Islington Square Day Nursery

A play ship on the outdoor decking and regular community outings give Islington Square Day Nursery two useful ways to carry learning beyond an activity table: imaginative play outside and exploration of the local area. The current offer includes regular community outings, natural resources and loose parts play. This is an urban nursery with room for exploration.

At its 7 January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective, finding that children made good progress and that additional funding supported targeted resources and experiences. Two teaching improvements remain important to the assessment: giving older children longer to think through problems, and bringing more mathematical language into younger children's play.

Children can attend from 3 months to 5 years. There are separate spaces for babies, toddlers and preschool children. Full-day attendance carries a minimum booking of two days each week.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, play, conversation and practical activities support children's development alongside their care routines. Here, the curriculum draws inspiration from Curiosity Approach and Hygge, with natural resources and loose parts play providing concrete materials for exploration; these influences sit alongside the statutory framework.

In January 2025, language learning took different forms across the ages. Staff used sign language with babies, while toddlers and older children had props and small-group activities to help them practise words and sentences. Older children mixed dough ingredients by hand and talked about the food they imagined making. Language had a purpose within their play.

Books also led into making and building. In January 2025, babies explored flap books, younger children handled textured books, and preschool children created habitats after reading The Gruffalo, using stones, wooden logs and metal squares. The lending library let children take stories home to share with parents. That connects nursery reading with family time rather than keeping books within the setting.

Outdoor and Community Life

Three playrooms serve the baby, toddler and preschool stages, with age-appropriate resources in each. Outdoor decking adds a different setting for play: the play ship supports imaginative adventures, while a mud kitchen, water play and role-play areas give children materials to handle and ideas to act out. The garden provides outdoor play each day.

Regular outings take children to nearby parks, the library and the fire station. These are practical extensions of nursery learning, introducing children to places and people in their local community. Community members also visit the nursery, and enrichment includes multigenerational experiences.

Sing and Sign is another named part of the enrichment offer, alongside instruments. It sits within the separately costed Enrichment Experiences element of Everyday Essentials. In January 2025, toddlers also copied yoga movements, while cooking activities included autumn pumpkin energy balls. These examples linked movement and food with children's everyday learning about healthy habits.

Relationships and Communication

In January 2025, children had close relationships with staff and felt able to communicate what they wanted or needed. Practitioners talked through emotions and the effect of children's actions on others, using sand timers to make sharing and turn-taking more concrete. For a young child, that gives waiting a visible shape rather than relying only on an adult's instruction.

Famly keeps parents involved through updates about development and photographs of nursery experiences. The app offers a way to connect what happens during the nursery day with conversations at home. Settling-in sessions and a settling-in pack form part of the enrolment arrangements, giving the start of attendance its own preparation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCo role provides a route for tailored support for children with additional needs. At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked effectively with outside agencies and used additional funding to provide support suited to individual children's needs. This is a concrete account of how support worked at that visit, rather than a general promise about every child's experience.

The nursery supports applications for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). For Disability Access Fund (DAF), eligible families complete the relevant parent-declaration section and inform the manager, who can explain how the funding is used. EYPP can contribute to additional support, while DAF helps the setting make reasonable adjustments.

The catering package covers breakfast, cooked lunch, tea and snacks, with vegan and vegetarian choices. Dietary planning and allergy management form part of the catering arrangements; allergy-affected families should discuss current practice before attendance.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 7-9 Esther Anne Place, London, N1 1UL. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. Bank holidays and a Christmas shutdown are excluded, with an earlier closing time of 4.30pm on Christmas Eve.

Full Day is the booking pattern, with a minimum of two full days per week. That minimum matters for families seeking occasional attendance: the regular commitment starts at two days, rather than a single weekly session. Ad-hoc days are also offered, subject to availability at the time of booking.

Applications give priority to full-time working families. Enquiries can be made through the nursery's contact form or Parent Engagement team, and personalised tours can be booked. These routes support the application process without implying that a place is currently free.

Getting There

Angel and Highbury and Islington tube stations are just a ten minute walk away. That gives families two named public transport points to consider alongside the nursery's opening hours.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through the supported entitlement for eligible two-year-olds, the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, and working-parent funding for eligible children up to four years, starting in the term after they turn nine months. A valid code is required before the term starts. Delivery is stretched across 51 weeks: the 15-hour entitlements become 11.17 hours per week, and the 30-hour working-parent entitlement becomes 22.34 hours per week. Eligibility remains a condition of the relevant scheme.

Private hours sit alongside funded education and care. Monthly childcare charges include Everyday Essentials, which covers catering, care products and enrichment; meals and the listed consumables are included within that total charge. Care products comprise nappies, wipes, hand sanitiser and suncream.

During funded hours, catering, consumables and enrichment are charged separately from education and care. Fully funded sessions can be taken without additional charges, with arrangements discussed with the manager where families do not wish to pay for Everyday Essentials. Funding runs in continuous blocks.

A non-refundable administration charge applies to enrolment, except when families access funded hours only: those families instead pay a deposit credited back within a month of their child starting. Annual charges are divided into equal monthly payments. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Teaching pace and early maths. In January 2025, older children sometimes received too many questions and too little thinking time, while younger children's play missed opportunities for counting and quantity language. At a visit, ask how staff now give children time to solve problems and weave number talk into play.
• Two-day commitment. Regular bookings require at least two full days each week, and applications prioritise full-time working families. Families seeking a smaller weekly commitment should weigh that rule before applying.
• Funded hours and extras. Meals, care products and enrichment have separate charges during funded hours, alongside a route to fully funded sessions without extras. Request a written quotation that separates private hours from each Everyday Essentials component.
• Allergy arrangements. Catering includes dietary planning and allergy management. Families affected by allergies should confirm how current practice will work for their child.

Islington Square suits families seeking regular full-day attendance, whether across part of the working week or Monday to Friday, who value outdoor imaginative play and contact with the local community. The decking's play ship and mud kitchen, regular outings and Famly communication give the current offer a clear shape. The Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, balanced by specific teaching improvements around thinking time and younger children's maths. The two-day minimum and funded-hours charge structure are the practical decisions to settle first.