Little Haven Childcare

A recessed garden behind church halls and fortnightly woodland sessions give Little Haven Childcare a clear outdoor identity. Based at St John the Evangelist Church in Upper Holloway, this family-run nursery combines two age groups with regular exploration beyond its own setting. Queens Wood in Highgate is a recurring destination, rather than simply an occasional outing.

At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, while identifying a need for sharper staff coaching and clearer plans for extending children's learning. That judgement belongs to 2022. The practical appeal today lies in the garden, community outings and detailed communication with families, rather than a claim that the inspection describes every aspect of current care.

Little Haven has 30 places in total and accepts children from three months to four years. Full-day, half-day and term-time funded arrangements cater for different attendance needs, although the minimum booking rules need resolving before a family commits.

Rooms and Ages

Haven Hubs caters for babies from three months to two years, while Haven Explorers takes children aged two to four; both groups are based in the church halls, with access to the recessed garden. This gives families a clear age-based structure while keeping outdoor space part of the setting's character.

An open-plan classroom also supports shared activities between ages. For a family weighing the balance between an age-group base and opportunities to mix, that arrangement is a useful point to explore during a viewing. The nursery's identity is rooted in shared play as well as its two named groups.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning through play, developing communication, movement, relationships and early understanding of words, numbers and the world. It is the educational foundation here, rather than an extra programme. Painting, baking, dance and instruments give children different ways to explore those areas, and children's interests can influence the direction of activities.

Forest School adds outdoor exploration for the Explorers, with sessions at Queens Wood every fortnight. The woodland visits extend learning beyond the nursery garden. In August 2022, children identified different trees during these sessions; that is a concrete example of using a place to develop knowledge, rather than treating an outing solely as recreation.

Optional weekly extras include Music Monkeys music sessions, Beam yoga and Little Supernovas storytelling, alongside cooking classes. These are separately charged choices. Children attending funded hours remain included in the core early education even when their parents decline the extras, so the distinction between the everyday curriculum and additional activities matters when comparing quotations.

In August 2022, language work included expressive story reading and repeated vocabulary, while children explored size and shape using counting bears. Musical group activities brought together instruments, movement and song actions. Those examples show how talking, mathematics and creative play could sit within the same day, rather than being treated as separate lessons.

Outdoor and Community Life

Weekly community exploration includes museums, parks, farms, the library and an ecology centre. Queens Wood has its own fortnightly rhythm. This gives children experiences of different places and purposes, from woodland exploration to learning about their surrounding community.

In August 2022, the garden contained an outdoor kitchen and opportunities to climb, swing and balance using tyres and planks. Children also planted and grew things, built ramps and experimented with wheeled toys in sand. The physical detail matters: outdoor learning involved movement, making and investigation, rather than only time outside.

Relationships and Communication

Daily diaries, newsletters each term and learning journals updated quarterly provide several ways for parents to follow their child's experiences. The journals combine observations with photographs and artwork. A daily account serves a different purpose from a longer record of development, so families receive both immediate information and something to look back through.

In August 2022, children sought out their key person and babies responded to close interaction with staff. Parents received app updates and daily conversations, and children sometimes wanted pictures of their achievements shared at home. These are dated examples of the relationship between nursery life and family life, not a substitute for understanding a new child's settling arrangements.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The equal opportunities policy includes reviewing books and other resources for their representation of difference, and monitoring participation so children with special needs can join activities. This describes practical mechanisms for inclusion. It does not establish what individual support any particular child would receive.

In August 2022, children used a calm corner to help manage feelings, and staff included dance and food from different cultures in nursery experiences. Children helped organise lunch tables and served themselves, connecting everyday routines with independence. At that time, six staff members, including the manager, worked at the nursery; that is a staffing snapshot from the visit, rather than a current team count.

Food is cooked freshly at the nursery, with menus rotating over two weeks. The allergy policy provides for a parent-and-manager risk assessment before a child starts, sharing allergy information with staff and maintaining a kitchen allergy register.

The daily guide includes a rest period between lunch and afternoon outdoor play. It also makes room for quieter activities later in the day, including stories, singing and signing. Because the guide allows children's interests to shape activities, it is best understood as a rhythm rather than a rigid sequence.

Sessions and Attendance

The funded booking tables pair 8am to 6pm with three, four or five days per week, and 9am to 4.30pm with four or five days per week. Half-day attendance has a minimum of three sessions each week, using morning or afternoon slots. Fully funded term-time attendance can be arranged in different blocks across 38 weeks, while the stretched funded model runs over 50 weeks alongside private hours.

The full-day minimum needs particular attention: one rule requires two days including Monday or Friday, while another requires two consecutive days. These conditions affect which working patterns fit. They should be settled together with the chosen hours and funding arrangement, rather than treated as a minor detail after registration.

An enquiry form provides a contact route, and registration involves completing a form and contract. Siblings receive first priority in the admissions criteria; a full-time request may take precedence over a part-time request depending on occupancy and room availability. These are booking priorities, not a statement about places currently free.

Getting There

The address is St John the Evangelist Church, Pemberton Gardens, Upper Holloway, London N19 5RR. Archway Underground Station is within walking distance, and the nursery is next to Upper Holloway Overground.

Funding and Paid Extras

The 15-hour universal entitlement and 30-hour working families entitlement are offered through term-time and stretched arrangements. Across 50 weeks, the weekly allocation is 11.4 or 22.8 funded hours respectively; the stretched 30-hour arrangement is combined with private hours. Eligibility and the allocation of funding remain subject to the relevant checks and Islington Council rules.

Meals and listed consumables are separately charged optional extras, including during funded hours. The meal package covers breakfast, lunch, tea and two snacks; the consumables package includes creams, tissues, flannels, cotton wool, nappy sacks and wipes. Families declining the meal package may supply a packed lunch under the nursery's policy, subject to storage capacity.

A registration charge applies when funded attendance is combined with paid sessions, while entitlement-only attendance is exempt. A deposit is normally credited against the final invoice when the required notice is given, but cancellation within three months of the planned start makes the deposit and joining charge non-refundable, with further notice-period fees potentially due.

Once attendance begins, the cancellation terms require written notice for a full term, with fees payable throughout. Monthly payments also cover bank holidays, inset days and nursery closure days. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding terms explain the charge structure.

• Attendance rules. The two-day conditions differ between the full-day fee terms and admissions rules. Before registering, settle which minimum applies to your chosen full-day or half-day pattern, and request the cancellation terms in the same written agreement.
• Teaching challenge. The August 2022 improvement point concerned staff coaching and extending learning. During a viewing, ask how practitioners now decide what a child should learn next and how they add challenge to familiar play.
• Babies and individual support. Haven Hubs begins at three months, within a setting that also uses shared space. Ask how settling, sleep and key-person care work for your baby, or how an individual support plan would work for your child.
• Food and optional packages. Paid meals and consumables are separate choices, and packed lunches depend on storage capacity. Families managing allergies should confirm current preparation arrangements and agree the individual risk assessment before starting.

Little Haven suits families seeking either full-day attendance or shorter half-day sessions, with term-time funded blocks providing another pattern. Its strongest practical combination is a church-hall base, a substantial garden and recurring learning beyond the nursery, especially the fortnightly Queens Wood visits.

Daily diaries and longer learning journals give parents more than one view of their child's experience. The balance to weigh is between that outdoor and family communication offer, the dated teaching improvement point and the booking conditions. A clear written attendance agreement matters here as much as choosing the activities.