Collingham Gardens Nursery

Henrietta Mews, off Wakefield Street, London WC1N 1PH
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9.2 4 Reviews
Collingham Gardens Nursery is a non-profit community nursery run by parents for 24 inner-city children in the heart of Bloomsbury. Founded in 1983, it is built around a magical semi-wild garden.

Collingham Gardens Nursery provides full time Day Care for 24 children aged 2-5 years. Children reflect London's diversity of people and culture. They are members of the Pre School Learning Alliance and follow their good practice with support from the Camden Early Years Advisors.

They offer good quality play and educational facilities and provide a high level of supervision. The day is centred around the children's range of abilities and skills. Education is explored through topics planned with the team encompassing the essential learning areas, and a wide choice of safe satisfying play is offered. Freshly prepared lunches are provided.

They aim to offer learning opportunities for children to develop skills and confidence, to safeguard play as essential for the growth and development of young children into happy and tolerant people, to strengthen positive ties between parent and child and to integrate those with special needs. Keeping the nursery accessible to all the community is a priority.
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Care Provided by Collingham Gardens Nursery

  • Type of Service
  • Day Nursery – Voluntary / Not for Profit Owned
  • Open all year
  • Full Day Care

Good to Know

  • Owner
  • Collingham Gardens Nursery
  • Person in charge
  • Dorothy Violet Olabisi Williams (Nursery Manager)
  • Number of Childcare Staff
  • 7
  • Registered Charity Number
  • 1134204
  • Total Places for Children
  • 24
  • Age Range
    • from 2 years 0 months
    • to 5 years 0 months
  • Opening Times
  • Monday 08:30-17:45
    Tuesday 08:30-17:45
    Wednesday 08:30-17:45
    Thursday 08:30-17:45
    Friday 08:30-17:45
  • When Closed
  • 1 week at Christmas, 1 week at Easter & 2 weeks in the Summer

Funding & Fees Guide for Collingham Gardens Nursery

  • For fee funding please contact the nursery.

  • CGN is a not for profit organisation and offers high standard childcare below the average market cost.
    Fees are structured in 5 staggered fee bands, calculated by the joined household income of families.
    Parents are able to benefit from the 15 hours government funding. We also support Camden’s scheme offering free part time education for eligible two-year-olds.
    Please check your eligibility for the 30 hours funded childcare here. 30h funding is available from the beginning of the term following your child’s 3rd birthday.
    Fees include healthy meals which get prepared fresh daily in our onsite kitchen.
  • Parking

  • No Parking


Collingham Gardens Nursery Reviews (4)

9.2

Collingham Gardens Nursery has a Review Score of 9.2 (9.208) out of 10, based on 4 reviews in the last 2 years. Over all time Collingham Gardens Nursery has 4 reviews.

Overall Experience

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Review from Barbara H (Mother of Child) published on 20 March 2025
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

Children enjoy free play, outdoors, most of the day, in any weather. The garden is truly magical with swings, climbing frames and tree houses all established among the trees. There are plenty of learning opportunities, with forest school activities and montessori learning: children frequently prepare
their own lunch - peeling and cutting vegetables and including pizza. The staff are experienced and so knowledgeable. They treat each child as an individual. We love them.

Reply from Dorothy Williams, Manager at Collingham Gardens Nursery

Thank you for your kind comments and review of the nursery we are very fortunate to have a qualified Montessori teacher within the setting and Fully trained Forest School leader, we truly believe that nature is a great way to teach children about the outdoors and wider world using many popular pedagogical approaches including Learning through play, Reggio Emilia approach, Montessori and Waldorf in a Forest setting.


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Review from Sophie M (Mother of Child) published on 20 March 2025
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

Our daughter has been at Collingham Gardens Nursery for 2 years now, and we just love it. It has the most amazing outdoor space - it really feels like the children are in proper nature, even though it's a 5 minute walk from a busy train station. All of the kids love the garden, and it's just amazing
to see them playing exactly the way kids should - in a lovely natural setting. The teachers are wonderful and our daughter is so confident since being there. It's also a really nice size - not big at all, so all of the kids know each other, and as a parent, there are opportunities for getting involved and meeting the other parents. It has much more of a community feel than other nurseries I know about. It isn't at all 'corporate', which I really like. I thoroughly recommend this nursery, it's great.

Reply from Dorothy Williams, Manager at Collingham Gardens Nursery

Thank you for your review Collingham Gardens is great natural setting where the parents are very invested in the nursery which makes this a very special setting for all the children and staff.


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Review from Sebastian G (Father of Child) published on 13 March 2025
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

Lovely nursery, with brilliant staff and an amazing green space for the children to enjoy. Forest-school type of curriculum where the children thrive.
The place has only 2 class rooms and relatively small number of children, which makes the care of the staff very personal.

Reply from Dorothy Williams, Manager at Collingham Gardens Nursery

Many thanks for your lovely review we are very lucky to have such a special garden for our children to learn and thrive in.


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Review from Angelita C (Mother of Child) published on 3 March 2025
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

This nursery has been one of the best things that has happened to us as a family. Our 4-year-old has attended for two years now and as an urban child, she has had the amazing opportunity of playing outdoors in the mud with the most loving and caring teachers I have ever met. We have found a community
here and participate in gardening sessions among other parents to which we have become close friends. An absolute treasure.

Reply from Dorothy Williams, Manager at Collingham Gardens Nursery

Thank you for your lovely review and kind comments, we are really pleased that you see us as a part of the community here that is what we aim for.


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Current Review Score: 9.2 (9.208)

Overview of Review Score

The Review Score of 9.2 (9.208) out of 10 for Collingham Gardens Nursery is based on a) the Average Rating and b) the number of positive Reviews.

  • a) The Average Rating is 5.0 out of 5 from 4 Reviews in the last 24 months.

  • b) The score for the number of positive Reviews is 4.2 out of 5 from 4 positive Reviews in the last 24 months.

Detailed Breakdown of Review Score

The maximum Review Score for a Day Nursery is 10, which is made up from the Average Rating of Reviews (maximum of 5 points) and the Number of Reviews (maximum of 5 points) in the last 24 months:

  • a) 5 Points are available for the Average Rating from all Reviews in the last 24 months.

    The Average Rating of 5.000 for Collingham Gardens Nursery is calculated as follows: ( (47 Excellents x 5) ) ÷ 47 Ratings = 5

  • b) 5 Points are available for the number of Positive Reviews in the last 24 months. A Positive Review is defined as any Review with an 'Overall Experience' of '4' or '5' (out of a max rating '5').

    The 4.208 Points relating to the number of positive Reviews for Collingham Gardens Nursery is based on 4 positive Reviews in the last 24 months and is calculated as per below:

    The 5 points available are broken down as follows:

    • i) 4 points are available for the first 10 Positive Reviews in the last 24 months; 3 points for the first Positive Review, and then 0.125 Points for each of the next four Positive Reviews and then 0.1 Points for the next five Positive Reviews. (1st = 3.000, 2nd = 0.125, 3rd = 0.125, 4th = 0.125, 5th = 0.125, 6th = 0.100, 7th = 0.100, 8th = 0.100, 9th = 0.100, 10th = 0.100) 3 + 0.125 + 0.125 + 0.125 = 3.375

    • ii) 1 point is available for the number of Positive Reviews reaching 20% of the number of registered child places in the last 24 months. If this number is partially reached, then that proportion of 1 point is given. eg a Day Nursery registered for a maximum of 50 child places has to reach 10 Positive Reviews to receive 1 point, if it has 7 reviews it will receive 0.7 points. 20% of the 24 number of registered child places is 4.8. 4 Positive Reviews ÷ 4.8 = 0.833

  • When a Review is submitted by someone who has previously submitted a Review, only the latest Review will count towards the Review Score.

  • If a Day Nursery does not have a review in the last 24 months, then it will not have a Review Score.

Child Vacancies

Please Contact Us for Latest Vacancies

Awards / Recognitions (0)

There are currently no awards/recognitions posted yet for Collingham Gardens Nursery

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Meet the Team (6)

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Dorothy Williams

Job Title: Nursery Manager

Joined: 2024

With over 15 years of experience in Early Years education, Dorothy holds a Bachelor of Education from the Institute of Education, University College London. She also has a Montessori Pre-Primary Teaching Diploma for children aged 2–7, a Montessori International Diploma, and a Level 3 qualification in developing Speech, Language, and Literacy in the Early Years.

Throughout Dorothy’s career, roles have included Montessori Teacher, Pre-School Room Leader, Third in Charge of a Nursery, Deputy Manager and Manager at several Outstanding Nurseries.

A passion for connecting children to nature drives Dorothy to provide the best possible start in life, creating a creative, nurturing, and stimulating nursery environment for young children.

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Shamsia Khanom

Job Title: Forest School Leader

Joined: 2010

Shamsia
Early years practitioner

Shamsia is a qualified early year practitioner and childcare worker with a broad experience of working in nurseries, crèches, primary schools and drop-in centres, all of which have provided a high standard of care to children and their families. She also has experience as a community outreach worker to support and encourage local families to access provisions and services independently. Shamsia has undertaken her Level 2 Forest School training and is a Level 3 Forest School Leader.

Shamsia is always looking for new ideas to support the children’s interests in the nursery and delights in building a loving rapport with the children and their families.

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Zeljka Semic

Job Title: Nursery Nurse

Joined: 2020

Zeljka
Early years practitioner

Zeljka is a qualified early years practitioner with over 20 years of experience of caring for children in the early years and primary sector, alongside experience of working with children with complex needs. Having grown up in rural Yugoslavia Zeljka spent much of her own childhood gardening together with her family and playing in nature. This strong connection with nature and the happiness it brought left a lasting impression on her and has formed part of her approach to supporting children in their own education.

She joined Collingham Gardens Nursery in 2020 after being entranced by its hidden, magical garden and unique educational ethos of learning through outdoor and meaningful play, which she believes is the cornerstone of children’s learning and development.

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Sarah Parry

Job Title: Nursery Nurse

Joined: 2025

Sarah is a qualified nursery practitioner with a NVQ level 3 in Early Years, she has worked in childcare for over twenty years and has enjoyed every moment working with all ages form 3 month old babies to four year olds. During this time Sarah has worked at several different nurseries and has enjoyed teaching and watching children grow and develop into confident children. Sarah comes with Montessori and Forest School training and experiences she is very family orientated and loves spending time with her own three year old.

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Fatema Begum

Job Title: Early Years Practitioner

Joined: 2022

Fatema is an emerging Early Years practitioner with an NVQ level 2 Diploma in Childcare and Education. She is very compassionate and dedicated in nurturing and fostering the developmental needs of Children in their early stages. Fatema is eager to create an enriching, safe and supportive learning environment for all the children and to be part of a team.

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Antonia (Toni) Ragel Serrano

Job Title: Nursery Nurse

Joined: 2025

Antonia (Toni) is an Early Years Practitioner from Spain she has a Degree in Early Years from The Metropolitan University London and has over six years experience working in London based Nurseries. Toni teaches Spanish rhyme time and Yoga to the children as well as Tai-Chi which she finds really rewarding. Toni is very excited to be working in a Forest School system that connects children with nature to give children the best opportunity and start in life in a safe creative environment that nurtures their development and independence.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Collingham Gardens Nursery

What is the Age Range of Children that Collingham Gardens Nursery accepts?

Collingham Gardens Nursery accepts Children aged from 2 years 0 months to 5 years 0 months.

What Days & Hours is Collingham Gardens Nursery Open?

Collingham Gardens Nursery is open: Monday 08:30-17:45, Tuesday 08:30-17:45, Wednesday 08:30-17:45, Thursday 08:30-17:45, Friday 08:30-17:45.

How many Children does Collingham Gardens Nursery have capacity for?

Collingham Gardens Nursery has capacity for a total of 24 Children.

How far is Collingham Gardens Nursery to the centre of London?

1.9 mile(s) as the crow flies, distance by road may be significantly further.

Information on this page is displayed without responsibility for its accuracy on the part of daynurseries.co.uk. Please contact Collingham Gardens Nursery to verify any information. View our terms and conditions. Collingham Gardens Nursery has a Platinum Service – more info.