The Little Academy Day Nursery

A baby room with its own sleeping area, a garden with a mud kitchen, and visiting animals give The Little Academy Day Nursery a recognisable character. This purpose-built nursery occupies grounds belonging to Hatch End High School in Harrow and takes children from three months to five years. There are 60 places in total. The appeal is practical as well as educational: individual baby routines sit alongside increasingly independent play as children move towards preschool.

At its January 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, recognising effective support for language and emotional development while identifying mathematics and understanding healthy eating as areas needing further work. That judgement belongs to that visit. The current offer includes language, drama and movement clubs, animal encounters and community visits, giving families concrete activities to weigh alongside the inspection position.

Daffodil, Poppy, Daisy and Sunflower are the rooms children move through, with key persons and room managers organising those changes. Full days, mornings and afternoons are offered across the year, rather than a single attendance pattern.

Rooms and Ages

Daffodil Room serves babies and younger toddlers in a self-contained space with a kitchen and separate sleeping area, allowing exploration and rest to have their own places. Poppy Room gives toddlers opportunities to investigate smells, tastes and sounds, practise movement and spend time outside. These are different stages of the nursery day: the youngest children explore at their own pace, while toddlers have more opportunities to test their mobility and senses.

Daisy Room emphasises children choosing and developing their own play, alongside learning to cooperate and respect other children. Sunflower Room brings preschool learning into activities such as construction, music, pencil practice and sand and water exploration. The progression is towards doing more independently. It is not simply a change of room name.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning through play, conversation, physical activity and developing relationships, alongside early reading, writing and mathematics. It is the baseline for nursery education. Here, Development Matters informs planning across these areas, and adults extend activities from what children choose to explore. A child's interest supplies the starting point; staff then introduce another idea, skill or question.

Kids Lingo adds language exploration through songs, activities and unfamiliar words. Shakes Kids uses performance, storytelling and pretend play, while Tiny Mites centres on movement and fitness, with activities aimed at coordination and balance. These expert-led sessions carry an additional charge. Their content gives parents a clearer choice than a general promise of enrichment: language, expression and physical activity each have a named place in the offer. The curriculum page explains the approach and clubs.

In January 2023, babies experimented with cereal textures in trays, while older children tested balls travelling along pipes and younger children joined them. Staff also used songs, stories and commentary during play to introduce vocabulary. Those examples show how ordinary materials became opportunities to investigate and communicate at that visit, rather than learning being confined to a formal group activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden extends play outdoors through a mud kitchen, spaces for pretend play, water and sand activities, and equipment for climbing and riding bikes. Children can move between physical challenges and quieter experiments with materials. This gives outdoor time an educational role as well as room for movement.

Ark Farm Experience introduces children to farm animals, and Zoolab Experience brings animal encounters into learning about the natural world. Live chicken hatching Experiences lets children watch chicks emerge and explore their life cycle. These are concrete experiences to talk about afterwards, connecting new language with something children have seen for themselves.

Annual Fire Station Visits include meeting firefighters, investigating a fire engine and learning about fire safety. Annual Metropolitan Police Visit similarly involves officers, vehicles and community safety. Mini First Aid – Pre-Schoolers introduces first aid and safety through interactive activities. The annual frequency applies to the fire and police visits; the animal encounters and first aid sessions have their own place in the programme.

Relationships and Communication

Care for babies begins with familiar habits. Settling sessions gather information about a baby's preferences and comforts, and practitioners follow individual feeding and sleeping routines as closely as possible. Flexible settling sessions give families a way to introduce nursery care gradually. For a baby whose rest or feeds do not follow a shared timetable, this is a meaningful part of the arrangement.

Each baby has a key worker, and parents receive daily information about activities, naps and meals through a secure communication platform. That makes the account of the day useful at home, especially when deciding whether a child needs food or rest later. Practitioners also exchange information with families about changing preferences and routines, so care can adapt as a child develops.

Room moves are planned by key persons and room managers, with learning matched to the child's stage. In January 2023, staff shared development information in transition documents and discussed individual needs before room changes. Moving on therefore involved sharing knowledge about the child, rather than simply transferring them to another group.

Family Stay and Play sessions bring children and relatives together for shared activities. Family Fun Days take place twice a year and are free community events for nursery families and other local families. These provide different ways to participate: one through shared play, the other through a wider family event.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, with staff understanding how to recognise and report concerns, supervising children appropriately and using stories, conversation and calming resources to help children manage emotions. These are dated findings, rather than a present-day guarantee. In January 2023, children also helped friends with coat zips, linking the work on independence with everyday cooperation.

Meals and snacks are cooked on the premises by the nursery cook, with alternatives for dietary requirements. For families managing food needs, the relevant detail is that preparation happens on site and adaptations form part of the meal arrangements.

School preparation includes practical independence. The School Readiness Program introduces routines, listening activities, dressing, looking after belongings and tidying. Preschool families receive progress feedback and resources about supporting learning at home. A Graduation Ceremony– Pre-Schoolers marks the move towards school, while Christmas Nativity Production gives children a shared performance to prepare for.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. Full Days run from 8am to 6pm; Mornings and Afternoons provide shorter attendance patterns. Private attendance schedules cover one to five days; the funded full-day schedules cover three, four or five days. Additional morning or afternoon half-day sessions also form part of the charging structure.

Private fees are paid in advance each month by standing order, with billing based on 51 weeks. Holiday or sickness absence does not reduce those fees. This matters when comparing the regular bill with the number of days a child will actually attend: an absence does not remove the cost of their booked care.

Getting There

The address is Tillotson Road, off Headstone Lane, Harrow, HA3 6PS. The building sits within the grounds of Hatch End High School. Telephone enquiries use 02084212128 or 07946335712. Being on school grounds does not guarantee a Reception place; families still use the local authority admissions process for a state primary school.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery participates in 15 and 30 hours Government Funded Childcare. Funding is stretched over 51 weeks: the 15-hour entitlement becomes 11.17 funded hours a week, and the 30-hour entitlement becomes 22.35. Additional care is charged separately from those funded hours. Spreading the entitlement across the year changes the weekly allocation, so the entitlement's headline hours are not the weekly attendance allowance under this arrangement.

For private care, baby fees include baby rice, puréed food and cow's milk, while parents supply formula milk, nappies, nappy cream and sun cream. For older children, included food comprises breakfast, a morning snack and afternoon tea, with cooked lunch included for morning and all-day attendance. Funded schedules include a separate consumables contribution covering food, non-food items and activities, a different arrangement from the private fee's meal inclusion.

The additional expert-led clubs are charged separately. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the fees and funding page sets out the attendance and funding options.

• Learning beyond familiar play. January 2023 improvement priorities concerned extending mathematical learning and explaining how healthy food affects the body. At a visit, ask for current examples of how staff develop these ideas during play and meals.
• Baby routines and room changes. Daffodil Room has a separate sleeping area, and care follows individual routines. Ask how settling sessions, daily updates and the move to Poppy Room would work for your child.
• The funded care bill. Entitlements are stretched across the year, with additional care and consumables contributions alongside them. Obtain an itemised quotation showing the funded hours, consumables contributions and club charges for your chosen pattern.
• Dietary adaptations. Meals are prepared on site with alternatives for dietary needs. Families affected by allergies should confirm current preparation and handling arrangements before agreeing care.

The Little Academy suits families choosing between full days and shorter morning or afternoon sessions, with care extending from babies to preschool. Its strongest practical details are the separate baby sleeping area, individual routines and daily updates; the garden, animal encounters and named clubs add breadth to the learning offer.

The Good judgement from January 2023 provides a dated quality benchmark, with specific improvement priorities to keep in view. For families who value continuity through different nursery stages and want concrete activities alongside everyday play, there is plenty here to consider. Funding and private attendance have different charge structures, making the itemised cost of the chosen pattern an essential part of the decision.