Our Environments

A large converted chapel with huge private gardens is the perfect location to carefully plan beautiful education rich spaces for young children. We’re very proud of the environments that are set up to inspire curiosity and fun. 

Indoor Environments

At Chapel House Day Nursery we have worked very hard to create the ideal indoor environment for our children at all stages, in all rooms. The nursery is decorated throughout in natural colours, ensuring the children’s stimulation can all be from the resources and activities rather than bright colours on the walls. We have beechwood furniture in each room further enhancing the natural feeling of the rooms. 

Some of our standout features indoors include: our Community Playthings Nursery Gym in the Baby & Toddler Room, and our Dream Coracles which our younger children use. Our Nursery Gym is brilliant at encouraging the children to develop physically and when you add in the social development that comes from engaging in play on the Nursery Gym with their friends and the trial-and-error problem solving it offers, it really is an outstanding addition to the room. We find that our younger children sleep really well in our Dream Coracles, and they have the added bonus of giving us a little more play space when not in use. They also give children more independence at rest times and we use these fabulous beds as cosy spaces for story times too.

Outdoor Environments

Our outdoor environments at our nursery in West Norwood are packed with fabulous features – all under the shade of marvellous mature trees which surround our huge gardens and create a wonderful natural setting.  

Chapel House

We have open grassy spaces where the children enjoy a whole host of activities such as the simple and age-old fun of running freely and playing together. This remains one of the greatest things the lawns provide. 

We also have a large sandpit that the children love to create from – we see all sorts of ideas get dreamed up and built in there by our older children, and our younger children derive great pleasure from the texture of the sand and moving it around and into things, understanding it as a material. 

Our Mud Kitchen gives the delight of dirt and some exceptional mud pies emerge from that kitchen, along with all manner of mud meals and beverages that the children delight in making. 

We also have a Sensory Garden which stimulates each of the children’s senses; large climbing equipment to challenge them physically and promote physical development and confidence building; and a Growing Patch which lets them learn about life cycles, introduces them to responsibility for outcomes, and lets us teach them about caring for something else. 

The children particularly enjoy the Den we have in the garden and the Climbing Cubes – with both of these they can climb and explore, take risks, invent games, and create dens for reading and relaxing. Whilst outdoor activity is a massive part of outdoor life at Chapel House, so is encouraging restful and “chilled” time in the beautiful outdoors. The large wooden TeePee is a great example of this – it’s a firm favourite for a quiet den – and reading and telling stories is a regular occurrence within its walls, along with talking together, cosying down, and looking at the clouds with friends. 

What Our Parents Say

Very talented and caring staff. My son really loved this nursery. He learnt a lot in all aspects from communication, relationship building, being independent, to learning maths, shapes, letters, word, sentences etc. Really pleased with the development. Thanks to all the lovely staff, you are all the best.

Vaibhav H (Father of Child)

My daughter has been in the nursery since the Baby Room. It has been an incredible journey. Now she is in the pre-school and every day she is excited to go to the nursery. She loves the staff, her key worker, the other kids, the setting (especially the garden). She really enjoys all the activities organised through the week/day. She enjoys and has fun while learning. The staff encourage and support multilingual families making the kids feel proud they can speak more than one language. Now the staff are also getting her ready to go to school this September. The staff have always been amazing, very approachable, flexible and caring.

B C (Father of Child)

The staff are so kind and caring, they all know my daughter even those in different rooms. She skips in to see them every day and they are as excited as me when she does new things. It's a home away from home.

H G (Mother of Child)

I can't thank the staff enough for giving me peace of mind when my child is with them. The number and variety of activities each day is amazing and the fact they manage to get in the garden or go on trips - even in winter is fantastic. My child's development is streets ahead of his peers who don't attend nursery.

S H (Mother of Child)

The nursery has a lovely nurturing and vibrant atmosphere which my son loves. There is plenty of space for him to explore and learn via the vast range of toys and equipment they have. I know he is well cared for. I am always well informed and I work together with the nursery staff to give my son the best possible experience.

Claire F (Mother of Child) 

The care, consideration and attention my son receives is exemplary. Staff pay attention to his strengths and weaknesses and verbalise them to us and ideas for developing them are implemented. All staff demonstrate an excellent attitude and have excellent relationships with their designated children.

A D (Father of Child)

The staff were warm, caring and professional and the facilities are great. We felt like our daughter was part of a big family. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all working there.

E S (Mother of Child)

I have been impressed by the level of care given to my son since he started. The daily warm welcome of the staff makes both children and parents alike feel at ease. Seeing the smile on my boy's face as we drive into the car park is proof enough for me that the team are doing something right.

Alexander M (Father of Child)

My little girl has recently started and is absolutely loving her time at nursery. The settling in sessions were brilliant and really helped put my mind at ease, especially with me starting back at work. The ladies in the Baby Room are super friendly and enthusiastic and I can't thank them enough for their support in what could have been quite an emotional rollercoaster.

G W (Mother of Child)

Once I drop my son off into the Baby Room, I feel he's as safe and as well looked after as I do at home.

Laura R (Mother of Child)