Tiddlers Daycare

A sheltered garden, a mud kitchen and outings to Gillespie Park give Tiddlers Daycare a recognisable outdoor character in urban Islington. The nursery has 25 places in total at 70 Blackstock Road, London N4 2DR. Its large main room provides the indoor setting, while the garden gives children space to run and play through the seasons.

At its 15 August 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Tiddlers Good and found safeguarding effective, with a specific improvement needed in planning group activities to engage children of different ages. That distinction matters: practical exploration was a strength of the day, but shared activities did not consistently hold younger children's attention.

Attendance requires at least two consecutive days each week, including either Monday or Friday. This is a nursery for families able to make a regular weekly commitment rather than book unrelated days.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play and planning children's next steps across its areas of learning. At Tiddlers, practitioners observe children's choices, interests and use of resources, then use those observations to shape activities and discuss next steps with parents. The practical value is a connection between what a child enjoys doing and what staff help them try next.

The curriculum and daily routine combines freely chosen play with planned activities, circle time and outings. Rest has an allocated part of the afternoon, alongside opportunities for play later in the day. Nappy checks also happen when needed rather than solely at scheduled points. The routine supplies a predictable structure while allowing staff to respond to individual needs.

In August 2024, children experimented with colour by combining paints, used dough and construction materials to exercise their fingers, and progressed from balancing on a narrow beam to tackling stepping stones. These were concrete ways to explore ideas, practise coordination and attempt a harder task after mastering an easier one. Cooking with recipes from different countries and using multicultural utensils also brought similarities and differences into everyday activity.

The same August 2024 observations exposed the limitation of some group teaching: stories used at circle time could be too lengthy and complicated for younger children. They lost interest and missed opportunities to extend their vocabulary. The improvement priority was to adapt the planning and delivery of these activities so that children with different needs could participate more fully.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden's shelter supports outdoor play across the year, with a sand pit and mud kitchen providing materials for hands-on exploration. Beyond the nursery, outings take place on most days of the week. Destinations include Gillespie Park and its Ecological site, Finsbury Park Playground, the library and everyday places such as the post office. These trips bring both local green space and ordinary community life into the children's week.

Weekly library storytelling adds a recurring language activity, while practitioners lead music and movement within the nursery. Larger trips to museums or zoos are organised weeks ahead, with parental permission. Local trips are included in fees; an outing further away may carry an additional charge. Families therefore have a regular local offer alongside occasional trips requiring advance arrangements.

Settling is deliberately gradual. It takes one to two weeks, with the first week required for every child and the second reserved if further time is needed. Adults stay for the initial visit; subsequent days introduce more of the routine, including meals and eventually rest or play. This gives children time to become familiar with the setting before moving into their usual attendance pattern.

Communication continues through Famly, the parent app used for messages and updates about routines, activities and learning. Parents can also see menus ahead of time and receive information about what their child has eaten. Those details make conversations about the day more useful than a simple account of whether it went well.

The manager also acts as the nursery SENCo, coordinating individual support, referrals and contact with external professionals where needed. Islington Area SENCO provides advice, guidance and training. These are practical support mechanisms for discussing a child's needs and organising help, rather than a blanket promise about outcomes.

In August 2024, staff used familiar words from children's home languages to assist communication and exchanged information with parents about behaviour, toilet training and support from other professionals. This linked everyday care with what families were managing at home.

Food is cooked in the nursery's kitchen by its chef, with seasonal menus organised into four winter menus and four summer menus. The food policy excludes peanuts and tree nuts, accommodates dietary requirements and uses meals to practise serving food and eating independently; allergy-affected families should discuss current arrangements before starting.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 5.45pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks each year. The nursery closes for bank holidays, inset days and a week spanning Christmas and New Year. The minimum booking is two consecutive days weekly, and one must be Monday or Friday; full-time attendance is also part of the booking offer.

Registration places a child on the waiting list. Offers prioritise children whose siblings already attend, followed by families seeking full-time attendance, then the date of registration. An offer must be accepted within 48 hours, and start dates fall at the beginning of a month. These rules make the order and timing of the joining process concrete.

Getting There

The address is 70 Blackstock Road, London N4 2DR. Finsbury Park Station is just a five-minute walk from the nursery, with train, tube and bus connections nearby.

Funding and Paid Extras

Tiddlers offers funded childcare for three- and four-year-olds, beginning in the term after their third birthday, and accepts 30 hours of government funding. Parents apply through HMRC in the preceding term. Tax-free childcare can also be used towards payment, in full or in part.

Standard fees include meals, snacks, nappies and local outings. Parents supply formula and milk alternatives under the daily-routine arrangements, so the consumables position varies by item. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the fees and opening information explaining the charging structure.

Invoices arrive mid-month for the following month, with payment due in advance. Sickness and holidays do not generate refunds, and bank holidays and inset days remain chargeable. Joining the waiting list involves a registration charge, refundable if the family leaves the list.

• Consecutive attendance. The two-day minimum must include Monday or Friday. Match that requirement against the days your family actually needs before registering.
• Younger children's day. Group activities needed better adaptation in August 2024. At a tour, how are stories tailored to younger children, and which ages currently share the main room? Tours are scheduled for Mondays at 10am and require booking.
• Funded attendance. The nursery accepts 30 funded hours. How are those hours distributed across the year, and which meal or consumables charges apply to the proposed funded booking?
• Dietary arrangements. The food policy excludes peanuts and tree nuts and accommodates dietary needs. Families managing allergies should confirm how their child's requirements will be communicated and handled in daily practice.

Tiddlers suits families seeking either full-time attendance or a regular run of consecutive days, with outdoor play and local outings forming a substantial part of the experience. Gillespie Park, library storytelling and the sheltered garden give that offer substance. Gradual settling and Famly updates provide useful continuity between home and nursery. The point to examine closely is how group activities now engage younger children, alongside whether the Monday-or-Friday booking requirement fits family life.