Dreamland Nurseries

Dreamland Nurseries
Unique reference number (URN): 2800160
Address: 60-62 Chingford Mount Road, London, E4 9AA
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 14/08/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Dreamland Nurseries Ltd
Inspection report: 16 March 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for
governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open
culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively
identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all
legal requirements are met.

Expected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Leaders prioritise the development of positive behaviour, attitudes and consistent routines to
support children's wellbeing. Children typically benefit from a nurturing approach where they
are given opportunities to be curious in their learning. Clear and age-appropriate
expectations are included in daily routines and modelled by staff through respectful
interactions, and children are receptive.
Children are confident and demonstrate resilience in their play, listening attentively,
maintaining focus and responding appropriately to staff prompts. When a staff member asks,
'Who is ready to tell me what we are about to do?', the children respond by saying it is
garden time, engaging and showing their understanding of established routines.
Children confidently approach staff for support, and staff respond sensitively, using
encouragement such as, 'Thank you, I can see you are doing perfect listening.' This
approach helps reinforce positive behaviour among the children. Children are supported to
collaborate in play. For example, children work together to sequence counters. They take
turns, share colours and talk about their ideas. Younger children's play is fostered by staff
who encourage talking, listening, sharing and cooperative play to support their
understanding.
Leaders promote attendance with parents by offering flexibility for them to access funding
for both morning and afternoon sessions. Clear communication is provided to families about
the importance of regular attendance, ensuring that children benefit fully from their funded
entitlement.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Children benefit from secure attachments with their key person, and staff know them well.
This ensures that children develop positive relationships with staff. Children also receive
nurturing support from staff that promotes their confidence, resilience and positive emotional
wellbeing.
Children are reliant and generally show positive attitudes to learning, with increased
independence in selecting their own play. They are responsive to staff and confident in their
environment. For example, key persons consistently comfort younger babies using soothing
techniques, such as gentle rocking and singing known rhymes. Children are supported to
develop their physical skills and to recognise, express and manage their emotions, which
supports their emotional development.
Older children demonstrate confidence in their skills, particularly with cars and small-world
play, developing their understanding of the world. Staff provide a flexible routine that is
tailored around children's individual needs and dietary needs. These are monitored
effectively, and staff understand safer care practices. For example, babies follow safe sleep
routines, with staff providing comfort items and reassurance. Staff supervise children
vigilantly during mealtimes. They sit with children, encouraging independence while offering

support where needed. For children who are weaning, staff work closely with parents to
introduce new textures and foods gradually, ensuring consistency and sensitivity to each
child's stage of development.
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders create an inclusive environment where every child is valued and demonstrate that
inclusion underpins all aspects of their practice. They work closely with multi-agency
professionals and parents to ensure that each child's individual needs are typically
understood and met effectively.
Leaders make full use of early years funding to provide tailored support for children who
may face barriers to learning. This approach enables the setting to allocate resources
appropriately. For example, specialised interventions with a speech therapist ensure that all
children can access the curriculum fully.
The setting supports children who may experience challenges and works with families to
have an open communication and collaborative culture. This is to identify any emerging
needs at an early stage. Quarterly cohort assessments are undertaken, and monitoring is a
priority. This enables staff to respond quickly and put appropriate measures in place.
Speech and language development is a key focus within the setting. Staff are trained to
support communication and language through quality interactions, modelling language and
creating communication-rich environments. For example, visual aids, gestures and key word
repetition are used to help children develop their language so that they can meet their full
potential.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders typically focus on maintaining appropriate standards of care and safeguarding
within the setting. They work collaboratively to ensure that the provision typically meets the
needs of all children and strive for improvement. This means, generally, consistency for
children and families has been maintained.
Leaders typically show an understanding of the setting's strengths and areas for
improvement. They regularly review policies, tailor staff training and listen to staff feedback.
For example, leaders identified a need to further strengthen communication and language
opportunities for children. This targeted training led to enhanced planning that, once
embedded, will improve staff interactions and knowledge and create better outcomes for
children.
Leaders place priority on staff wellbeing by ensuring supportive supervision. Ongoing
external and online training is in place to develop staff knowledge further. This approach
ensures that there is a positive culture where staff feel supported and valued and where
they can reflect on and improve practice. For example, recent safeguarding and curriculum
training has strengthened staff confidence and improved consistency within the setting.
However, newer staff do not consistently deliver the curriculum effectively to support
children's achievement.

Needs attention
Leaders ensure that risk assessments are in place and concerns raised will be addressed
promptly and effectively. Staff concerns are immediately addressed and actions taken.
Achievement Needs attention
Children make some progress from their starting points. However, this does not reflect the
progress that they are fully capable of achieving. Some children do not consistently benefit
from a broad and stimulating range of resources that capture and sustain their interests. In
addition, the quality of teaching does not always sufficiently meet children's individual
learning needs, which impacts on their language and communication development.
However, some aspects are working well. For example, children develop early mathematical
skills and gain an understanding of growth as they experiment with plant roots, count and
sequence numbers. They show curiosity and collaborate to solve problems with increasing
resilience. Younger children also demonstrate their understanding of simple positional
language, such as 'up' and 'down', which helps to build their early understanding of
direction.
Children are valued as individuals within the environment. For example, to support their
understanding, visual aids and sensory experiences are implemented in play to meet
emerging needs, particularly for those with speech and language delays or who are learning
English as an additional language.
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Staff demonstrate an understanding of teaching. However, not all children benefit from
quality teaching and learning. For example, at times, children prefer to foster their own play
rather than be in a larger group, highlighting the need for staff to adapt teaching strategies to
foster children's engagement so that effective learning can take place for all children.
Staff monitor children's progress through assessments to understand what children know,
and they use opportunities to be part of the children's play to build on their knowledge
through teaching and modelling. However, these supportive systems are not always
effective to fully engage children in sustained shared thinking to ensure continuity of learning
across all aspects of the curriculum. This can inherently act as a barrier for creating positive
outcomes for children.
Leaders show some understanding of the quality of the curriculum, which is designed to
meet the needs of all children. Older children comfortably engage with staff and show an
interest in mathematics. Staff play an important role in helping children develop
mathematical language. For example, during staff-led activities, children explore the
concepts of shape and patterns and build on their problem-solving skills. This deepens
children's understanding and helps them make connections and apply concepts for
mathematics in their play.

What it's like to be a child at this setting
Staff create an open culture where children feel safe, secure, valued and well cared for.
Children demonstrate a sense of belonging in the environment, which typically supports their
individual needs. Staff are warm, approachable and consistently support children's
emotional and developmental needs. Younger children benefit from emotional attachment to
staff, and older children are supported in building confidence in play.
Children are respected as individuals. Staff create an inclusive environment and typically
make adaptations to activities to accommodate understanding. They incorporate visual aids
into play alongside sensory experiences to meet children's emerging needs, particularly
children with speech and language delays and children who speak English as an additional
language.
Children demonstrate levels of curiosity. They develop early mathematical skills, such as
using counters to count and sequence numbers. They are learning to collaborate, share
ideas and solve problems together with staff support. Staff also focus on the exploration of
plants and how they grow. These experiences provide children with understanding and
knowledge to build on their play. Younger children demonstrate their understanding of
simple positional languages, for example 'up' and 'down', which helps to build their early
understanding of direction.
Positive behaviour is fostered from the onset. Staff encourage and offer specific praise,
reinforcing cooperation, sharing and taking turns. Respect for each other is embedded into
the setting. Children ask and answer questions, showing a level of confidence in their space.
They are developing and building on their skills through experiences such as examining
plant roots and sequencing numbers, promoting their curiosity and scientific understanding
of their environment.
Next steps
To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the
following actions by the assigned date:
Action Completion Date
ensure that the environment is age-appropriately
planned to ensure children are benefiting from the
04/05/2026

Inspector:
Melissa Seetal
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2800160
Address:
60-62 Chingford Mount Road
London
E4 9AA
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 14/08/2024
Registered person: Dreamland Nurseries Ltd
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00
Action Completion Date
provision that fosters their interest and needs
prioritise quality teaching that supports children's
shared thinking and social interaction, particularly adult-
led play, to foster conversations
04/05/2026
prioritise quality adult-child interactions to extend
children's communication and language development.
04/05/2026
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs and
disabilities coordinator and parents during the inspection.
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the
quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The
registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for
children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

Local authority: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 16 March 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
6 to 4
Total number of places
35
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are
following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional
standards expected of them.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
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and regulates services that care for children and young people.
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