The De Lacey Day Nursery School

A covered garden, real materials and cooking children can join in: De Lacey’s character comes from practical experiences rather than elaborate promises. Its purpose-built nursery in Norwood Green combines Montessori-inspired exploration using sensory resources with music, Tai-Chi and outdoor activity. The garden’s shelter gives children protection from rain, wind and strong sunshine, making outdoor play less dependent on a clear forecast.

At its September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and highlighted targeted help for children needing extra support, including access to external agencies and effective use of additional funding. Practitioners needed stronger coaching both to encourage children’s independence consistently and to improve curriculum delivery across the team, where teaching practice was uneven.

The nursery has 40 places in total, with a current age range of 24 to 60 months. Full-day and shorter attendance patterns are offered, with term-time arrangements alongside stretched attendance.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room has sensory equipment, mobiles and soft mats for exploration, with cribs and sleep mats supporting rest around home routines.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the required framework for children’s learning, development and care; here, its day-to-day meaning includes play, conversation, physical activity and opportunities to practise practical skills. Montessori-inspired learning sits alongside that framework. Natural materials and real objects give the approach a tangible expression, while regular cooking and music sessions broaden the activities children encounter.

Cookery Club lets children investigate tastes and textures. That makes food something to explore as well as eat. Tai-Chi sessions are led by trained staff, adding another form of movement to the nursery day; the offer should be understood through those sessions rather than through claims about outcomes.

In September 2025, children practised preparing fruit and flavouring water. The tasks gave them something useful to accomplish, with a result they could recognise. Pretend cooking also supported conversation: staff introduced words describing weight and fullness, and children learning English used the language in their play.

Books supplied another route into language that month. Children joined familiar parts of stories and offered ideas about what might happen next. Alongside adult commentary during play, this connected listening and speaking with the beginnings of literacy.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School sessions add challenging outdoor play intended to develop confidence and independence. The covered garden supports a different, equally practical need: children can spend time outside with shelter from the weather.

In September 2025, children unearthed carrots and potatoes, ran outside in different weather conditions and took part in recycling and litter picking. Trips included local shops and a postbox. Such experiences connected nursery activities with familiar community places, giving children real situations to talk about and actions to take.

Relationships and Communication

Settling arrangements for the Baby Room are built around discussions with families and the incorporation of home routines. Updates cover development as well as feeding and sleep. For a family handing over care, those details connect what happens during nursery hours with the patterns they know at home.

In September 2025, staff gathered information about newcomers’ interests and daily habits to help them settle. Daily conversations, photographs shared through an app and practical advice about toilet training were part of communication with families. These are useful forms of contact because they combine a picture of the child’s day with a chance to discuss everyday care.

The Learning Journal app provides continuing updates about activities and learning. Family participation also includes an annual Christmas Show involving the children and a Family Reading Event associated with World Book Day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Support for children with additional needs was a strength of the September 2025 assessment, as outlined above. The mechanism was concrete: external agencies and additional funding were used to address individual needs. For parents, the relevant distinction is between a general welcome and a plan that brings the right help into the child’s care.

Independence was less consistent. In September 2025, older children sometimes served themselves, poured drinks and cleared plates, but some practitioners also took over manageable tasks, including aprons and food service. Stronger coaching was required to improve both support for independence and curriculum delivery across the team. A family choosing Montessori-inspired provision should weigh that finding alongside the practical learning on offer.

A chef prepares a fresh vegetarian hot meal on the premises each day, with fruit and vegetables for snacks and milk and water to drink. The nursery caters for different dietary requirements, while its baby care arrangements accommodate stages of weaning and home feeding routines.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 237A North Hyde Lane, Southall, UB2 5TZ, in Norwood Green. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 020 8571 7328 or by email to daynursery@delaceynurseries.co.uk.

The minimum booking is 15 hours each week, arranged in advance. Families can combine mornings, afternoons and full days; changing booked hours requires notice. A full day runs from 8am to 6pm, while the school-day pattern runs from 9am to 3pm. This gives families a meaningful choice between a longer care day and attendance closer to school hours.

For two-year-old funding and universal funding for three- and four-year-olds, the stated shorter sessions are 9am to noon or 1pm to 4pm. Attendance can be term-time or stretched. Bank holidays are closures, and fees remain payable for sickness or family holidays; monthly payments are made in advance. These terms matter when comparing the cost of a regular booking with the hours a child actually attends.

Funding and Paid Extras

Working parents funding, two-year-old funding and universal 15-hour funding are accepted. The 30-hour offer can be taken across 38 term-time weeks or stretched to 22.5 hours weekly over 48 weeks. The two-year-old and universal 15-hour offers can run over 38 term-time weeks or as 11 hours weekly over 50 weeks. These are different delivery arrangements, not interchangeable weekly allowances.

Funded attendance attracts an additional services charge covering food and activities including Cooking Club, Forest School, Tai-Chi and Montessori activities. Families may opt out of the services charge, but food remains separately charged and food from home is not accepted. Additional hours beyond the funded entitlement are paid privately, so funded attendance and extra booked care should be considered separately.

Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The fees and funding information sets out the structure of funded hours, additional services and private attendance.

Getting There

Parking is provided at the purpose-built nursery. Holiday Club for term-time children takes place at the Osterley nursery on Tentelow Lane, so it involves a different site from ordinary attendance at North Hyde Lane.

• Independence in practice. The September 2025 improvement point concerned adults taking over tasks children could attempt themselves. During a viewing, ask how practitioners now support dressing, food service and other manageable routines.
• The youngest child’s care. The current age range is 24 to 60 months, alongside a Baby Room offer. Ask which age group and room your child would join, and how their feeding and sleep routines would fit that arrangement.
• The annual calendar. The general attendance terms use 48 weeks, while the term information describes 50 weeks and some funded arrangements also use 50. Establish the calendar for your chosen pattern, including holiday care at Osterley, before committing.
• Food and funded extras. Opting out of additional services does not remove food charges, and packed food is not accepted. Families managing allergies should discuss current food arrangements alongside the written quotation.

De Lacey suits families seeking Montessori-inspired practical learning, outdoor activity and a choice between full days and school days, with mornings and afternoons also offered. Its strongest tangible features are the sheltered garden, hands-on food activities and regular communication with families.

The September 2025 Good judgement supports that picture, but the finding about inconsistent encouragement of independence deserves attention. Families choosing this approach will want everyday practice to match it. Attendance calendars and the separation of funded hours, food charges and extra services also make the written booking terms an important part of the decision.