Thornton Lodge Day Nursery
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Bradford for babies from 3 months up to school age, open 07:30 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in February 2024. Open since 2015, with 71 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
2-Year-Olds: 15 hours per week funded childcare for eligible families; 3-Year-Olds: 15 hours per week universal funding for all children; Extended Hours: 30 hours per week for eligible working families.
What childcare usually costs in Bradford
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Bradford 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
BD13 3NRWhat 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, 13 February 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
The manager and staff place a strong focus on enhancing children's small-muscle and sensory development. They provide many experiences across all age ranges to explore different materials, such as water, paint, sand, flour and dough. Staff stimulate children's early interest to make marks in different ways. Pre-school children use their imagination as they decide to make pizza with the dough. Staff introduce words to toddlers, such as 'ingredients' as they make pancakes, enhancing their early vocabulary development.
Staff support children to resolve any minor conflicts peaceably. They promote children's happiness and safety. Children learn how to make good friendships and manage their behaviour well. Staff also develop children's emotional literacy. For example, they ask pre-school children how they feel during circle time. Staff receive responses, such as 'happy' and 'sad'. They encourage pre-school children to talk about why they have these feelings. Pre-school children show their understanding of emotions as they arise.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the manager and staff provided home learning packs for parents. This was to support parents with their child's continuity of literacy and communication learning at home. Parents explain how they continue to take these packs home. They express how valuable these resources are to them and how their children love to sing rhymes and role play at home.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support less confident staff to use a greater range of questioning to help enhance children's curiosity and extend their learning further n adapt adult-led activities for toddlers to ensure they remain engaged and benefit from the good learning on offer.
- 13 February 2024Good
- 15 November 2018Good
- 3 July 2018Inadequate
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Thornton Lodge Day Nursery
- What it costs
- 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.
- Do you have a place for a child of my age now? 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.