Jack & Jill's Private Day Nursery

A Sensory zone, adjoining toddler rooms and an outdoor forestry experience give Jack & Jill's Private Day Nursery a character built around exploration. Based in Quarmby, Huddersfield, it combines care for babies with play, growing independence and preparation for school. The nursery has 44 places in total, with early-years care covering birth to five and after-school provision for older children.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 23 February 2023. That is a useful starting point, but the details matter more: the current offer includes a key person for each child, daily information about babies' routines and familiarisation visits before a room move. These arrangements give parents something concrete to weigh alongside the grade.

Morning and afternoon sessions are offered for unfunded children, alongside full-day attendance. The session choices are useful, although the minimum attendance terms need clarification before a family commits.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Unit covers three to 19 months, with play centred on the prime areas of learning and sleeping and feeding routines intended to follow home habits. Its staffing ratio is one adult to three babies. A daily diary records sleep, meals, nappy changes and activities, giving parents a practical bridge between home and nursery. For a baby, continuity of routine is as relevant as the toys and activities themselves.

Tots & Toddlers occupies adjoining rooms: Tots covers 16 months to two years, while Toddlers covers two to three years, with sensory equipment and natural materials supporting exploration and confidence. The physical connection between the rooms gives this stage a recognisable layout rather than treating toddlers as one undifferentiated group.

Pre-school covers three years six months to five years, with observation-led activities emphasising independence, experimentation, language and number. Children can make choices and investigate materials while developing skills they will use at school. Across the rooms, natural furnishings and access to an outdoor area extend the places in which children can play.

Learning and Activities

EYFS guides planning for each child's development, bringing learning and care together through play and attention to individual needs. Staff also use the Birth to 5 document to inform planning, and the nursery has developed its own curriculum for its families and community. Activities follow children's interests, while individual files help key workers track development and share snapshots with parents.

The Sensory zone gives this approach a physical expression. Finger painting, textured materials in troughs and water-based exploration offer different ways to investigate touch, sight and sound. Those examples matter because they describe what a child can actually do, rather than relying on a broad promise of stimulation.

In February 2023, mathematics was being introduced through ordinary play, including counting pieces of fruit during water activities. Children also used pictures, and later their names, to identify themselves during group time. These were examples of learning being built into familiar routines rather than kept apart from the rest of the day.

The same February 2023 account described babies practising with spoons and cups, and preschool children serving themselves. Pretend food preparation and tooth-brushing play brought health into their activities. These observations show the practical tasks children were being encouraged to attempt at that time; they should be read as a dated picture of nursery life.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor forestry experience centres on the nursery's own outdoor space. Children can investigate insects, dig, make mud pies, splash in puddles and play chasing games. It gives physical play and questions about nature a place alongside the indoor sensory activities.

Named events add another layer. During National Storytelling Week in February 2026, children shared familiar stories and heard new ones; National Wildlife Day in March 2026 centred on making the nursery garden more welcoming to wildlife. These are concrete examples of books and the outdoor environment being used as starting points for activities.

Easter Egg Showcase Week in March 2026 invited children and caregivers to make an egg for display in the garden, with other crafting activities across the week. World Book Day that month paired shared reading with the option of dressing as a favourite character. Family participation and dressing up therefore had specific occasions, rather than being an everyday expectation.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person responsible for tailoring care and building relationships with the child and their family. Settling begins with three visits: the first lasts an hour with a parent present, while the third gives the child two hours independently, including lunch. Further visits can be arranged. That flexibility allows the introduction to respond to the child rather than treating the initial sequence as a fixed limit.

A move between rooms is planned with parents and key workers. Families receive photographs of the next room and its staff, and children spend time there during the preceding month. Parents can use the pictures to talk about the change at home, while the visits make the new room and adults familiar before the move.

Daily handover information comes from the key worker or another team member, and children under two have a diary. A nursery mobile provides another way to pass messages. For babies, the room's diary also covers sleep and feeding, so communication includes the routine details that shape the rest of a family's day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its February 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described children with SEND as included and supported through work between staff, the SENCo and other professionals. This is dated evidence of practice, rather than a promise about an individual child's future support.

Current collection procedures require advance notice when another adult will collect a child, together with an agreed password; an unexpected collector triggers a call to the parent. Recruitment arrangements include enhanced DBS checks before unsupervised access and written references. These are specific procedures parents can understand, rather than a general assurance of safety.

A chef prepares home-cooked meals on a four-week menu cycle, including curries and fish pies. The allergy arrangements involve gathering dietary information, an individual health care plan and, where appropriate, risk assessment and a dietary plan developed with parents.

Yoga, mindfulness, art therapy, baking and gardening sit within the wellbeing offer. Each provides a different kind of activity, from movement to making things, although the useful judgement for a family is how these fit their own child's interests and needs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 22 Cliffe End Road, Quarmby, Huddersfield, HD3 4FF. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. For unfunded children, the AM session runs from 7am to 1pm and the PM session from 1pm to 6pm; full-day attendance is also offered.

Children may be collected or dropped off within the relevant session window, with arrival before 9am advised for the morning. The fees terms specify a three-day minimum for unfunded children. Bank Holidays and the Christmas period are closures, and charges cover 51 weeks of the year. This is an across-the-year arrangement rather than a term-time-only nursery offer.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or email. Changes to attendance and notice to leave require at least a month's notice, counted from the beginning of the month, by letter or email. That timing matters when coordinating nursery care with a change of job or family routine.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months, with the entitlement described as rising to up to 30 hours from September 2025, alongside 15/30-hour funding for three-year-olds. The three-year funding begins in the term after the child's third birthday, with term starts in January, April and September.

Private childcare is also offered, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Payments are due in advance at the start of each month; a contract sets the monthly charge, which stays the same across the year unless arrangements change. Bank transfer, childcare vouchers and the Tax free childcare scheme are accepted payment routes.

A registration charge applies subject to a place being offered and is non-refundable if the place is cancelled before starting. The fees and opening times give the attendance and payment structure.

• Minimum attendance. The fees terms set a three-day minimum for unfunded children, while the FAQs give a two-full-day minimum. These terms conflict, so establish which applies to the proposed booking before committing.
• Baby-room starting age. The Baby Unit description starts at three months, while the gallery starts at six months. Families seeking an early start should establish the applicable starting age and how care moves between the age bands.
• Teaching and cultural understanding. In February 2023, the improvement priorities were closer monitoring of teaching, including giving children time to answer, and deeper learning about shared experiences, culture and heritage. A visit is an opportunity to discuss how those priorities now shape activities and staff interactions.
• The complete care package. What would the proposed funded or private booking include for meals and non-food consumables, and how would an individual allergy plan work in practice? Put those details alongside the attendance terms when considering the written quotation.

Jack & Jill's suits families considering morning sessions, afternoon sessions or full-day attendance, especially those who value a key-person relationship and a gradual introduction to new rooms. The Sensory zone, outdoor forestry experience and family crafting events give the offer substance beyond general claims about learning through play.

The February 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark. The strongest current practical detail is the planned continuity between home, room routines and room moves. Before committing, families should resolve the conflicting minimum attendance and baby starting-age terms, and weigh the complete care package against their intended booking.