Partou The Thames Club Day Nursery & Pre-School

Partou The Thames Club Day Nursery & Pre-School
Unique reference number (URN): 2712721
Address: The Thames Club, Wheatsheaf Lane, Staines-Upon-Thames, Surrey, TW18 2PD
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 26/01/2023
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Partou UK Limited
Inspection report: 12 March 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement

Expected standard
Safeguarding standards not met
Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding
that adequately protects children from harm. The failure to follow statutory safer recruitment
procedures means that children's safety cannot be assured. Leadership decisions have not
consistently prioritised children's welfare, and gaps in record-keeping have significantly
compromised safeguarding arrangements.
Leaders have strengthened some safeguarding systems since the previous visit, such as
revisiting staff understanding of whistleblowing, respectful handling and recording
processes. However, these improvements do not mitigate the serious breach identified in
recruitment. However, leaders do appropriately record and review safeguarding concerns
and contact relevant safeguarding agencies. Staff now complete reflective training
summaries, and managers use supervision and scenario-based practice to build staff
knowledge of safeguarding.
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.
Achievement Expected standard
Most children are making steady progress from their starting points. Many develop
confidence in communicating with peers and adults, and older children show growing
understanding of emotions and relationships. Children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities (SEND) benefit from early interventions and multi-agency involvement, which is
helping them make progress, particularly in emotional regulation and communication.
Disadvantaged children and those who speak English as an additional language are
developing well. Babies develop physical skills and engage well in sensory experiences, and
older children show readiness for school through increasing independence at mealtimes and
engagement in early literacy and numeracy experiences. For example, they guess how
many cars they can fit into the structure they are building, demonstrating an early
understanding of space, shape and measurement. All children develop the knowledge and
skills they need for their next stage in learning.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Children are cared for in a generally safe and nurturing environment. Staff supervise
children well, and babies sleep safely with appropriate supervision. Hygiene routines are

embedded, with children washing their hands independently before meals and snacks. Staff
support children's understanding of healthy routines, such as taking regular sips of water
and sitting down safely to eat.
Children with additional needs receive responsive emotional support. Staff working with
children who struggle with emotional regulation use co-regulation effectively, helping
children identify feelings and manage frustration. Where children show signs of tiredness,
staff adjust routines sensitively, offering rest opportunities and comforting interactions.
However, key-person relationships for babies are not consistently secure enough to promote
deep attachment, and the quality of care varies depending on staffing arrangements.
Despite these weaknesses, the fundamental care practices, such as supervision, health
routines and support for emotional wellbeing, are typically well met.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders have introduced a curriculum that prioritises communication and language,
emotional development and physical development. Staff understand children's interests and
plan activities that reflect these, such as sensory exploration for younger children and
activities around feelings for older children.
Teaching is generally purposeful, and many staff support children's developing vocabulary,
particularly during small-group activities. Mathematical language is modelled well during
problem-solving activities, such as building structures and counting quantities. Staff working
with all ages prompt children to think, predict what might happen and extend their ideas.
However, curriculum implementation is inconsistent. Some staff do not adapt their
interactions well enough for children who have emerging communication needs. In the baby
room, key persons do not always demonstrate an accurate understanding of their key
children's stages of development. This leads to next steps that are not fully aligned to
children's needs. In the pre-school room, staff do not consistently build on conversations to
extend children's learning.
Despite these weaknesses, children typically remain engaged, and staff generally use
assessment to inform teaching. Leaders recognise that improvement is needed to
strengthen consistency in staff practice.
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders have taken effective steps to improve the setting's approach to inclusion. They
demonstrate a secure grasp of the graduated approach. This helps them ensure that
children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early,
assessed appropriately and provided with targeted support. Leaders hold regular review
meetings with parents, key persons and external professionals, and they initiate referrals,
funding applications and multi-agency involvement where necessary.
Some staff have started to receive coaching and training linked to children's emerging
needs. For example, staff supporting children with emotional regulation have access to

Needs attention
specific strategies and are now implementing these well. Improvements have been made to
communication and working in partnership with parents.
Leaders have improved arrangements for identifying children eligible for additional funding
and consult with parents about its use. This helps provide children with additional
experience to close gaps in their learning. For example, they purchase books and resources
for children to share in the same home language. Children with emerging speech, language
or developmental delays are now being discussed promptly, with plans for all staff to receive
speech and language training to help input and support individual targeted plans.
Overall, leaders' inclusive culture is strengthening, and children with SEND are generally
well supported to make progress.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention
Expectations for behaviour and routines are not implemented consistently across the
setting. At mealtimes, children often leave the table, wander around or become confused
about what they are expected to do. Staff do not consistently anticipate what children will
need, such as appropriate quantities of cutlery or plates, and this leads to disruption. When
staff fail to support new routines, such as self-serving, children become disengaged or
unsettled.
Key-person practice is also inconsistent. Some children do not benefit from warm, reliable
attachments, particularly for younger children. This does not help them feel secure and
support their emotional wellbeing. In the pre-school room, when children say they feel sad,
key staff do not explore the reasons why, even during activities that are planned to
encourage children to talk about their emotions.
Children are also not consistently supported to understand the intent and purpose of new
resources. For example, when new transparent coloured blocks and a light box are
introduced, staff do not model how the resource should be used or explain its learning
purpose. As a result, children become overstimulated and use the blocks inappropriately,
and staff are unsure how to redirect behaviour. Leaders recognised that staff had not been
shown how to introduce the resource effectively, resulting in missed opportunities to set
expectations, demonstrate safe use or help children understand the learning behind the
activity.
While some staff use positive strategies to support children's behaviour, such as timers and
verbal reminders, this is not consistent. When this happens, children do not understand the
behavioural expectations of the setting. Leaders acknowledge that staff require further
coaching to implement routines confidently and consistently.
Leaders and staff work closely with families to promote regular attendance and punctuality.

Urgent improvement
Leadership and governance Urgent improvement
Leaders have not ensured that safeguarding requirements for safer recruitment are met.
Leaders' decision-making has not ensured that children's best interests and safety are taken
into account.
Although leaders have strengthened other aspects of practice, such as special educational
needs and/or disabilities systems, safeguarding training, reflective supervision and
monitoring of previous actions raised, these improvements do not mitigate the unsafe
recruitment decisions.
Leaders have some understanding of the setting's strengths and have begun to act on
identified priorities, such as curriculum development and improvements to some elements of
staff training. Staff wellbeing is considered, and support is available through the employee
assistance programme. However, leaders have not monitored the implementation of
routines and promoting children's behaviour and key-person practice well enough, resulting
in inconsistent experiences for children.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children's daily experiences are inconsistent. In the baby room, children do not always
benefit from strong, emotionally secure key-person relationships. In the pre-school room,
children enjoy being sociable, playing together and sharing conversations. Children also
encounter new and exciting resources. However, when these are not introduced with clear
modelling, children become unsure about how to use them. For example, when colourful
transparent blocks and a light box are newly introduced, children become overstimulated
and use them in ways that are not intended, knocking down towers and treading on blocks,
because staff have not explained the learning purpose or demonstrated how resources
could be used constructively.
Although children follow hygiene routines well, such as lining up to wash their hands before
meals, they can become unsettled during daily routines that lack clear structure. At
lunchtime in pre-school, children repeatedly get up from the table because they are unsure
of what is expected, particularly as self-serving is newly introduced but not well supported.
Children experience a warm and welcoming environment where they enjoy exploring
activities that reflect their interests. Babies become deeply absorbed in sensory play, such

as excitedly exploring cornflour, while staff model simple language for them to repeat, such
as 'stomp, stomp' as they make movements with toy elephants. Older children show
curiosity during creative and emotional literacy activities, for example when they talk about
feelings during a dough activity where the focus is on talking about their emotions. Across
the day, children remain safe, enjoy positive interactions with many staff and engage well in
play that interests them. However, the variability in staff practice means their sense of
emotional security, understanding of routines and opportunities to learn from new
experiences are not always consistent.
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
take steps to ensure that those responsible for
recruitment understand their roles and responsibilities in
following robust vetting and carrying out checks to
ensure that those working, and in regular contact, with
children are suitable
27/03/2026
improve monitoring of staff practice to ensure that
training and development is precisely targeted to meet
individual staff needs to ensure that gaps in their
practice are identified and the key-person systems
strengthened
10/04/2026
ensure that all staff receive support to consistently help
children understand what is expected of them,
particularly around daily routines and how to respect
and care for the environment and resources
10/04/2026
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, the special educational needs coordinator and
children 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.

Inspector:
Leanne Merritt
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2712721
Address:
The Thames Club
Wheatsheaf Lane
Staines-Upon-Thames
Surrey
TW18 2PD
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 26/01/2023
Registered person: Partou UK Limited
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00
Local authority: Surrey
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 12 March 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
2 to 4
Total number of places
45

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.
You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium,
under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence, write to the Information Policy
Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email:
psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.
This publication is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk.
Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information
and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn.
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
Manchester

M1 2WD
T: 0300 123 1231
Textphone: 0161 618 8524
E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk
W: www.gov.uk/ofsted
© Crown copyright 2026
© Crown copyright