Little Market Day Nursery

A morning greeting song sets the tone for a setting where belonging is more than an abstract promise. At its August 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Little Market Day Nursery Good across every judgement and found safeguarding effective. The evidence behind that judgement included secure relationships, calm behaviour management and children making good progress.

The nursery is at the Wykeham Centre on Market Place in Romford. It has capacity for 70 children aged from three months to five years. Its own branch information identifies Baby, Toddler and Pre-School rooms, while the wider site also houses a separately presented after-school club.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby room, Toddler Room and Pre-School room give families a clear age-stage structure, although the individual room age boundaries are best explored during a visit. In August 2024, babies' home-care routines were carried into nursery to help them settle. That continuity matters for very young children whose sleep, meals and comfort cues may still be changing quickly.

Learning and Named Experiences

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the statutory framework here. In practical terms, it means play and adult-guided experiences should develop communication, physical skills, early literacy and mathematics alongside children's personal, social and emotional development. The curriculum was broad and generally followed children's interests: counting was woven into pretend cake-making, size words into play, and new vocabulary into activities with play dough.

Creative work had useful precision. Children cut patterns with jagged scissors and tested brush strokes across different surfaces, rather than simply completing identical craft products. Stories, songs and name recognition supported early literacy, while Diwali and Chinese New Year, together with culturally representative books and toys, helped children encounter difference.

The morning greeting song is a small but telling routine. It gives the group a shared start while reinforcing each child's place within it.

Outdoor and Community Life

Regular visits to the local park gave children room to run and jump, with equipment used to practise balance. Back at nursery, planting flowers and learning the names of fruit and vegetables connected physical experience with an early understanding of growth and the natural world. Managers also planned to continue improving the outdoor area in August 2024.

Relationships and Communication

Care is strongest where routines and communication join up. In August 2024, younger children were learning to feed themselves, older children pouring drinks, and everyone encouraged to tidy away, share and use good manners. Staff were calm, fair and consistent when guiding behaviour, helping children understand expectations without turning the day into a sequence of corrections.

Parents received daily conversations and progress updates through a secure app in August 2024. Babies' communication books included sleep and food information, and staff worked with families on practical development such as toilet training. That gives parents both a record of the day and a route for keeping home and nursery approaches aligned.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The August 2024 arrangements included daily premises checks and thorough staff background checks. Managers supported practitioners through regular conversations, individual meetings and training; behaviour-management training had already led to improvements.

Oral health receives unusually concrete attention. Children practised brushing on tooth and gum models and explored the subject through creative activities, making an important health message tangible. Meals and snacks were appetising and healthy, but staff needed to do more to explain why eating well matters.

Sessions and Attendance

In August 2024, the nursery operated full day care from 7am to 7pm each weekday, throughout the year except public bank holidays. Families should treat those as the published inspection-date arrangements and discuss their required attendance pattern directly before applying.

The Wykeham Centre address is Market Place, Romford, RM1 3AB. The current provider record covers children from three months to five years and gives a total capacity of 70.

Funding and Paid Extras

In 2024, the nursery accepted funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Eligibility and the way funded hours fit around a family's chosen schedule can shape the real value of that support.

• Room fit. The current room list names Baby, Toddler and Pre-School rooms. The practical decision is which room a child would join, how transitions work and what that room's typical day looks like.
• Curriculum priorities. In 2024, the nursery was asked to add stronger problem-solving opportunities. The important follow-up is how practitioners now encourage children to test ideas, persist and find solutions during play.
• Healthy choices. Meals and snacks were judged appetising and healthy, but children needed more help understanding the value of eating well. Food conversations and activities are a useful point to explore during one visit.
• Attendance and costs. Full day care and long weekday opening were recorded in 2024. Compare the current session pattern and complete written quotation with the hours your family needs.

Little Market Day Nursery's strongest evidence lies in warm routines with practical purpose: the morning song builds belonging, park visits develop movement, and tooth models turn health teaching into something children can handle and understand. Ofsted's Good judgement is supported by clear examples of progress, secure relationships and constructive parent communication.

This would suit Romford families seeking full-day weekday care, especially those who value a defined Baby-to-Pre-School room structure and regular feedback about sleep, food and development. The key decision points are current session choices, room transitions and progress on problem-solving and healthy-eating education.