Hillbury House Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A day nursery in Hove for children from birth to 5, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2023. Open since 1993, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
Tax-Free Childcare, 15 Hour Funding, 30 Hour Funding and also childcare vouchers from outside agencies.
Worth knowing. For a fully funded place there are no charges for deposit or registration fees.
What childcare usually costs in Brighton and Hove
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Brighton and Hove from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
BN3 3THWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 30 October 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff give children a warm welcome, so they arrive happily and are eager to start their day. They encourage children to find their peg and hang up their belongings.
Staff provide a range of activities that children are excited to explore. They giggle and chat with friends as they begin to play. Older children enjoy playing with train tracks. They work as a team to connect the track to make a circle. Babies enjoy sharing books and singing familiar songs with caring staff.
Children have a positive attitude to learning. Staff motivate children to keep on trying when learning becomes difficult. Staff support babies to climb on soft play and pull themselves up on low-level equipment. They use positive praise and encouragement when older children navigate themselves over climbing equipment.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to strengthen the implementation of the curriculum, to provide children with activities more precisely matched to their learning needs n support staff to be consistent in their behaviour management strategies, to build on children's understanding of behaviour expectations.
- 30 October 2023Good
- 4 June 2019Outstanding
- 31 January 2013Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Hillbury House Nursery
- What it costs
- Youngest age taken
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date. The rest is in no dataset anywhere. Either way it is worth ten minutes on the phone.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- How do you apply my funded hours? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.