Little Lionhearts Nursery School

Child-authored stories, a garden with fish and a fountain, and two outdoor playgrounds give Little Lionhearts Nursery School a recognisable character. This Harrow setting combines storytelling with spaces for movement, creative work and practical exploration. Books provide the starting point, but learning extends well beyond them.

At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with well-planned learning and effective support for children with SEND and those learning English as an additional language. That judgement belongs to March 2022. The improvement point concerned everyday routines, especially lunchtime, where opportunities to extend conversation and independence were being missed.

Today, the nursery accepts children from three months to five years and has capacity for 43 children. Its home is a Grade II–listed building on Greenford Road. Full days, mornings and afternoons sit alongside attendance across the year and term-time funded arrangements, giving families several ways to organise childcare.

Rooms and Ages

Little Cubs Room emphasises sensory discovery, early movement, communication and relationships; Little Lions Room, for two- to three-year-olds, introduces mark-making, number work, construction and increasing independence; Preschool Pride Room, for three- to five-year-olds, brings together phonics, storytelling, number problems, performance and ways to manage feelings. The progression moves from discovering materials and language towards using those skills more independently.

Room transitions sit within the child's wider development rather than simply changing the activities on offer. The key person observes learning and discusses progress with parents, providing continuity as children move between stages. For families, that relationship matters as much as the room label: it gives them someone who knows their child's interests and can explain the next steps.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the educational framework: children learn through play and planned experiences that develop communication, movement, relationships, early literacy and mathematics, creativity and understanding of their world. It is the common foundation for nursery education. Here, the added organising idea is storytelling.

Story Gems is the group-wide story-based programme used at Harrow, linking children's interests with books, imaginative play and making their own stories. Tales lead into dressing up and activities rather than remaining a separate reading slot. Children can contribute their own narratives, giving language a practical purpose and making their ideas part of the learning.

Montessori-inspired elements sit alongside that framework, with an emphasis on exploration, practical learning and independence. Activities are prepared each day and adjusted as children's interests and development change. This describes an influence on the approach rather than a separate educational framework.

Cooking and music add tangible experiences. Children mix ingredients, make dough and prepare snacks, while movement activities use egg shakers and ribbon rings. These are opportunities to handle materials, follow actions and communicate through something other than conversation alone. There is a balance between experiences led by adults and play initiated by children.

Outdoor and Community Life

Fountain Garden combines a herb-growing area, fish, a water fountain and a climbing castle. Helping with plants and feeding fish gives children practical things to care for. The two playgrounds provide another kind of exploration, with climbing equipment, swings, slides and balance features; road markings also give imaginative play a setting.

Indoors, Sensory Room provides materials for quieter exploration, Art Room supports work with colour and texture, and Soft Play Room has climbing blocks, soft surfaces and corners for quieter moments. These spaces give active, creative and calmer experiences separate physical settings. Outdoor movement need not be the only outlet for an energetic child.

A preschool visit to Riding Park described in October 2025 involved collecting leaves and twigs and examining flowers. It is a concrete example of learning about seasonal change away from the nursery, rather than a promise of a fixed outing schedule. Looking closely at natural objects also gave children things to describe and discuss with one another.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person responsible for settling, observations, assessment and conversations about development. Daily feedback includes how the day went and what the child ate. This gives parents a regular point of contact for both practical care and learning, rather than reserving discussion for formal progress updates.

Settling follows a gradual plan over three days: the first session lasts one hour with a parent present, the second lasts one and a half hours as the parent moves towards reception, and the third lasts two hours with the parent nearby but able to leave. Up to 4.5 hours of settling sessions are free. The sequence makes separation gradual and gives families a clear starting plan.

Before attendance begins, the All About My Child form gathers information about routines, sleep, interests, language, SEND, medical needs and allergies. It gives practitioners a starting picture of the child beyond their age. Parents must communicate dietary and medical requirements in writing, so practical information accompanies the settling process.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In March 2022, staff used conversation and songs during care routines and physical reassurance at rest times. Children were practising dressing and other self-care tasks, although lunchtime offered less effective opportunities to build on these skills. The distinction matters: warm care and purposeful learning during routines are related, but each needs attention.

Child-height toilets and wash areas make personal care physically accessible. Easy-to-operate taps and automatic soap dispensers support handwashing, while temperature controls regulate the water. These are useful everyday details for a child beginning to manage tasks independently.

The nursery uses access-controlled doors and CCTV, and recruitment includes enhanced DBS checks and professional references. Staff also undertake ongoing training. These are arrangements for running the setting; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the inspection assessment given above.

School preparation includes stories about starting school, classroom role play and discussion of feelings. Teachers can meet children and their key person to discuss development, and parents have school-readiness workshops. This is practical transition work: familiarising children with routines and helping adults share information about them.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 103-105 Greenford Road, Harrow, HA1 3QF. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays. Standard full-day sessions run from 8am to 6pm; mornings run from 8am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm.

The minimum commitment is two full days or three half days, with the same sessions repeated each week. Requests to swap, increase or reduce sessions require one month's advance notice and depend on whether the change can be accommodated. That makes this a regular weekly booking model rather than unrestricted changes from week to week.

Attendance can cover 51 weeks, 47 weeks or the 38-week term-time pattern. The 47-week option excludes additional periods in September, January and at Easter, so the annual pattern affects more than the monthly bill. Bank holidays, three staff training days and the Christmas/New Year break also need to fit the family's childcare calendar.

An early-start add-on runs from 7.30am to 8am, and a late-finish add-on from 6pm to 6.30pm. Term-time funded choices also include core hours from 9am to 3pm and late afternoons from 3pm to 6pm. Extra sessions and flexible hourly bookings provide further options alongside the repeating pattern.

Getting There

Sudbury Hill is the named station, with the Piccadilly Line and Overground identified as transport options; buses 92 and H17 also serve the area. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 0203 900 0234 or by emailing hello@littlelionhearts.com.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes up to 30 hours for eligible working families from nine months, 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds receiving additional support, and the universal 15-hour entitlement from the term after a child's third birthday. Funding can be used during term time or stretched across the year, with private hours charged in addition. Eligibility conditions still apply.

Standard private fees include meals, drinks, nappies, learning resources and daily consumables. For funded hours, meals and non-food consumables are charged separately through the Integrated Provision Fee, which also covers learning materials and enrichment within ordinary provision; families may request to opt out of the whole package, with partial opt-out excluded.

A chef prepares meals and snacks in the nursery's commercial kitchen. Dietary and medical requirements are agreed with families and must be supplied in writing.

Payments are monthly in advance, spread into equal instalments over the year. A non-refundable registration charge covers administration, setup and settling arrangements; extra sessions, special events and trips can bring further charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the charge structure explained on its fees and funding page.

Ending the agreement requires written notice: one month ordinarily, or at least two months if the child is eligible to claim government childcare funding. Payments continue through the notice period. This is a material planning point for families anticipating a move or a change in working arrangements.

• Youngest-room organisation. Little Cubs emphasises sensory discovery, early movement and communication. During a showround, establish which room your child would join and how their move to the next stage would work.
• Learning during routines. The March 2022 improvement point concerned missed opportunities at lunchtime. Ask how children now take part in serving, self-care and conversations during meals.
• Attendance and funding package. A repeating minimum booking sits alongside several annual patterns and a separate funded-hours package. Have the proposed sessions, closure weeks and any whole-package opt-out recorded in the written quotation.
• Settling and medical needs. The gradual settling plan and written dietary arrangements are useful starting points. An in-person showround lasts one hour, with a 30-minute virtual option; use it to discuss how separation and any allergy precautions would work for your child.

Little Lionhearts suits families seeking story-led learning with substantial space for physical and creative activity, whether they need full days, morning or afternoon sessions, or a term-time funded pattern. Fountain Garden, the playgrounds and the separate creative and sensory spaces give that offer concrete substance.

Its March 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality assessment, while the lunchtime improvement point remains a useful question about everyday practice. The key practical decision is how the repeating booking, annual attendance pattern and funded extras fit together. For families comfortable with those terms, storytelling, practical independence and a gradual start form a coherent offer.