Seahorse Nursery, Southfields Day Nursery

In September 2022, woodland exploration and close attention to individual children gave Seahorse Nursery, Southfields Day Nursery its character. The nursery occupies a setting within the grounds of Linden Lodge School, while its small overall capacity, 25 children, gives families a useful sense of its scale. It accepts children from three months to five years.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found effective safeguarding, excellent communication development and highly effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That is a substantial endorsement, but it belongs to September 2022 rather than describing a new assessment of today's provision.

The practical offer combines year-round opening with privately paid childcare, mixed funded and private hours, and a funded-only model. Those choices have different implications for attendance and extras.

Learning and Activities

The nursery follows the early years foundation stage, the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care. In parent language, this brings learning and everyday care together: developing communication, relationships and physical skills alongside early understanding of numbers, language and the world.

In September 2022, staff used signs alongside speech, described children's play and introduced unfamiliar vocabulary. Singing helped children explore the sound and rhythm of language, while questions encouraged older children to explain their thinking. These were concrete ways of making communication part of ordinary activity rather than keeping it to a separate lesson.

Small-group work on early number and literacy skills also formed part of the September 2022 day. A science activity involved felt-tip colours, filter paper and water, with children discussing how the colours changed. The useful detail is the combination of practical exploration and conversation: children had something tangible to investigate and something to explain.

The Seahorse Curriculum and Seahorse Club are optional activity extras within the funded-hours charging structure. They sit alongside external classes; families choosing funded childcare can decide whether to purchase these additions.

Outdoor and Community Life

In September 2022, children had access to substantial outdoor space and woodland. Younger children explored mud with sticks, adding water and investigating the resulting changes. This gave outdoor play a learning purpose as well as room for movement.

Community learning also featured in September 2022. Contact with the neighbouring school helped children learn about disability, and charitable activity included supporting a child in Ethiopia. These experiences connected discussions about other people with something children could take part in.

Four Seahorse Community Days are included in funded-only hours: Sports Day, Grandparent's Day, Father's Day and Mother's Day. These included events give the funded-only arrangement a shared family and community element, separate from the optional paid activities.

Relationships were central to the September 2022 account of daily care. Before children started, home visits helped staff learn about their interests and establish familiarity with their families. Key-person relationships provided a route for that knowledge to shape care rather than treating settling as a single first-day task.

At the September 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked closely with outside professionals to support children with additional needs, sometimes accompanying parents to appointments, and that safeguarding practice included regular training, effective recruitment and routine assessment of risks. The practical strength was coordinated support around the child and family.

In September 2022, toddlers and older children used mindfulness activities to discuss emotions, including happiness, sadness and anger. Staff also helped babies understand gentle behaviour towards others. Emotional development was addressed through age-appropriate interactions, rather than expecting the same response from every child.

Parent involvement had a formal route in September 2022 through a parent representative. Staff also offered advice about sleep routines. Together, these arrangements gave families ways to influence the setting and discuss everyday care beyond the nursery day.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7.45am to 6.30pm, across 51 weeks of the year. Closures include bank and public holidays, the Christmas-to-New-Year period and three staff-training days; monthly charges remain unchanged through these closures.

The combination-funded model mixes entitlement hours with privately paid attendance. Funded-only attendance works differently: the nursery chooses the days and fixes the hours. For the 15-hour entitlement, the stretched pattern comprises one ten-hour day plus one hour and 43 minutes on another day; the 30-hour version comprises two ten-hour days plus two hours and 21 minutes on another day. This makes the funded-only model a timetable decision as well as a financial one.

Getting There

The address is Jasmine Building, Linden Lodge School, 61 Princes Way, Southfields, SW19 6JB. Attendance at a nursery on school grounds does not guarantee a Reception place; families still need to follow the relevant school's admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements are offered, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions, including universal 15-hour funding for three- and four-year-olds. Entitlement is spread over the nursery's operating year rather than restricted to term time.

Private hours include meals, snacks and cow's milk, together with nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream. During funded hours, food and consumables are separately charged optional services, as are activity extras; buying them is not a condition of taking a funded place.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees and admissions page provides the route to the applicable terms.

Leaving or reducing attendance requires two calendar months' written notice, with payment in lieu as an alternative. The general deposit terms provide for a refund after departure once the account has been settled, but retention if the accepted place is not taken up. Funded-only deposits follow separate arrangements.

• Funded-only attendance. The nursery selects the days and fixes the hours. Before accepting an offer, establish how that allocation fits work and other care commitments.
• Care across the ages. The nursery accepts babies from three months within a setting of 25 places. On a tour, ask how the youngest children's play, rest and outdoor time are organised alongside the older age groups.
• Offer deadlines and notice. An offer gives families 48 hours to accept, followed by five days to return signed terms and pay the required deposit. Read these commitments alongside the two-calendar-month notice requirement before proceeding.

Seahorse Southfields suits families considering either mixed funded and privately paid attendance or a fixed funded-only pattern. Its September 2022 strengths were specific: communication woven through play, purposeful outdoor exploration and close coordination around children needing additional support.

The decision turns on the attendance model and its terms. Optional funded-hours extras, nursery-selected funded-only days and notice commitments deserve as much attention as the historic Outstanding judgement.