Toad Hall Nursery School

Toad Hall Nursery School
Unique reference number (URN): 144720
Address: 37 St. Marys Gardens, Kennington, London, SE11 4UF
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 27/10/1992
Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR
Registered person: Rees, Vivien
Inspection report: 21 November 2025
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.

Strong standard
Achievement Strong standard
All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make
significant progress during their time at the setting. They demonstrate increasing control
when they make marks and copy the letters in their name as they write letters to their family
and friends in the role-play post office. They demonstrate their understanding of number
recognition as they enjoy weighing parcels and throwing balls at numbers on a target board.
They show excitement for their successes in balancing and throwing and catching different-
sized balls in the garden.
Children speak confidently about what they are learning, and staff's expert questioning and
modelling of sophisticated vocabulary support their development in the area of
communication and language. Children enjoy sharing books with their friends in the reading
corner, demonstrating a love for stories and books.
Children freely navigate the space and show increasing confidence in climbing stairs. All
children demonstrate they understand the importance of hygiene practices and show
increasing competence when using the toilet and washing and drying their hands.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard
Children respond well to staff's instructions for sitting at group times, turn-taking and tidying
up when they have finished playing. Children show they fully understand staff's expectations
for their behaviour, for example of the importance of respecting each other's work and
creations and listening and waiting for their turn to share their ideas. There are clear, strong
bonds between children and staff at the setting. Children regularly check in with their trusted
adults for comfort, cuddles and to share their work.
The nursery is harmonious, and children are supported well to play happily alongside their
friends, doing puzzles together, learning from each other, sharing stories and role playing.
Staff regularly congratulate children and thank them for their manners and acts of kindness.
Children enjoy singing the 'wiggle song', which reminds them to use their 'kind hands' with
their friends. Children show a positive attitude towards their learning and enjoy looking at
their 'celebration of work scrapbooks' with adults.
Children are given regular opportunities to talk about how they are feeling during circle time
and while sharing books. There are clear strategies in place to support children to regulate
their emotions during one-to-one sessions with staff and through role-play activities.
Children respond incredibly well to the rewards on offer to celebrate their achievements.
Staff monitor children's attendance and punctuality to ensure they receive continuity in their
care and learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard
Staff know the children well and prioritise their welfare and wellbeing. All children are valued
and understand they are unique and special. All staff are special to all children. This is
reflected in the clear sense of security children show.
Staff work closely with children and their families to ensure they understand the importance
of a healthy diet as part of a healthy lifestyle. The setting asks for fruits and vegetables to be
brought in to be shared and sends out healthy eating guides to support healthy eating at
home. Staff support children well as they begin their journey in exploring the different
textures and tastes of new foods. Staff talk to children about the importance of exercise in
addition to healthy eating, to support them in developing healthy habits. Children enjoy
dancing, jumping and navigating space with confidence.
Children feel emotionally secure and use comforters when they need to, and there are
regular group-time sessions to explore and discuss feelings. Parents are welcomed in to
resettle children after a period of absence. Regular yoga sessions teach children the
importance of stretching and provide them with breathing activities to further support them to
develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing.
The outdoor garden area and regular trips out provide children with opportunities they need
to develop physically. Staff regularly remind children of how to keep themselves safe while
out, including 'stranger danger'. Visitors who attend the nursery are introduced as 'friends' to
ensure children know and understand they are always safe at the setting.
Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
Planning at the setting is thorough and based around children's interests and their learning
and development needs. Staff ensure their curriculum is exciting and deeply embedded in
real-life experiences. The rigorous monitoring in place helps staff to plan effectively to
ensure all children are meeting their next steps in learning. Parents are kept up to date, and
the setting provides ideas of how activities can be built on and extended at home. The
experienced staff team meets regularly to review and enhance the curriculum offering, to
ensure the highest possible learning outcomes for children.
The areas of learning within the early years foundation stage curriculum are woven through
the activities on offer. For example, during a play dough making activity, staff model
language and engage in high-quality interactions with children, recapping and reviewing the
different steps needed. They support children's small-muscle development as they stir and
mix the different ingredients together. They support children to learn the mathematical
concepts of size and capacity as they use different-sized spoons. Staff support children's
emotional development by offering them high praise and encouragement. Children enjoy
problem-solving as they investigate how best to enhance the overall colour of their play
dough by mixing varying amounts of food colouring with water. Children demonstrate high
levels of engagement as they approach all the activities on offer for them and show great
pride in their achievements.
Staff ensure that children fully understand that they can all access all that is on offer and
make small adjustments to meet the needs of individual children. They prioritise children's

personal and social and emotional development, and children do really have a sense of
belonging and are proud to share their successes with others.
Inclusion Strong standard
Staff create a fully inclusive environment. They work closely with children and their families
and ensure they use funding purposefully to support children's individual needs. Children
with special educational needs and/or disabilities are swiftly identified and plans are quickly
created with targets that are specific, measurable and rigorously reviewed. Regular, timely
meetings with professionals and parents to discuss next steps for individual children
demonstrate a passion by the leaders to ensure all children achieve the best possible
outcomes.
Children make significant amounts of progress from their starting points because of the
partnership working with families, external professionals and robust procedures in place for
assessing the impact of any planned interventions. Staff ensure that children who speak
English as an additional language are well supported and have opportunities to read and
talk in their home language as well as in English.
Staff engage in specific, purposeful ongoing training to ensure they are fully up to date with
the best practices and strategies when supporting children with specific needs. The new
knowledge gained is then personalised and feeds directly into their day-to-day practice. As a
result, children gain the confidence they need to move on to their next stages in learning,
including starting school.
Leadership and governance Strong standard
Leaders are incredibly reflective and consistently evaluate their provision and practice. The
experienced team of staff support and learn from each other, and daily mentoring is fully
embedded to support staff who are less experienced. The rigorous assessment of children's
learning and developmental stages and pure passion shown by staff ensure that children
become strong, independent learners who are ready for their next stage, including starting
school.
Strategic planning to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is
incredibly effective, and staff speak passionately about the huge differences this has made
to the outcomes for these children. There is a consistent approach to partnership working to
ensure there is always shared, joined-up thinking.
The setting uses external professionals to support and plan interventions for children, and
purposeful professional development takes place with specific children's individual needs in
mind. The nursery recognises there is always more to learn and is always striving for
continuous improvement.
Staff and parents are happy to be part of this family-friendly environment. Staff are
supported in gaining recognised early years qualifications. Parents are particularly happy

with the abundance of ideas they receive to help at home, to enable them to build on the
learning that has taken place at nursery.
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 are excited to arrive at nursery and greet their special adults and friends with
enthusiasm. Children show huge levels of confidence. They fully understand the clear
routines in place and enjoy independently selecting what they would like to play with before

beginning the daily welcome circle time. This supports their independence and prepares
them well as they move to their next stages in learning, including starting school. Children
show they feel safe and emotionally secure as they shake hands and say hello or exchange
a wave of acknowledgement to their friends. They show high levels of respect for each other
and staff. Staff support children who speak English as an additional language, talking to
them in their home languages and holding children's hands to comfort and build their
confidence as needed. All children show they feel valued, belonging and being very much a
part of this home-from-home setting.
Children respond well to staff's instructions for selecting a cushion and deciding how best to
sit so they feel comfortable as they enjoy listening to the familiar story about a tiger coming
to tea. They show respect for each other as they wait patiently for their turn to dress up and
be the tiger in the story. Staff read with enthusiasm, and children enjoy acting out the various
parts of the story with props. Children show they understand the importance of good sitting
and listening during these times. Children demonstrate a 'love for reading' as they recall
what happens next in the story and join in with the repeated phrases.
Children are involved in planning activities, and staff support them as they build on their
prior learning. For example, when children request to have the minibeasts out, staff support
them to recall the different names and use magnifying glasses to help them to identify their
different features. Staff's questioning supports children to decide on the best habitat for the
different minibeasts, for example whether the stag beetle would like it best on top of the
shells, under the rocks or among the cones. This supports children to develop their
knowledge and understanding of the world as well as their communication and language
skills. Children enjoy the opportunities on offer to revisit their prior learning and show how
proud they are of the knowledge they now have within this area.
Next steps
Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure
continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a
transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children,
those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known (or
previously known) to children's social care and those who may face other barriers to their
learning and/or wellbeing.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners and the special educational needs
coordinator 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

Inspector:
Penny Harman
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 144720
Address:
37 St. Marys Gardens
Kennington
London
SE11 4UF
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 27/10/1992
Registered person: Rees, Vivien
Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:30 - 16:30,Friday : 08:30 -
13:00
Local authority: Lambeth
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 21 November 2025
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
2 to 5
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.

Total number of places
20
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.
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