Harley Street Nursery

In February 2025, children at Harley Street Nursery cared for a tortoise called Alan and took train trips. Today, digital learning updates connect nursery experiences with home. At its 11 February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and praised its support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), including its work with outside professionals. That combination gives families a useful starting point: practical communication alongside an encouraging inspection judgement.

The nursery cares for children from 3 to 60 months at 9 Harley Street, Todmorden, OL14 5JE. EY Log, its electronic learning journey, connects nursery learning with home; nappies, creams and wipes are supplied free. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm across 51 weeks of the year.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning through play, covering language, movement, relationships and early skills such as reading and mathematics. Harley Street builds its curriculum around a yearly sequence of topics, adapting these to children's interests and local or national events. Practitioners use their observations and daily notes to plan the next week's activities. The practical value is responsiveness: a topic provides a starting point rather than fixing every child's learning to the same script.

Indoor and outdoor resources are arranged so children can choose and use them independently. Environments are adjusted to match children's needs and offer fresh challenges. Creative activities, music, sport and small-group work sit alongside visits and visiting adults, giving children different ways to participate rather than relying on one type of activity.

In February 2025, babies brought sensory books to adults, while older children explored different words through stories. Physical play included reaching for elevated spinning toys, moving around furniture and handling sensory balls. Dough disco, an activity intended to exercise small muscles, added another way to practise hand movements. Child-safe knives also featured in learning, with adults demonstrating their use before children practised during play and meals. These are concrete examples of learning attached to ordinary actions.

In February 2025, staff did not consistently develop children's thinking through conversation: some questions invited brief answers, and children sometimes had too little time to respond. This is the important qualification to the curriculum account: the activities were there, but some conversations needed to draw more learning from them.

Outdoor and Community Life

In February 2025, children's experiences extended to woodland, parks, supermarket visits and journeys by train. Police officers and health professionals visited, bringing the idea of people who help into children's learning. Animal care involved the nursery's hamster and a tortoise called Alan. This offered another encounter with the living world. These experiences connected nursery activities with places, people and animals children could recognise beyond a book.

Outdoor group games also formed part of the day that February. The nursery's current curriculum also emphasises outdoor resources that children can access independently, giving them opportunities to make their own choices.

Relationships and Communication

EY Log lets practitioners share photographs, daily diaries and development updates that parents can view on a phone, tablet or computer. Parents can also contribute photographs of experiences at home. Communication therefore works in both directions: families can see what has happened at nursery, while staff can learn about a child's interests elsewhere.

In February 2025, parents received information about their children's learning and ideas for supporting it at home, including early writing activities. Family involvement included baking sessions, workshops and pizza parties, with free first-aid and safety courses also offered at that time. This went beyond a progress update, giving parents practical activities and opportunities to take part.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The management structure includes a safeguarding lead, and the deputy manager has training for the SENCO lead role. These are identifiable responsibilities within the team, useful for families discussing a child's care or additional needs. The dated SEND judgement above carries more weight than a general promise of inclusion.

In February 2025, adults helped children recognise feelings, share resources and include quieter children in play. Predictable routines supported the day, while praise drew attention to what children had done. For a parent considering how a less confident child might participate, these examples are more informative than a broad description of kindness.

Food is cooked daily by a chef in the nursery kitchen, with menus changing on a four-week cycle and dietary needs addressed with parents. Staff support weaning; before that stage, parents bring their baby's own formula, prepared and labelled at home.

Sessions and Attendance

Harley Street Nursery opens from 7.30am to 6pm and operates for 51 weeks each year. Public holidays carry no charge. For enquiries, families can complete the nursery's enquiry form, email info@harleystreetnursery.co.uk or telephone 01706 819 460.

The address is 9 Harley Street, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, OL14 5JE. This is the same Harley Street setting covered by the February 2025 inspection.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for eligible children. The funding options include 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds whose families receive qualifying support, 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds, and 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds in eligible working families. The age and family conditions matter: these are separate entitlements rather than a single offer applying to every child.

Nappies, wipes and creams are supplied free, while parents provide formula before weaning. These arrangements reduce the everyday items families need to bring, but formula remains a home responsibility. The fees page sets out the opening window and public-holiday charging position.

• Conversation and thinking. The February 2025 improvement point concerned how adults extended learning through discussion. On a visit, ask how staff now give children time to answer and build on their ideas.
• Funding alongside everyday care. The nursery offers funded education and supplies nappies, creams and wipes free. Ask how your intended attendance pattern combines funded and private hours, including the treatment of meals and consumables during funded hours.
• Formula before weaning. Parents prepare and label their baby's formula at home. Factor that task into the daily routine when considering care for a younger baby.

Harley Street Nursery suits families who value digital communication, practical help with everyday care items and learning that reaches into the surrounding community. EY Log gives parents a continuing connection with nursery life, while the February 2025 examples of train journeys, visitors and animal care give substance to its broader curriculum.

The Good judgement is encouraging, with SEND support a clear strength of that inspection. The improvement point deserves equal attention: extending children's answers and thinking matters as much as choosing an engaging activity. For families weighing this nursery, the most useful conversation is about how that practice has developed alongside the care and communication already described.