St Vincent's Nursery

A pirate ship in the garden, signing woven into daily life and a sensory room give St Vincent's Nursery a character that goes beyond its setting within Haydon School's grounds. This Wiltshire Lane nursery in Pinner cares for children from 3 months to 5 years and has 65 places in total. Its strongest practical features connect indoor exploration, outdoor play and communication support.

At its November 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. That is a dated assessment, rather than a description of every aspect of today's provision. The current offer includes age-banded rooms, weekly sport and a key person allocated before a child starts.

Full days sit alongside morning and afternoon sessions, with funded attendance patterns and an advance-booked earlybird option also offered. The choice matters: families can fit care around different working arrangements rather than committing to one length of day.

Rooms and Ages

Buttercups accommodates children aged 3 to 18 months; Daisies and Sunflowers take children aged 18 to 30 months; Busy Bee's and Butterflies serve children from 2½ to 5 years. These age bands make room changes part of a child's time here, and a move brings a new key person with a handover between practitioners.

Shared facilities add more than room names alone can convey. The sensory room lets children experiment with cause and effect, including changing the colour of lights. It gives them a different way to explore an environment through their own actions.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common framework for children's learning and care, covering communication, movement, relationships and later learning through subjects such as literacy and mathematics. Here, each child's learning journey brings together photographs, observations and next steps. That gives families a record of development to discuss with their key person, rather than only a collection of activity pictures.

Super Star Sport adds weekly physical activities for children aged 2 to 5. Click It provides computer lessons to develop IT skills, with a separate charge. These are concrete additions alongside the EYFS, and their different purposes are clear: movement in one case, using computers in the other. The curriculum page explains the learning journey and these activities.

In November 2022, babies brought books to adults and responded to pictures with gestures and sounds, while older children joined repeated story phrases and experimented with making marks. Dough play involved squeezing, rolling and using tools; music prompted dancing. These examples show how conversation, hand control and movement could share the same day, rather than learning being confined to a formal group activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

The secure garden contains a pirate ship, a vegetable plot and a digging area. A covered patio gives children aged 2 to 5 access to free-flow play in different weather. There is useful variety here: imaginative play has a physical setting, while digging and growing introduce hands-on exploration of the outdoors.

In November 2022, children exercised outside daily and explored cultural celebrations through creative activities and role play. Those experiences connected physical activity with learning about the people around them. The present outdoor arrangements also affect what families pack: wellies and warm clothing are part of the nursery's requirements for winter.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is assigned before a child begins, providing the family's main contact and keeping development records. Children also build relationships with other adults in their room, so familiar care can continue when that practitioner is absent. On moving rooms, information passes between the outgoing and incoming key persons.

Settling is planned across three visits. The first runs from 9.30am to 11.30am, the second from 10am to 2pm and the third from 10am to 4pm. Parents can stay during the initial visit, with a short separation guided by their preference; a family photograph and a favourite comfort toy can help connect home and nursery. This is a substantial introduction to budget into the period before care begins.

ParentZone is the diary app used for updates on food, sleep, nappy changes and activities, alongside development observations. An annual parents evening provides a separate opportunity to discuss the learning journey, while the review at age 2 links discussion with the Health Visitor check. Day-to-day care information and longer-term development therefore have different routes for conversation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Signalong supports communication through signs accompanied by spoken words. Weekly Attention Hillingdon, known to children as Magic Time, develops listening, attention and taking turns. These are explained practices rather than a broad promise of inclusion: families can understand what children actually use and do.

A SENDCO and assistant support liaison with parents and the Early Years Inclusion Team, alongside physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. Individual Education Plans form part of the SENDCO's responsibilities. At the November 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective SEND support and positive progress, with visual cues helping children understand instructions and routines, including those learning English as an additional language.

All nursery staff hold first aid certificates, and trainee nursery practitioners on placement are supervised. Families can arrange a meeting with their child's key person through management, giving concerns about development or daily care a clear route beyond app updates.

Meals are cooked fresh on site, with a four-week menu cycle; solid-food meals are included in nursery fees, while parents supply formula and baby food for children not yet eating solids. The nursery accommodates dietary requests and has a policy restricting food brought from home unless management has agreed it, so allergy arrangements need an individual discussion.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Wiltshire Lane, Pinner, HA5 2LX. Usual opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with closures for bank holidays and just over a week at Christmas. Full-day bookings run from 8am to 6pm; morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm.

Paid half-day patterns listed are three, four or five sessions per week. A single full-day booking is restricted to Monday or Friday. Earlybird runs from 7.30am to 8am, requires advance booking and carries a separate charge. These conditions matter as much as the clock times when matching care to a working week.

The shorter funded-day patterns run from 9am to 4.30pm, with additional paid hours possible before or afterwards; the stretched universal single-day pattern runs from 8am to 6pm. Families agree their funded-only or extended pattern in advance, and ongoing changes require a month's written notice. Term-time attendance is offered for children aged 2, 3 and 4 at management's discretion; across-the-year funded arrangements use 51 weeks, while term-time arrangements use 38.

Getting There

An off-street car park serves the nursery. Its position within Haydon School's grounds does not guarantee a Reception place: nursery attendance and school admission are separate decisions.

Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form. A completed registration form places families on the waiting list. This is a booking procedure, rather than a statement about spaces currently free.

Funding and Paid Extras

Early Years Entitlement is offered from the term after a child reaches 9 months, subject to the relevant entitlement. The arrangements include 15 Universal Hours for children aged 3 and 4 from the term after their third birthday, and 30 Hours for working families, delivered through stretched or term-time patterns. Entitlement sessions have no top-up fees, and accessing them does not require the purchase of additional services; extra hours or days are chargeable.

The stretched universal arrangement uses one full day on Monday or Friday for children attending only once weekly, allowing families to claim 10 hours per week rather than the stretched allocation of 11.17 hours. Other funded patterns use the shorter funded day. Choosing between them is therefore a decision about the week's shape as well as its total hours. The funding arrangements explain these patterns; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Parents supply nappies, nappy sacks, wipes and creams. For fully paid places or attendance involving extra paid hours alongside entitlement, a registration charge and deposit apply; the registration element is non-refundable, while deposit repayment depends on the terms being met. Leaving or reducing sessions requires a month's written notice. Families should include these supplies and commitments when weighing the booking, alongside separately charged Click It lessons.

• Quieter children and early mathematics. In November 2022, opportunities for less confident speakers to express their ideas needed strengthening, as did teaching the connection between written numbers and quantities. Ask how staff now support both during ordinary play.
• Funding and the working week. Funded attendance uses specific day patterns, with term-time arrangements at management's discretion and earlybird booked separately. At a visit, discuss the exact weekly pattern you need before committing.
• A planned settling period. Three introductory visits precede the start, increasing in length. Allow time for them and discuss how separation will be handled for your child.
• Dietary arrangements. Food from home needs prior agreement, and formula and baby food are parent-provided before solids. Families managing allergies should confirm the current individual care and meal arrangements.

St Vincent's suits families choosing between full days and morning or afternoon care, as well as those whose funded pattern fits its shorter days. The garden's pirate ship and growing space, weekly sport, Signalong and sensory room give the offer substance. A planned settling sequence and detailed parent communication add practical value for families beginning nursery care.

The November 2022 assessment was positive, but its recommendations about quieter speakers and number learning deserve a direct conversation. The attendance rules also reward careful planning: this is a nursery with several patterns, each carrying conditions that need to fit the family's week.