Hdn

Hornsey Day: amazing experience with loving staff

We sent our son to Hornsey Day Nursery for three years, from when he turned one until he entered reception. The first year was at the baby site, the last two at the toddlers’ room in Arkansas House near the top of Hornsey Rise.

We loved it at Hornsey Day. Our son developed more into himself there, and he learned how to interact with other children and made friendships that we hope will last. We’ll always cherish our memories of his time there. We highly recommend it.

* Every staff member we talked to at both sites was lovely, without exception. Our son still talks about how much he appreciates them. They’re caring and thoughtful, taking both educational and safeguarding seriously. The combination of loving staff and thoughtful leadership made it a very positive experience.
* You’ll periodic updates on how your child is progressing that are quite detailed but don’t feel overbearing, letting you know what you can do more of at home
* There’s ample opportunity for parental participation by doing story time, or in the toddler room designing a unique and age-appropriate activity.
* The toddlers site has its own private outdoor space for the children to run around in, including a garden and a few trees that feel nicely shaded. At the baby room, they’re routinely taken to the nearby Grenville Road Gardens down some quiet side streets. Both feel very safe. (That being said, the toddlers’ site main gate opens downhill onto a busy estate car park, so make sure to watch your little ones!)
* We found it quite easy to form a community with other parents.
* Communication is good: while pickup-time discussion can sometimes be rushed, they will always inform you of everything important, and the site leads were always responsive during email.
* Staffing was consistent while we were there, which I gather is uncommon in the industry. (A few of my son’s favourite carers were moved to a related nursery, which was a personal disappointment, but that was more of a one-off thing)
* They give you amazing scrapbooks of everything your child has done: keepsakes to treasure forever, that say so much but don’t take up too much space.
* Our son has specific dietary and allergy needs. Staff were mindful of this while also making sure he received appropriate nutrition. They made it all extremely easy.

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by mwasson on 19/09/2026

So pleased we chose Hornsey Day Nursery

HDN has been such a calm, happy environment for our daughter. She joined at 10 months, settled in quickly and came home happy every day. The staff are all wonderful and it's clear how much she loves them by how happy she is to see them every morning. Regular events at the nursery and the park make it easy to drop into the lovely vibe there. Sadly moving out of the area meant we had to move our daughter out of HDN, but that was also a smooth process and we were genuinely touched by the photos and scrapbook she left with. Thank you to Chris and the team. We'd recommend to local families in a heartbeat.

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by Georgia on 31/07/2026

Response by HDN on 03/08/2026:

Dear Georgia, thank you for your kind words and it has been an absolute pleasure your family make part of the nursery community and we wish you all the best with your endeavours.

Andreea and team truly care

All parents remember the first day they leave their baby at nursery for the first time. The feeling is a mix of excitement and sheer terror. From day one, the staff at HDN made that leap feel safe, and we quickly knew our son was in the best hands.
Right away, we were impressed by the calm, clean, and organized environment. Over the months, our once serious and shy 9-month-old has blossomed into a smiley, chatty, and endlessly curious little boy. The love and attention Andreea and her team gave him have truly shaped his early years, and we couldn't be more grateful.
From the wonderful activities and thoughtful scrapbooks to sweet treats that brighten up a tired mum on a Friday evening, these are the little things that mean the world. The team at HDN truly care. It meant everything to us that they really paid attention to who our son is -- we had to move to a nursery closer to us and we will miss HDN dearly.

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by Adrian on 21/02/2025

Wonderful childcare

My daughter was at HDN for about 3yrs and we had a great experience. The staff, admin and childcare was outstanding. Highly recommended.

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by Chandan on 30/09/2021

Great nursery!

Both our daughters attended this nursery - the older one from 3 years old and the younger from 8 months. We have been very very happy, perhaps particularly so with the over-2-yo site (we were happy with the < 2 yo provision too). The staff are caring and friendly, make strong relationships with the children and support them very well in all areas of their deveopment. Both daughters (especially the younger one) were very attached to their teachers there, and we could see that they were very well cared for. The management team is also very reliable, always answering questions promptly and thoroughly. Yvette helped us several times with educational/parenting questions, always made time to discuss anything we wanted to talk about - I am very grateful for her support and insights over the years.

They also took precautionary measures for the pandemic and we trusted that our daughter was as safe as she could be while in a childcare setting.

I was sad when our younger girl finished nursery! But happy that both daughters had the chance to go to this nursery. We will remember it fondly, and wish Yvette, Chris, and all the staff all the best for the future.

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by Anne on 11/01/2021

Very happy with this nursery!

My son has been attending this nursery for over 3 years now and we are extremely happy with the care he has received and his development. The staff and management are very professional and they genuinely care about the children's development and wellbeing. I would highly recommend this nursery and pre-school to other parents!

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by Parent on 04/03/2020

Great nursery, life preparation

My child was very happy here, even though only attending for a short time. The nursery offers an amazing range of activities, including languages, music, drama, and important life skills. I feel like it's great preparation for school. I am not sure about the food, as I never actually saw any of it (dropoff at door, but menu provided) and some teachers were strongly encouraging the children to eat, which I am not a fan of personally, but apart from that we were very happy. Excellent, caring teachers and staff that cater for individual childrens' needs.

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by Parent on 07/09/2019

Cold and rude management

My son started nursery when he was only 10 months old, his first approach with the nursery wasn’t very good, he was crying all the time and was extremely difficult and stressful to drop him in the morning.
The stuff seemed not to care enough as anything they were able to repeat me all the time was: “just ignore it!” I got to the point I thought it was even a pain for the stuff to welcome my son in the morning as I never had a smile or a word of understanding.
Not only was a complete disaster, I was told repeatedly my son wanted to be held all the time. I’ve been called in with the assistant of the manager to “find a solution to this” and what I’ve been asked for was literally train my baby to stay on his own and to not respond to his needs.
It’s easy to imagine how I felt as a mother to be told all the time how difficult was to deal with a baby that nothing wanted more than been cuddled or considered for what he is: a baby!
It was very difficult for my son to fall asleep at the nursery so I suggested they would hold him and walk around a little to make him fall asleep, again, the staff suggested I had to train my son to fall asleep on his own and the most recurring tip was: IGNORE HIS NEEDS.
I’m so happy I went against their careless approach.
You expect from a childcare structure to be able to deal with this situations in a more comprehensive way, considering the years of experience they have.
A lot of girls in the staff were nice but the people in charge were terrible and inquisitive!

On the top of this, the management used to be unorganised with the accountancy, sending emails more than once asking for money with did already pay. We’ve never been late with payments but we were treated like we always own them something.

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by Pamela on 02/10/2018

Very poor

Cold and shallow approach with kids, they act as they are in front of a robot to use with an instruction manual. Kids need more than simple rules, especially when they are still babies. Also poor and rude management, trying to charge more than requested all the time with no shame or regret. Not people to trust! We have also officially complained with the Ofstead because seems absurd that they are going away with all of that. I am sure the outstanding will go soon as speaking with other parents we are not the only one unhappy. A waste of time and money! Now we are in a new nursery and kid and parents are much happier.

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by Parent on 01/10/2018

Excellent Nursery

Our daughter has been attending Hornsey day for a year now and we could not be happier with the service they provide. All the staff are highly qualified and very engaged with the children's welfare and development. It's a large enough setting that there are lots of great activities and stimulation, but small enough that the staff form strong bonds with the children and provide personalised care. Our daughter does drama, Spanish, art, singing, trips out and she's 2! She is thriving. I could not recommend Hornsey Day enough.

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by Oh Lemon on 21/03/2018