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Partou Gingerbread House Day Nursery & Pre-School

Ofsted: Expected standard·
3.7(7 parent reviews)
·81 Purley Downs Road, South Croydon, CR2 0RJ · Croydon
Number of places
56 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Mar 2026
Local authority
Croydon

About this day nursery

Partou Gingerbread House Day Nursery & Pre-School, located in South Croydon, has been operating since 2019, providing childcare for children aged 0-4 years. The nursery fosters a warm and nurturing environment where children are happy and learn through play, developing positive relationships with both staff and peers.

Leaders have actively worked to minimise the impact of recent staff changes, ensuring a clear vision for children's learning and a continuous focus on family engagement. The nursery offers a carefully considered and exciting curriculum, based on the EYFS framework, with activities tailored to each child's age and developmental stage.

They provide daily access to an outdoor garden, which includes a vegetable patch, allowing older children to explore where their food comes from and develop an understanding of safety by following routines like lining up before going outside. While children are settled and make good progress in various areas, the key-person system is not fully embedded, leading to some inconsistencies in planning.

The nursery is committed to improving staff understanding of welfare procedures to ensure routines run smoothly during mealtimes.

Our ethos

The nursery's pedagogy is bespoke and child-led, focusing on building self-confidence, resilience, and independence through play. They aim to foster curiosity, independence, and responsibility, with children learning through a variety of activities including cooking and gardening.

What it's like

Children are happy, settled and engaged in their play, forming good relationships with staff and peers. While a range of activities are offered, the key-person system is not fully embedded, leading to inconsistencies in planning and hindering children's progress. Children actively follow daily routines, showing an understanding of safety and developing personal, independence, and social skills.

Happy and settled childrenTailored activitiesOutdoor garden activitiesStrong communication focusHealthy eating habits

Pricing & funding

Fees are split into care, meals and snacks, and consumables. Care fees cover education and facilities, while separate charges apply for food, drinks, and daily consumables such as nappies and wipes.

Funding accepted

15 hours — working parents (9 months–2 yrs)15 hours — universal (3–4 yrs)30 hours — working parents (3–4 yrs)Tax-Free Childcare

Good to know

  • A registration fee (non-refundable) or registration deposit is required to reserve a place.
  • Fees are broken down into care, meals and snacks, and consumables.
  • Care fees include staff care, activities, progress updates, and facility use.
  • Meals and snacks fees cover all food and drinks.
  • Consumables fees cover nappies, wet wipes, and sun cream.

Key facts

Opening hours

Monday to Friday, from 8am until 6pm

Term time / All Year

All_year

Established

2019

Ofsted Inspection — new report card

Expected standard

Last inspected Mar 2026

Headline: Expected standard

Grade summary

Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement

Each dot represents one of the six inspection categories. Headline is the average of the six grades, rounded up.

Category grades

AchievementExpected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routinesExpected standard
Children's welfare and wellbeingNeeds attention
Curriculum and teachingExpected standard
InclusionExpected standard
Leadership and governanceExpected standard
Age range
0 to 4
Registers
Early Years Register
Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Partou Gingerbread House Day Nursery & Pre-School

Last inspected 12 March 2026 · Jo Geoghegan

Safeguarding effective

Actions the provider must take

  • improve staff's understanding on procedures for supporting children's wellbeing and welfare, especially during mealtimes

What it's like to attend

Children are happy, settled and engaged in their play, forming good relationships with staff and peers. While a range of activities are offered, the key-person system is not fully embedded, leading to inconsistencies in planning and hindering children's progress. Children actively follow daily routines, showing an understanding of safety and developing personal, independence, and social skills.

Inspector highlights

  • Leaders and managers have minimized the impact of recent staff changes.
  • Babies explore different textures and use a range of their senses.
  • Older children build on early mathematical skills and enjoy creative play.
  • Staff promote children's communication and language skills well through conversations, stories, and songs.
  • Children enjoy relaxed mealtimes, developing language and social skills, and establishing healthy eating habits.

Areas to develop

  • 1Improve staff's understanding of procedures for supporting children's wellbeing and welfare, especially during mealtimes.
Inspection #10403431 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

Outdoor space

Older children actively follow daily routines, including lining up ready to go outside. Staff provide gentle reminders about safety, and children demonstrate their understanding by telling each other that 'running is for outside'.

Parent Reviews of Partou Gingerbread House Day Nursery & Pre-School

3.7
(7)
Emma Gergi
6 months ago

Our 18m daughter has been going to Gingerbread for 6 months now and loves it. She is happy to go in everyday and whilst we are aware that the nursery has had some problems with staff shortages, this appears to be sorted now and all of the staff that look after her are lovely. The new manager team Jay and Claire have worked hard to make various improvements, and our daughter’s key carer Fong is great. The only thing I would say could be better is the app, but this is something for head office rather than the nursery team on the ground!

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Eliane
a year ago

We recently withdrew our daughter from Gingerbread Nursery due to a significant decline in its quality since we first joined. The high staff turnover was particularly concerning—nearly every week, there were new staff members or agency workers, and just as we got used to someone, they would suddenly disappear. Management was also poor, and I had issues from the start. One particular incident stands out: I arrived four minutes early to collect my daughter, and the manager at the time left us standing outside, telling me over the intercom that I had to wait. This was completely unnecessary, especially since the nursery was open, and staff were available to take my child. He also made repeated comments about my daughter’s hair and clothing, which, as a Black woman, made me feel uncomfortable. Communication was another major issue. My daughter had accidents at nursery, yet no one informed us or filled out accident report forms. On one occasion, she was bitten by another child, but we were never told—despite the fact that the child responsible was already being shadowed due to their behavior. We also rarely received updates during the day regarding meals, naps, or general well-being. The final straw was when we arrived to pick up our daughter and found her walking around in soiled trousers, with no indication of how long she had been left like that. Additionally, one staff member consistently had poor personal hygiene, which made interactions unpleasant. Even after raising concerns, no action was taken. This same staff member was also in the process of learning English and struggled to provide proper handovers, making communication even more difficult. Former staff members have informed me that employees are frequently left alone with too many children, which should never happen. This lack of supervision likely explains why accident forms were not being completed—it is clear that children were not being properly watched, which amounts to neglect. Despite claims that the nursery is improving, our experience suggests otherwise. While some individual staff members were excellent, overall, poor management and Partou’s oversight have severely impacted the quality of care. Based on our experience, I would not recommend this nursery.

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Zuzana M
2 years ago

Our daughter has been very happy at this nursery for well over a year now. Plenty of activities, the are very friendly and caring with the little ones.

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Anne K
3 years ago

Good nursery. All the lovely people who work there are friendly and good with the kids. The toys and environment are good.

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Sam Calder-Bray
2 years ago

Excellent place for children. Friendly and hard-working staff. Children seem happy and active! Highly recommended.

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Partou Gingerbread House Day Nursery & Pre-School. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Date: September 2021

The most recent inspection point has been hidden because the parsed entry didn't match the headline Ofsted rating (Requires improvement). We're re-checking it against the original report.

  • June 2025Requires improvement
  • September 2021Good

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