Banana Moon Day Nursery Harlow

Two gardens, a sensory room and a kitchen cooking food from scratch give Banana Moon Day Nursery Harlow a clear practical identity. At Netteswell Hall Annexe, the offer runs from babies of three months to children aged five, with capacity for 60 children across the nursery. Outdoor play and a separate space for babies to sleep sit alongside the learning rooms. These are useful distinctions for parents comparing how play, rest and meals fit into a child's day.

At its January 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective, while asking staff to give children longer to think before answering questions. That last point matters: asking a question is only part of helping a child develop language. Time to answer matters too.

Full days and morning or afternoon sessions give families different attendance patterns, while the Parent App connects home with daily routines and learning.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Moons takes children from three months until they are confidently mobile, with sensory exploration through colour, textures and shapes; Teenie Moons caters for mobile children up to two, using painting, singing and messy play. Movement, rather than a birthday alone, shapes the first step between these stages. That gives parents a useful way to understand the progression from baby care towards more active play.

Mini Moons serves children aged two to three, combining support with potty training and encouragement to choose activities independently; Full Moons takes children from three to five, with play choices, outdoor activity and learning observed by a key person. Independence builds through ordinary tasks. Choosing what to do and managing personal routines have a place alongside planned activities.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared framework for children's learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, with observation helping staff plan what comes next. Alongside it sits the group-wide Banana Moon Early Learning & Development Programme, which uses children's interests to shape playful experiences and the learning environment. Its emphasis is on extending what a child already knows rather than planning solely around adult-led topics. The curriculum overview explains that approach.

In January 2023, toddlers' interest in dolls led to water play in which they washed them. Younger children practised bigger movements with scarves, while older children used tongs and tweezers for finer hand control. These were concrete examples of learning being sequenced through play, moving from broad physical movements towards the control needed for early writing.

A role-play post office added a different challenge in January 2023. Children searched for fingerprints and footprints with magnifying glasses to solve a missing-parcel mystery. The activity gave them something to investigate together, turning pretend play into a reason to compare clues and discuss possible answers.

World Book Day brought character dressing-up, discussion of favourite books and a book for each child to choose and take home. That connects nursery reading with home reading. A separate egg-hatching project let children keep eggs warm, watch chicks emerge and care for them afterwards, making growth something they could observe directly. These are examples of activities undertaken, rather than a fixed timetable of recurring sessions.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily outdoor play runs throughout the year, with access to the nursery's two secure gardens. A natural adventure area adds another setting for exploration beyond the indoor rooms. For families who value outdoor time, the important detail is its place in the everyday routine, rather than its being reserved for occasional projects.

In January 2023, garden play extended a story through mixing herbs and spices into pretend potions. Children picked up the word paprika and then used it in their own play. It is a small but telling example of vocabulary having a practical purpose: a new word becomes something a child wants to use.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is tailored to the child and family, with parents involved in discussing routines and individual needs. Parents attend baby settling sessions and can discuss their baby's needs and special requirements with staff.

The Parent App combines updates on sleep, snacks and learning with photographs and personalised learning journals. Parents can comment from home, and named family members can be given access. Its value is practical: families can follow both the care routine and the next steps in learning, rather than receiving pictures alone.

In January 2023, children turned to staff for comfort and reassurance, and staff shared information with other settings children attended. Communication also included detailed feedback to parents. For a child attending more than one setting, that information-sharing helps adults keep care and learning connected.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In January 2023, staff used a targeted speech programme when they identified gaps in communication, with learning packs extending the work at home. Action songs and commentary during play provided further opportunities to hear and use language. The improvement point concerned the pace of questioning: children needed more space to formulate their answers. The distinction is useful for parents whose priority is communication support.

Sleep has its own physical space. The dedicated sleep room has wooden cots and gentle lighting, with individual bed linen washed on site; staff make regular checks alongside CCTV monitoring and work around established sleep routines. Keeping rest separate from active play gives babies a different environment for naps.

Food is cooked in the nursery's own kitchen, with two hot meals daily, snacks and a separate weaning menu for younger babies. The dietary policy covers allergies and individual requirements, while older children are encouraged to serve themselves.

Nourishing our Future Award recognises work on healthy eating habits and learning about food, and Harlow has achieved its first level after a menu review. The NSPCC Pants campaign adds conversations about private body areas, using reading and washing-line displays to involve children and families. These are specific pieces of practice, rather than substitutes for the dated safeguarding judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Netteswell Hall Annexe, Netteswell Orchard, Park Lane, Harlow, CM20 2QH. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. The standard full-day session runs from 8am to 6pm; half days are either 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. Those different windows allow attendance to be planned around a full day, a morning or an afternoon.

An early start from 7.30am to 8am and a late session from 6pm to 6.30pm carry additional charges and must be booked ahead, subject to staffing. The longer opening window therefore needs to be distinguished from the standard session. The nursery recommends two half days or one full day each week; this is a recommendation rather than a compulsory minimum.

The nursery closes for one week at Christmas and on bank holidays. Fees remain payable during a child's sickness or holiday absence. Contact is through the enquiry form, a callback request or telephone on 01279 411279, and nursery tours can be arranged.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with the 15- or 30-hour entitlement stretched across 51 weeks for eligible children. Private childcare is also offered, including additional hours. Funding is applied from the term after a child turns nine months or their qualifying birthday, subject to eligibility. Families can use their full entitlement, with a nil-charge funded-session option as well as arrangements combining funding and paid care.

Standard childcare fees include food and activities. For funded-only sessions, a meal package and daily enrichment activities can be purchased separately as options. This distinction matters when comparing a funded-only pattern with a package that combines funded and paid hours.

Sun cream is included in the standard childcare fee, while families bring nappies, wipes and barrier cream. A registration charge applies per family, except for fully funded places; children registering together attract one charge, while a sibling joining later attracts a further registration charge. Payments are based on the sessions in each month and are due on the second day of that month. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page provides the funding and charging route.

• Language and thinking time. The January 2023 improvement point was about allowing children longer to respond. On a visit, ask how staff now balance questions, conversation and pauses during play, especially if speech development is a priority for your child.
• The edges of the day. Standard care runs from 8am to 6pm, with earlier and later sessions booked separately and dependent on staffing. Families working around the full opening window should discuss those extensions when planning their attendance pattern.
• Funded-only attendance. Nil-charge sessions sit alongside optional meal and activity packages. Request a written breakdown for the exact pattern you intend to use, keeping funded hours, paid hours and chosen extras separate.
• Baby routines and dietary needs. The sleep room, weaning menu and flexible settling approach give you concrete arrangements to discuss. Use the visit to explain your baby's sleep routine and, where relevant, confirm current allergy practice and how it will be handled for your child.

Banana Moon Harlow suits families seeking full-day care or shorter morning and afternoon attendance, with daily outdoor play, a separate baby sleep space and app-based communication. The egg-hatching project and World Book Day show learning extending into experiences children can discuss and share at home.

The January 2023 Good judgement gives a dated assessment of quality. Its questioning improvement point remains a useful subject for a visit, while the distinction between standard sessions, extensions and funded-only extras deserves close attention when choosing an attendance pattern.