Tiddley Tots Nursery

In January 2025, babies had space to move, older children used indoor climbing equipment and outings took children into the surrounding town. Tiddley Tots Nursery's High Street setting combines separate rooms for different stages with a Sensory Room and Outdoor Space.

At its 7 January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), progressed well. The detail matters: relationships were affectionate, children explored willingly, and practical independence featured throughout the day. There were also clear weaknesses in activity planning and the organisation of some routines.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm. For parents, the strongest starting point is the combination of age-stage rooms and the practical examples of children's learning, read alongside those dated improvement points.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room, Toddler Room and Pre-School Room provide the nursery's main room structure, alongside the Sensory Room and Outdoor Space. These give families concrete spaces to discuss when considering how their child would spend the day. The youngest children's room deserves particular attention because its daily arrangements will shape both movement and rest.

In January 2025, children attending were aged 0 to 4. Babies could crawl and pull themselves along furniture, while older children used indoor equipment for climbing and sliding. Those are useful physical details: early movement had room to develop, and older children's play included a challenge beyond seated activities. The whole-setting capacity should not be read as a room cap or a daily group size.

Learning and Activities

The nursery follows the early years foundation stage, the framework for children's learning, development and care. In parent language, this brings learning into play and everyday routines, including conversation, movement, sharing and doing things independently.

In January 2025, music and movement happened daily for younger children. Staff expanded children's vocabulary during play, babies exchanged sounds with adults, and children joined familiar songs or explored books. Mathematical learning also had tangible examples: building towers involved counting, while printing with blocks introduced older children to shape properties. These activities connected ideas to something children could handle or do.

Planning was less consistent. In January 2025, some activities introduced an excess of ideas, leaving children disengaged; practitioners sometimes needed a clearer learning purpose. This is a meaningful qualification to the positive picture. An appealing activity still needs a manageable task and a clear reason for doing it.

Outdoor and Community Life

In January 2025, outings included repeated visits to the library and high street, plus walks to the park. A buggy with several seats brought babies and younger children into these experiences too. The neighbourhood became part of the learning day rather than simply the nursery's address.

The same month, preparations for outings sometimes involved lengthy waits. Together with delays before lunch, these reduced opportunities for conversation and learning. The issue was the organisation around activities, making the time between them an important part of the overall experience.

In January 2025, adults knew children and their families well, and children settled into the day readily. Support for social skills was practical: disagreements about toys became opportunities to work out how to share, while older children discussed feelings through a collaborative drawing activity. Emotional understanding had something concrete to build on.

Communication support included collecting useful words from children's home languages and using objects or gestures to help them understand. For a child learning English, these approaches offered ways to participate before spoken English could carry every exchange.

Independence was also visible in January 2025. Babies practised using spoons, younger children tried pouring drinks, and older children took responsibility for drying bicycle seats before using them. Small tasks gave children a part in managing their own day. Parents received updates about development and ideas for continuing learning at home; family events also included a recent course in paediatric first aid.

Operation Encompass is part of the current offer, a national scheme involving educational settings and police forces. It sits within the nursery's safeguarding arrangements.

Ofsted's outcomes dated 16 February and 6 July 2026 recorded further requirements failures and corrective action: in February, leaders had acted to address failures in following safeguarding procedures; in July, failures concerning suitable people led to changes covering recruitment checks and clearer guidance on supervision. Both outcomes recorded action to put matters right. These repeated failures qualify the January 2025 safeguarding judgement.

Tiddley Tots Nursery's address is 25A High Street, Hoddesdon EN11 8SX. The nursery opens from 7.30am to 6pm, giving parents an early opening point and a fixed evening collection deadline.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01992 910 529 or through the nursery's contact form. In January 2025, it operated throughout the year from Monday to Friday and provided funded early education for eligible children. Those attendance and funding details belong to that inspection date.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The practical decision is how the agreed attendance fits a family's routine, alongside the child's experience of the rooms and transitions between activities.

• Activity planning and waiting. In January 2025, some tasks became overly complicated, and children waited too long before lunch or outings. During a visit, ask how practitioners now simplify activities and keep these transitions purposeful.
• Baby Room arrangements. Babies had space to move in January 2025. Ask about the Baby Room's usual group size, sleeping arrangements and settling plan for your child.
• Subsequent safeguarding failures. The 16 February and 6 July 2026 outcomes recorded requirements failures followed by corrective action on safeguarding procedures, recruitment and supervision. Ask how these revised arrangements are put into practice and monitored.
• Attendance and the written quotation. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 6pm. Before committing, ask which booking patterns apply at Hoddesdon and how funded hours, food and non-food supplies fit into the quotation.

Tiddley Tots suits parents looking for separate age-stage rooms, physical play and a connection with the surrounding town. Its January 2025 picture combines positive relationships and practical learning with specific weaknesses in planning and waiting times. Families whose routines fit the 7.30am to 6pm opening window have a useful starting point, with the Baby Room, Sensory Room and handling of daily transitions central to the decision.