Secret Garden Nursery

A garden, a football pitch and a zip-wire give Secret Garden Nursery a clear outdoor identity. Children can use the outdoor space throughout the day, in all weather, while music, imaginative play and smaller-group learning give the programme more than a physical emphasis.

Secret Garden Nursery takes children aged two to four at 29-31 Parkhill Road in Belsize Park, London NW3 2YH, with capacity for 50 children in total. At its September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. The important qualification concerns the planning of group activities: some children spent too long waiting to participate.

Attendance is term-time, with both morning and full-day sessions. That makes the nursery relevant to families seeking a shorter preschool morning as well as those wanting care through the afternoon, provided school-holiday closures fit their arrangements.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, covering language, physical development, relationships and the other areas of learning. Here, activities include imaginative play, science, creative work and movement. Counting, exploring materials and expressing feelings sit within the same programme rather than being treated as separate lessons.

High Scope principles sit alongside the EYFS in planned activities that respond to children's interests. The practical emphasis is on active play and using resources to explore ideas. The daily routine gives that exploration a recognisable shape: free play leads into a group gathering with songs and a story, followed later by activities with each child's key person. Timings can change to accommodate children's needs.

Creative work includes Loose Parts activities, which encourage children to use their imagination and develop ideas, alongside messy play and gardening. These offer different ways to participate: handling materials, experimenting and attending to plants. Children need not express every idea through speech or a finished piece of artwork.

Weekly music sessions use piano and harp, singing and small percussion instruments. Turn-taking and sharing are part of the sessions, alongside opportunities for emotional expression and language development.

Football centres on movement and working with others; tennis activities include ball-handling skills. Yoga adds stretching, balance and controlled breathing. These are additions to the play programme, rather than a substitute for it, and families using funded hours should distinguish the activity contributions from the free entitlement itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor access is a substantial part of the offer. Alongside the garden and football pitch, children use a tennis court, swings, a trampoline and the zip-wire. This gives physical play several forms, from practising coordination with a ball to exploring movement on outdoor equipment.

In September 2024, children used tricycles and a musical maze, played with water and sand, and talked about rain helping trees grow. Outdoor learning connected physical activity with noticing the natural world.

Regular outings extend experiences to markets, theatres, museums and libraries. These are educational trips, with additional risk assessments and parental permissions required for off-site activities.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who gets to know their interests and needs, supports settling and uses observations to plan their learning. Parents contribute information about home experiences, so planning can draw on more than what staff see during a nursery session.

Tapestry is the online system used to record each child's Learning Journey. It sits alongside parents' meetings, newsletters and conversations with the key person. Families can arrange an individual discussion and view their child's work through the digital platform, making communication a continuing exchange rather than something reserved for a formal meeting.

In September 2024, newly attending children separated readily from their parents, and staff used picture cards as well as words to help children express feelings. Songs, repeated vocabulary and modelled sentences supported communication, while children learning English were encouraged to use their home language. These observations show how relationships and language were woven into ordinary interactions at that time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO supports children, their families and key people. Assessments are shared with parents for comment; with parental consent, the SENCO can seek advice from Speech and Language Therapists, Health Visitors and Early Years Inclusion Officers. The key person and SENCO then work together on the resulting targets and strategies, providing a concrete route from identifying a need to acting on it.

At the September 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that assessment, cooperation with parents and outside professionals supported good progress, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The manager holds the designated safeguarding role, supported by deputy officers, and staff train in first aid and child protection, as well as assessing risks and managing behaviour. Collection procedures require families to identify authorised adults; an unfamiliar collector must provide proof of identity. These are practical arrangements for managing responsibility, rather than a guarantee of safety.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. Morning sessions run from 9.30am to 12.30pm; full-day sessions run from 9am to 3pm. Half-terms, bank holidays and summer holidays are closure periods, so the attendance pattern needs to fit the family's wider childcare arrangements.

Private bookings have a minimum of three sessions per week. Grant-funded sessions are exempt from that minimum. Additional paid hours from noon to 3pm are also offered, giving families a further attendance option alongside the two main session patterns.

Fees are paid termly in advance. Reducing attendance or leaving requires a term's notice, with payment in lieu where insufficient notice is given. Enquiries can be made through the nursery's contact form, by email at info@secretgardennw3.co.uk or by telephone on 020 7722 3812.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers the universal 15-hour entitlement from the term following a child's third birthday, funded childcare for eligible disadvantaged two-year-olds, and the 30-hour working-family entitlement for children within its accepted age range. Delivery is term-time: the 15-hour pattern is 9.30am to 12.30pm on weekdays, while the 30-hour pattern runs from 9am to 3pm on weekdays. Eligibility conditions apply to the relevant entitlement.

Optional additional hours are charged separately. For families taking either 15 or 30 funded hours, contributions towards PE, Music, Tennis and Football are voluntary. A refundable retainer applies to free-entitlement bookings and is returned within the first month after the child starts; current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation.

Resources and general consumables are included in fees, while families supply nappies, wipes and creams. Children bring packed meals and snacks, which are excluded from fees and are not shared with other children; the nursery operates a nut-free policy. The fees and funding terms set out the distinction between entitlement hours, additional hours and other costs.

• Group participation. In September 2024, a baking activity left children waiting too long for a turn and losing interest. During a visit, ask how group activities now keep each child involved.
• Term-time fit. Morning and full-day sessions both sit within a term-time calendar, with school-holiday closures. Weigh those patterns against your working week and holiday childcare needs, including the private-booking minimum.
• Outdoor equipment. The zip-wire, trampoline and tennis court make active play a substantial part of the day. Use a visit to discuss how staff support your child's confidence on the equipment and manage all-weather play.
• Packed food and allergies. Families provide meals and snacks under the nursery's nut-free policy. If your child has an allergy, confirm current food-handling practice and how their packed food will be managed.

Secret Garden Nursery suits families wanting either a preschool morning or a full day within term time, especially where outdoor activity is a priority. The garden and sports spaces give children several ways to move and explore, while weekly music and the key-person system add recurring creative experiences and an individual point of contact.

The September 2024 Good judgement supports that picture, with a specific reservation about keeping children engaged during group activities. Practical fit deserves equal weight: holiday closures, packed food, advance payment and notice terms all shape the family experience. For parents comfortable with those arrangements, the combination of outdoor play, music and individual planning has clear appeal.