URN 2766971 · Inspected 2026-04-13 · Published 2026-06-02 · Inspector: Gary Pickett
Puddle Jumpers Nursery - Wapping Unique reference number (URN): 2766971 Address: St. Peters Centre, Reardon Street, London, E1W 2QH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 11/01/2024 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Puddle Jumpers Wapping Ltd Inspection report: 13 April 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 Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard Children are well cared for by nurturing and attentive staff. Leaders and staff prioritise children's emotional wellbeing. They provide families with advice and guidance to help keep children healthy. Leaders promote healthy choices through a range of opportunities. For example, children take part in additional activities, such as football, and benefit from programmes that promote their physical development and healthy lifestyles. Leaders also provide guidance to parents and carers around oral health, nutrition and early care routines. These approaches contribute to children's health and wellbeing. Children are developing independence skills. For example, staff encourage children to self- serve at mealtimes and manage their own personal needs. Staff generally support younger children sensitively, particularly during care routines and settling-in periods, which helps to promote children's personal, social and emotional development. Parents speak positively about the care provided by staff, which helps children feel comfortable and secure. Leaders monitor children's attendance. They maintain open communication with families, including supporting parents to understand the importance of regular attendance. Clear procedures are in place to follow up absence and ensure children are safe and their welfare is promoted. Overall, children's wellbeing is supported effectively. Staff provide a caring and nurturing environment. Inclusion Expected standard Leaders embed secure settling-in procedures, which help them to get to know children and families well. They support staff to identify children's needs at an early stage, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children who may face barriers to their learning. Staff build effective relationships with parents and carers and share information about their children's development. Leaders and staff work with external agencies to plan and carry out support for children with SEND and those who face additional difficulties, including children who are looked after. For example, staff implement strategies from external professionals and adapt routines to meet children's individual needs. This means that some children generally make progress because staff understand the support and strategies needed to help them. Leaders use additional funding to support children's experiences and reduce barriers to their learning. Leaders have clear plans to support children's emotional regulation across the nursery, helping children to understand and manage their feelings. For example, leaders have introduced calm spaces across rooms and provide resources, such as soft furnishings and sensory equipment, which staff use to support children when they become overwhelmed. Leaders typically evaluate the needs of children. As a result, children with SEND and those who face barriers to learning make appropriate progress from their starting points. Needs attention Leadership and governance Expected standard Leaders have a clear vision for the nursery and identify priorities for improvement. They are reflective and recognise areas for development, including transitions, routines and strengthening teaching and interactions. Leaders support staff wellbeing. They ensure induction and supervision processes are in place. Staff receive appropriate induction and supervision. Supervision meetings identify areas for professional development. These actions demonstrate leaders' commitment to improving practice. Leaders understand what needs to improve and their responsibility to ensure that staff have a secure understanding of the curriculum. They have introduced training, support and modelling to develop staff practice, and some improvements have been made. However, this is not yet consistently embedded, and staff do not always implement these approaches with confidence yet. Improvements are not yet implemented consistently across the nursery, and this limits the impact of leaders' work. While leaders have identified areas for development, staff do not always share the same understanding of the curriculum expectations or consistently implement high-quality interactions. As a result, improvements are beginning to have an impact, but this is not yet consistent in the quality of teaching and children's learning. Monitoring of practice is not yet precise enough to ensure consistent and high-quality experiences for children. Achievement Needs attention Children's achievement is not consistent. Learning opportunities sometimes happen by chance rather than being planned. This means children do not consistently build on what they already know and can do. As a result, children's progress is not always clear or secure across the areas of learning. Children make some progress from their starting points. They develop skills in some areas of learning, particularly in their personal, social and emotional development, where they form secure relationships and show confidence in the environment. Children also show enjoyment in play, such as when exploring the mud kitchen. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress, particularly where targeted support and external advice are in place to help address gaps in their learning. Progress across a wider range of learning is less evident and not consistent across the nursery. For example, during a cutting activity, children use scissors, but do not receive consistent support to extend their skills. This means children do not consistently deepen their knowledge or develop skills across all areas of learning. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention Children generally behave well and demonstrate kind and considerate interactions with their peers. Relationships between staff, children and families support children's emotional security. Staff focus on building secure attachments. This helps children to feel safe and settled in the nursery. Parents and carers also value the caring relationships staff have developed with their children. Routines are in place across the setting. However, staff do not consistently organise these effectively, particularly during transitions between activities and rooms. They do not make their expectations clear to children during routine changes. For example, during transitions from outdoors to snack time, children wait for extended periods and become unsettled. Some children find it difficult to regulate their emotions, and staff do not always support them effectively. Transitions within routines are not consistently well managed. They do not consistently support children to use and build on key skills, such as independence. As a result, children are not consistently ready to engage in learning. Curriculum and teaching Needs attention Staff do not consistently have a secure understanding of what children are intended to learn. As a result, teaching is not consistently effective across the nursery. Staff interactions are warm and caring, but are not consistently effective in extending children's language and deepening their learning. Leaders have developed a curriculum and have a clear understanding of how they want children to learn. They are knowledgeable about child development and identify the skills they want children to develop across the areas of learning. Leaders communicate their expectations through discussions with staff. Leaders recognise that this is an area for development and are working to strengthen staff understanding. However, this is not yet consistently embedded in practice. Staff are not always clear about what they want children to learn or how activities support children's development. For example, during a cooking activity, staff identify different intentions for the activity and are not able to explain what children are expected to learn. Some children did not take part. Similarly, during play in the mud kitchen, children enjoyed mixing 'potions', but staff did not identify or build on opportunities to support their learning. This means children's learning is not consistently planned or purposeful. As a result, children do not build securely on what they already know and can do. Children access a range of resources and activities independently. However, staff do not consistently consider opportunities to embed children's learning across the environment. Staff do not consistently use these opportunities to support what children need to learn. This limits opportunities for children to apply and deepen their learning across the day. Compulsory Childcare Register requirements This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met Voluntary Childcare Register requirements This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met What it's like to be a child at this setting Children explore resources in the environment. However, staff do not consistently consider all opportunities to extend children's learning well across all areas of development. As a result, children do not build securely on what they already know and can do. This is because staff do not have a secure understanding of the curriculum intent. Staff interact positively with children, but they do not consistently support them to explain their ideas or widen their knowledge. For example, during an adult-led cutting activity, the learning intention is not clear, and staff are unsure what children are expected to learn. Despite this, children Inspector: Gary Pickett generally show positive attitudes to their learning and engage well with the experiences available to them. For example, they are interested in being outdoors and exploring the mud kitchen, where they pretend to mix potions in pans. Children are happy and settled. They feel safe and secure in this familiar environment. Children separate well from parents and carers due to a caring team of staff who embed professional relationships with children and families. Staff support children's wellbeing through effective settling-in procedures and robust key-person systems. This includes home visits prior to children starting at the nursery. This has a positive impact, as staff know children well and understand their individual needs. For example, in the baby room, staff confidently talk about children's personal care routines and support them sensitively. This is particularly beneficial for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Next steps To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must take the following actions by the assigned date: Action Completion Date develop staff's understanding of the curriculum so that planning builds on what children know and can do, and clearly identifies their progress and achievement 11/05/2026 improve the organisation of transitions so that children understand expectations and are ready to learn 11/05/2026 About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, the special educational needs coordinator, children and parents and carers 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. A quality assurance visit by an additional inspector was carried out at this inspection. About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2766971 Address: St. Peters Centre Reardon Street London E1W 2QH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 11/01/2024 Registered person: Puddle Jumpers Wapping Ltd Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30 Local authority: Tower Hamlets Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 13 April 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 67 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 services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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