Home from Home Childcarers

A baby room capped at 12, toddler rooms with their own reading spaces, and a garden shared across the setting give Home from Home Childcarers a recognisable shape. Based at the Aneurin Bevan Centre in Old Harlow, it combines care for younger children with practical preparation for school. The emphasis is on everyday experiences: exploring materials, choosing books, spending time outdoors and gradually doing more for yourself.

The nursery has 51 places in total and accepts children aged 6 to 60 months. At its 31 May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and found safeguarding effective. That judgement is dated; the most useful detail beneath it concerns relationships, support for children with additional needs and two clear areas for improvement.

Starfish, Seahorses, Turtles and Pre-school organise the nursery day, with movement space for babies and everyday independence for older children.

Rooms and Ages

Starfish Room accommodates up to 12 babies, with a separate area for children who are not yet mobile to practise sitting, rolling and crawling, alongside access to the wider room and the preschool garden. The cap is the room's maximum, not its daily attendance.

Seahorses Room serves children aged two to three, combining child-chosen exploration and adult-led activities with a cosy reading corner and outings that include the library. Turtles Room covers the same age band, with daily stories, songs and movement activities, a mini library and a quiet area for resting. These are separate toddler rooms, rather than one undifferentiated stage between baby care and preschool.

Pre-school builds independence through choosing craft materials, finding named pegs, collecting tableware and using the toilet with a practitioner nearby. These routines give preparation for school a practical meaning.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, with staff recording children's development and planning what comes next. It is the shared foundation for early years provision. Here, the detail lies in how play, physical activity and growing independence fit into the rooms' routines.

Daily P.E. in Pre-school includes movement to music, copying actions and ring games. Small activities with the key person include puzzles, drawing and books, giving children time with a familiar adult within the wider day. Turtles also has daily movement sessions, alongside its stories and songs. Physical activity and communication are woven into ordinary nursery time.

In May 2022, babies explored cereal textures, while older children investigated citrus fruit and herbs in water. During walks, older children spotted numbers on doors and vehicles. These dated examples connect learning to sensory exploration and familiar surroundings.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden beside the preschool building is accessible to children across the setting. A mud kitchen with a tap, giant weighing scales and a wall-mounted whiteboard give outdoor play several purposes: mixing and pouring, comparing weight, and making marks. Crates can become obstacle courses or dens, while covered areas extend the opportunities to play outside through changing weather.

Outings also feature in the room routines. Starfish visits the local park, farm and library; Turtles' local destinations include the cricket club and shops. These outings add real places to explore alongside garden play.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person responsible for observations, next steps and planning. Settling starts with Stay and Play, when a parent remains with their child and talks with the room leader; an All About Me form helps staff learn about the child. Further settling sessions respond to how the child manages the change. This gives the transition from home a structure while allowing its pace to vary.

For babies, conversations during settling cover routines, dietary needs and allergies. Starfish also offers home visits as part of building the relationship with families. Those exchanges have a clear purpose: staff need to understand the child before nursery routines can fit around their care.

BabysDays is the online care record and learning diary, bringing together information about sleep, bottles, nappy changes, medication and accidents with photographs, videos and developmental observations. Parents can contribute observations themselves. Room WhatsApp groups and activity whiteboards provide additional updates, so communication includes both individual records and a picture of the room's day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The Old Harlow team includes a SENCO, a designated safeguarding lead and a deputy safeguarding lead. Families have specific roles to approach about support and safeguarding.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that the SENCO worked closely with families and other professionals, that children with SEND received strong support, and that children made good progress towards starting school. In May 2022, additional funding had helped purchase a climbing frame following consultation with parents, and a monthly Saturday play session brought together children with SEND and their families. Both examples show what support looked like at that time.

The same visit identified a need to use initial information about children more precisely when planning their learning. Staff development also needed a sharper emphasis on improving teaching. These points matter together: getting to know a child through settling is only the first step; that knowledge needs to shape what practitioners do next.

Sessions and Attendance

The Old Harlow setting opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6pm, for 50 weeks each year. It closes for two weeks at Christmas and on UK bank holidays. Term-time attendance is also part of the offer, with those children taking breaks during the school holidays.

For the coming Christmas closure, the setting finishes at 4pm on 17 December 2026, remains closed from 18 December to 1 January 2027, and reopens on 4 January 2027. Families using care across the year need to plan around that break; term-time attendance follows the separate term calendar.

The address is Aneurin Bevan Centre, Garden Terrace Road, Old Harlow, Essex CM17 0AT, behind the High Street beside Marina Fish Bar. The Old Harlow contact route includes a telephone enquiry and a message form asking about the days, times and starting date a family needs.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted for eligible children in the nine-month, two-year and three-to-four-year age groups, including the 15/30 hour funding. Private hours beyond the funded entitlement are charged separately. Where a funding code is required, parents must reconfirm it every three months; a lapsed code results in full fees being charged.

The fees and funding page points families to the FEEE Policy for enhanced provision charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Parents supply a packed lunch, while dinner prepared in the nursery's own kitchen is separately charged, with a packed dinner as an alternative; the seasonal dinner menu runs weekly and is reviewed every six months. The nursery publishes a no-nut policy and offers separately charged free-from food for dietary requirements.

• Baby care and settling. Starfish has a maximum of 12 babies and a separate area for those not yet mobile. During a visit, discuss how the room organises care around your baby's routine and how the settling sessions would work for them.
• Early planning and teaching. In May 2022, initial assessments were not consistently used precisely enough, and staff development needed greater emphasis on teaching. Ask how information from All About Me now becomes an individual learning plan, and how practitioners develop their teaching.
• Food and additional costs. Packed lunches come from home, dinner carries a separate charge, and the nursery publishes a no-nut policy. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food practice; also establish which consumables to bring and how enhanced provision charges apply to their intended attendance.
• Holiday cover. Term-time children take holiday breaks, while care across the year still includes the Christmas closure. Check that the attendance pattern and closure dates fit your family's working arrangements.

Home from Home Childcarers suits families seeking weekday care across the year or term-time attendance, with room routines that change as children grow. Starfish's baby-room cap and separate movement area, the toddler reading spaces and the shared garden give parents concrete features to weigh. BabysDays adds a practical connection between home and nursery.

The May 2022 Good judgement supports the picture, but its improvement points deserve attention alongside the strengths. The strongest fit is for families who value gradual settling, everyday independence and local outings, and who are comfortable supplying lunch and arranging care around the holiday closures.