Nanny's House
Nanny's House is a day nursery in Brighton for children aged 0 to 4, with 28 registered places. Ofsted report card, 17 June 2026: Expected standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.
P R E S E N S, Easthill House, Easthill Park, Portslade, Brighton, BN41 2FA
Key facts
- Type
- Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 0 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 28 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 2 May 2018 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 17 June 2026
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 17 June 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children receive a warm welcome from their key person as they arrive and are taken to their designated room where they engage in the activities that staff have organised. Babies are shown photographs of their families to help them settle in and feel secure. Children who need a bit more time to settle in are comforted by staff. Children's attendance is monitored and any absences are followed up on.
Children communicate confidently with staff and their peers across the whole setting. Babies utter words that staff identify and repeat back to them, engaging in basic two-way communication. Younger children express their imagination as they pretend small-word sharks bite their fingers. Older children confidently talk about their families and pets they have at home. Children laugh as they pretend they are drinking cat milk at snack time.
All children enjoy sharing stories and are developing a love of books. Staff use books alongside children's play to help them make connections in their learning. For example, children explore books about sea creatures while they play with various small-world sea creatures.
Children's physical development is promoted well. Leaders and staff pride the setting on having a community feel. Children take part in weekly forest school sessions, trips to the library and recently visited the local pizza van when learning about Italy. Children enjoy exploring the mud kitchen in the garden and are also learning how to grow various vegetables and plants.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Expected standard
Leaders work with other professionals and parents to ensure children receive consistent care. Staff know all the children well and monitor their development regularly. They share children's progress with parents and any identified gaps in their learning. Staff share ideas with parents on things they can do at home to help their children progress.
Leaders ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those facing barriers to their learning receive the help they need. For example, staff recently attended training to help them understand how to respond to children's behaviour and are beginning to implement various behaviour management strategies. Leaders invite parents to attend training with them, to help ensure a consistent approach to children's learning and care. Referrals are made to other agencies, if necessary, such as speech and language therapist and support is provided to families with completing referrals to other professionals, if required.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
Leaders support staff to plan the curriculum for all children as they move through the setting and ensure it is age and stage appropriate. For example, staff working with babies focus on supporting them to feel secure and settled as well as promoting their early language development. They skilfully repeat words back to babies and respond attentively to their attempts to communicate. This includes modelling some Makaton signs to help them communicate. The curriculum is designed around a theme that interests children, such as learning about things that live under the sea and exploring different countries in the world. Staff suggest ideas for children's activities and often take the lead in their play. For example, children frequently take part in activities as a whole group and at times some children loose interest while waiting for their turn.
Children enjoy imaginative play. They make pretend passports and look for their name on their ticket to board the pretend aeroplane. Staff teach children about the different landmarks in some countries, such as The Great Wall of China and Tower Bridge in London. Staff use books to support children's learning alongside their play. For example, they count the number of legs the octopus has in a book about sea creatures. Staff then encourage children to compare this to the number of legs they have, to encourage their early mathematical awareness.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children generally achieve well through the curriculum and make age-appropriate progress. Some babies use the Makaton sign for 'please'. Younger children seek support from staff when don't want other children to play with their own toys they have brought in from home. Older children are confident communicators. They share their thoughts and ideas with their peers. Babies enjoy pretending to be sleeping bunnies and join in with nursery rhymes.
Babies enjoy crawling through soft play tunnels and develop the physical skills required to move on to the next room. Younger children learn self-care skills, such as asking for the toilet when needed. Their independence could be promoted further to make sure they are well prepared for their move to the pre-school room. Older children achieve the skills they require for their transition to school. For example, they encourage each other to take turns and praise their friends for their efforts.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
Children develop secure relationships with all staff, including staff who do not work every day. Staff know the children very well and children enjoy playing alongside them. For example, younger children laugh as they build a tower with bricks and it becomes taller than them. Staff supporting babies have an in-depth knowledge of their individual needs and abilities. They create a calm environment where babies show they feel secure. Older children build positive relationships with others and respect their peers. For instance, during circle time children comment on how high each other can jump as they take turns to jump in the circle.
Generally, children behave well. Staff are beginning to use strategies to support individual children's behaviour, such as using visual cards and visual timetables to help children understand what is happening next. When younger children want to play with the same toy, staff intervene calmly, explaining to children they need to share and offer a distraction. on the whole, children engage well in activities and are keen to have a go.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
Children's hygiene and self-care is promoted well. Staff are consistent at supporting children to wash their hands before each meal and snack. Older children leave their room independently to go to the toilet and leaders and staff monitor this to make sure they return swiftly. Staff respond well to children who are tired and adapt the routines to meet their individual needs.
During mealtimes, staff talk to older children about the different parts of their bodies. They describe their food travelling down their throat and connecting to their tummy. Children lay the tables ready for lunch and have the opportunity to serve their own food and pour their drinks. Although this gives children the opportunity to practice their independence skills at lunchtime, this is not something they are able to do at other times in the day. In addition, younger children who are able to be more independent at mealtimes are not always provided the opportunity to practise these skills. Children are encouraged to use their manners at mealtimes. For example, babies use Makaton to sign 'please'. Older children ask each other to pass the water jug and wait patiently for their turn.
Leadership and governance: Expected standard
Leaders have been prioritising recruiting and supporting new staff at the setting. They have identified areas they would like to improve, such as developing their outdoor provision and expanding staff knowledge of outdoor learning. Although leaders are aware they need to define the leadership roles and responsibilities and support staff to develop their practice and skills, they have not yet been able to fully embed this. That said, staff have recently attended training to help them to support children's behaviour. Staff report they feel well supported and able to discuss any concerns they may have with leaders as they arise. They feel their wellbeing is a priority and leaders take action to support staff should they feel overwhelmed.
Leaders work closely with families and support them with any barriers to the children's learning. This includes, supporting families with referrals to outside agencies and transitions to other settings. Parents report how happy they are and they love the community feel the setting offers.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should develop routines so that children have consistent opportunities to be independent.
- Leaders should strengthen staff practice so that they use the most effective teaching methods to promote children's learning and develop their skills further.
- Leaders should support staff to develop in their roles and embed their skills to raise the quality of the provision even further.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 17 June 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Other nurseries nearby
- Baby Ducks - Day nursery, Brighton BN41 2LE, ages 1 to 4, 25 places, 0.2 milesOfsted, 10 October 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Fizzy Fish @ Peter Gladwin - Day nursery, Brighton BN41 2PA, ages 2 to 4, 24 places, 0.2 milesOfsted, 21 July 2021: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Southern Cross Pre-school - Pre-school, Brighton BN41 1GU, ages 2 to 4, 30 places, 0.3 milesOfsted, 27 March 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Portslade Day Nursery and Pre-School - Day nursery, Brighton BN41 1XR, ages 1 to 4, 51 places, 0.4 milesOfsted, 7 January 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Sparrows Nursery - Pre-school, Brighton BN41 1XS, ages 2 to 4, 34 places, 0.5 milesOfsted, 31 October 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- St Nicolas CofE Primary School - Primary, 0.1 miles
- Peter Gladwin Primary School - Primary, 0.2 miles
- Hill Park School - Special, 0.2 miles
- Brackenbury Primary School - Primary, 0.3 miles
- Benfield Primary School - Primary, 0.4 miles