not confer a school place.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery's address is 27 Mallinson Road, London, SW11 1BW. Its current attendance options extend beyond the shorter term-time opening pattern in use at the March 2024 visit.

Core Term runs for 34 weeks, while Extended Term runs for 39 weeks; both have opening hours of 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Morning bookings run from 8.30am to noon. Longer term-time bookings finish at either 3pm or 5pm, with options combining five mornings and three afternoons, or five days each week. The choice therefore involves both the length of the day and the amount of the year covered.

For children younger than two and a half, a three-morning plan is offered. From that age, the minimum term-time booking becomes five mornings each week. That change deserves attention when planning a longer nursery stay: a pattern suitable at the start may require a larger weekly commitment as the child gets older.

Full Time care operates for 48 weeks, with opening hours of 8am to 6pm on weekdays and booking plans of three, four or five days per week. This is a separate option from extending a term-time afternoon. Families needing care across more of the year have a different calendar to consider, rather than simply choosing a later collection time.

Funding and Paid Extras

Mouse House offers 15 Hours Funded and 30 Hours Funded options for eligible children, alongside privately paid care. Additional attendance beyond the funded entitlement is charged. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, which should distinguish the selected attendance plan from the services added to it.

Meals and snacks, together with hygiene consumables, are included within the combined booking fees shown for these plans. During funded hours, these sit outside the funded childcare and are charged separately as voluntary extras; parents may decline any or all of those charges. Enrichment resources and optional activities are also separated from the core provision. A funded-hours calculation and a complete childcare bill are therefore different things.

Optional enrichment runs alongside the EYFS, and children who do not participate continue with EYFS activities. Funded Entitlement Only arrangements use a set booking pattern, so the standard paid plans should not be treated as a promise that every funded-only arrangement follows the same timetable.

A non-refundable registration charge and a deposit apply outside funded-entitlement-only care; both are waived for children accessing only their funded entitlement. Deposit return is subject to the contract's conditions. For term-time care, withdrawal requires a term's notice or payment in lieu, except that Fully Funded places have a reduced withdrawal notice period of four weeks. Reducing term-time sessions requires a term's notice or payment in lieu; a term's notice is due by the first day of the preceding term. This is a substantial planning commitment, especially when reducing attendance rather than leaving altogether.

• Baby care after the inspection. Mouse Hole's introduction for January 2026 came after the March 2024 judgement. During a visit, ask how settling, sleep routines and everyday communication work for the youngest children now.
• The age-related booking change. The three-morning term-time plan applies only below two and a half; five mornings become the minimum afterwards. Consider that future weekly commitment alongside the initial booking.
• Calendar and funded-hours fit. Core Term, Extended Term and Full Time cover 34, 39 and 48 weeks respectively. Ask for a written breakdown showing how funding is applied to your chosen calendar and how declining voluntary extras affects the booking pattern.
• Reducing term-time attendance. Reducing sessions requires a term's notice or payment in lieu. Term-time withdrawal follows the same requirement, except that Fully Funded places have a four-week withdrawal notice period. Read the applicable deadline before accepting a plan, since a later reduction can carry a financial consequence.

Mouse House suits families seeking either morning-based term-time attendance or care across a longer day and more of the year. Daily Wandsworth Common visits, Forest School and the progression through Mouse Hole, Lowers and Uppers give its current offer a recognisable shape.

The March 2024 Outstanding judgement is a strong starting point, supported by detailed examples of children's ideas becoming practical projects. For baby families, the newer room deserves its own consideration. For everyone, the decisive practical choices are the annual calendar, the increasing minimum morning commitment and the separation between funded childcare and voluntary extras.