Play House Day Nursery
Play House Day Nursery is a day nursery in Sutton for children aged 1 to 3, with 54 registered places. Ofsted report card, 2 September 2026: Strong standard in 5 areas, Expected standard in 1 area; safeguarding standards met.
Royal Marsden Hospital, Downs Road, Sutton, SM2 5PT
Key facts
- Type
- Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 1 to 3 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 54 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 1 September 2001 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 2 September 2026
Who runs it
Play House Day Nursery is run by Charities Administered in Connection with the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard
- Achievement: Strong standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
- Leadership and governance: Strong standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 2 September 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children flourish in this calm and inclusive environment and are placed at the centre of everything leaders and staff do. Children build strong bonds with warm and responsive staff who know them extremely well. Children's emotional needs are prioritised, and leaders and staff use their secure knowledge of each child to help them settle into each stage of their development. They work collaboratively with parents who know what their children are working towards and what they have achieved to date. As a result, children are happy and well supported in the setting.
Children are supported by leaders and staff who are enthusiastic and reflective of their own practice. Leaders' and staff's commitment to providing high-quality care has inspired a highly ambitious curriculum that meets the needs of all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children have access to activities that are specifically designed to develop their skills and instil a love of stories and literacy. Children show high levels of engagement with stories and look on with awe and wonder as staff read engaging and interactive stories, which the children eagerly join in with.
Children are supported to understand a healthy diet and older children have the opportunity to grow their own vegetables, which they tend to in their growing patch. These are then shared with families, and children discuss that 'mummy and daddy liked them'. Children learn about their emotions and feel confident to express their needs. Children's voices are heard by respectful and supportive staff, who give settling children the choice of whether they would like to return to their previous room. When children express they are not yet ready, staff reassure them, allowing them to continue their play with their new friends.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Strong standard
Leaders and staff work collaboratively to create a highly inclusive culture within the setting that supports all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those who may experience barriers to learning. All children, including those with SEND, have access to a curriculum that is inclusive of all children's needs and supports their communication and language skills. Staff adapt story time to make it interactive for children with SEND and this allows them to positively contribute and feel a sense of belonging.
Leaders use additional funding to ensure staff are highly skilled and responsive to children's needs. Staff use visual prompts and signs to support children's overall development with a focus on language acquisition. For example, staff use visual prompts to support what will happen next, which allows all children, including those with SEND, and those who may experience barriers to learning, to positively access and engage with the environment.
Leaders place high priority on early identification and work collaboratively with staff and parents to continuously assess and review children's progress. Equally, leaders work closely with the local authority and other professionals and make swift referrals for children with emerging needs. This ensures that children have high levels of support and that expert knowledge is being used to create plans that help them to reach their targets and continue their development at home. Parents discuss the impact that this has had on their children and how the support they have received has impacted upon them.
Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard
Leaders and staff have worked collaboratively to develop an ambitious curriculum that meets the needs of all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those who may experience barriers to learning. They use their secure knowledge of each individual child to build on what they already know and can do. The curriculum is carefully sequenced and focuses on ensuring that children feel a sense of belonging within the setting. Staff work closely with parents and, through the use of family books, give children a sense of security, as well as opportunities to develop their language skills when discussing their home life.
Collaboratively, leaders and staff have placed communication and language at the centre of their everyday practice. Teaching is consistently high quality and adapted in the moment to support children's needs and ideas. Children encourage staff to recall the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt', and staff respond attentively which, in turn, engages more children who then work together to retell the story. Similarly, babies benefit from tailored activities that support them to acquire language skills. Staff read stories and model animal names and noises that babies copy with delight.
Leaders' and staff's inclusive approach to learning supports all children including those with SEND, and those who may experience barriers to learning, to access the full curriculum. Staff use signs and visual prompts to support learning, such as using visual timetables to explain what will come next. Children respond positively to this and employ mathematical skills, alongside the visual timetable, to discuss what will follow next. Staff weave maths into everyday play. Children confidently discuss how many doors their own houses have, whilst also creating model houses during a junk-modelling activity.
Achievement: Strong standard
Children make consistently high levels of progress from their starting points and throughout their time at the setting. They develop a secure sense of safety and belonging, which supports them to develop their skills across all areas of learning. Babies confidently make choices through engaging activities, such as 'the weather song' that offers them an opportunity to pick real-life objects, such as fans for wind, to participate in the song.
Children with special educational needs and or/disabilities (SEND) make sustained progress as barriers to learning have been removed through the setting's inclusive curriculum. Adaptations are made to activities to support children with SEND who have interests in stories. This helps develop language, such as 'muddled up', and to correct mistakes, resulting in high levels of engagement and participation.
Children are prepared for their next stages of learning, including their transition to school. They are encouraged to be confident and develop their independence. Older children are given the responsibility of being a buddy for other children and show pride in their achievements in supporting their peers.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
Leaders and staff set clear expectations for children's behaviour. They act as role models and all communications between staff and children are kind, respectful and age-appropriate which positively impacts on how children build relationships with peers and key staff. Children generally behave well and are supported calmly when challenging behaviour occurs. They are encouraged to use 'kind hands', which parents discuss that they then use outside of nursery with others. Leaders place high importance on attendance and communicate this with parents, through newsletters and regular online communications.
Children develop positive relationships with their peers and play in collaboration. For example, children work together to create a birthday cake and take turns to put each brick onto the base. When they finish, they smile at one another and sing 'Happy Birthday'. Staff encourage children to build relationships and use group times to support new children to introduce themselves, which they are able to do confidently. Children respond positively and make others feel welcome.
Children typically develop the skills they need to follow the routine of each room. Staff use visual prompts to support children to move from one activity to the next. Children confidently navigate the space and engage quickly with the many exciting activities available. However, at times, children have to wait unnecessarily, which causes them to lose engagement.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who may experience barriers to learning, flourish at this setting as leaders prioritise children's welfare and wellbeing. They place high importance on building secure relationships with all children. Children settle quickly into the environment and demonstrate bonds with staff who are responsive to their individual needs and provide them with high-quality care. Children have a sense of belonging and are supported to express their emotions appropriately. Children confidently identify their own emotions using resources readily available to them and encourage their peers to copy other emotions on visual prompts.
Staff understand the importance of safe sleep, placing children on their backs and completing regular checks. Children are warmly greeted as they awake by caring staff who comfort them in order to support their transition from sleep to play. Children are supported to learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Mealtimes are calm and provide opportunities for children to be sociable with their peers and with staff who supervise children closely. Staff support children to eat safely, model how to eat specific foods and use cutlery appropriately.
Children have access to daily outdoor play, both in their garden and in other areas of the site, such as the woods and a large green space. This provides children with space to run freely and participate in sporting activities. Their outdoor area is designed to develop all areas of learning with spaces to climb, run and ride bikes. Children are supported with taking appropriate risks and ask questions that help them to assess their own safety.
Leadership and governance: Strong standard
Leaders are highly reflective and committed to providing children with high standards of care every day. They continuously work collaboratively with their team to adapt and improve teaching standards and practice, to support all children's individual needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who may experience barriers to learning. For example, staff hold regular meetings to discuss children's progress and work together to identify emerging needs to ensure that children have plans and referrals in place at the earliest stage where necessary.
Staff feel extremely well supported and valued by leaders who give them access to opportunities to reflect and improve their skills. Consequently, staff are reflective on their own practice and conduct research and training to enhance the provision. For example, they have researched the impact of children going on to school without being toilet-trained and have recently implemented toilet training from the baby room, which has been extremely successful.
Leaders have ensured excellent partnerships with parents and understand the context of their setting. Parents praise the nursery for how attentive they are to their children's needs. Leaders and staff make themselves accessible to parents and ensure that handovers are consistently high quality in order to support children's wellbeing and ongoing development. Leaders work with their community, and they are completing a sponsored walk as a setting to raise money for the hospital on their site.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should continue to strengthen practice during routines to support children to maintain engagement.
- Leaders should continue to embed the curriculum for children to achieve a transformational impact.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 2 September 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Other nurseries nearby
- Ace Learning - Harris Sutton - Day nursery, Sutton SM2 5RD, 0.2 miles
- Stagecoach Performing Arts Sutton - Pre-school, Sutton SM2 5QP, 0.3 miles
- Chiltern Day Nursery - Day nursery, Sutton SM2 5QP, ages 1 to 4, 22 places, 0.3 milesOfsted report card, 27 February 2026: Strong standard in 5 areas, Expected standard in 1 area; safeguarding standards met
- Shanklin Playgroup - Pre-school, Sutton SM2 6TT, ages 2 to 4, 15 places, 0.4 milesOfsted, 12 May 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Hopscotch Day Nursery - Day nursery, Sutton SM2 6JD, ages 0 to 3, 44 places, 0.5 milesOfsted, 6 October 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- Harris Academy Sutton - Secondary, 0.3 miles
- Seaton House School - Prep, 0.5 miles
- Avenue Primary Academy - Primary, 0.6 miles
- Greenholm School - Special, 0.6 miles
- Overton Grange School - Secondary, 0.6 miles