1st Place at the Elephant
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.3 on GoogleBirth to 5Open a few years
A day nursery in London for children from birth to 5, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in May 2025. Open since 2023, with 100 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
All children aged 3 and 4 years old are entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare each week. Some working families can also get up to 30 hours of funded childcare for children from around 9 months old until school age.
Worth knowing. Government-funded childcare is calculated over 38 weeks of the year (term time); however, our nursery operates for 50 weeks. This means the funded hours are spread across the full 50 weeks we are open. When stretched, the 15-hour entitlement works out at 11.4 hours per week, and the 30-hour entitlement works out at 22.8 hours per week.
What childcare usually costs in Southwark
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Southwark from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
SE17 3ANWhat Ofsted said
Last inspected on 13 May 2025.
Good
Ofsted's expected standard. Most settings in England are rated Good.
Still missing for 1st Place at the Elephant
- What it costs
- Youngest age taken
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date. The rest is in no dataset anywhere. Either way it is worth ten minutes on the phone.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- How do you apply my funded hours? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.