Nurseries in Crouch End and Hornsey: the five to know

Crouch End's nursery field comes down to two chains, a French-English Montessori and, since April, a nursery inside a girls' school. Five settings across N8 and the top end of N4 have a confirmed address and a current Ofsted registration, and between them they take children from three months old to school age, most of them from half past seven in the morning. For a very young baby the choice narrows quickly: only the three-month settings will take one.

This guide covers those five. Details were checked against Ofsted's register and each nursery's own site on 6 September 2026.

Crouch End Day Nursery & Preschool (Bright Horizons)

113 Crouch Hill, London N8 9QN. Ages three months to five years, open 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. Last inspected on 25 March 2025, with the report published that April: Ofsted report. Price on enquiry. Provider page.

This is the one with the most recent inspection behind it, which counts for something when the alternative is a report written before your child was born. It is also the easiest of the five to reach on foot from Crouch End Broadway and from the Crouch Hill end of the patch.

Crouch End Fields Day Nursery & Preschool (Bright Horizons)

Hornsey Cricket Club, Tivoli Road, London N8 8RG. Ages three months to five years. Last inspected on 11 April 2023: Ofsted report. Price on enquiry. Provider page.

The address is the draw. A nursery on a cricket ground means outdoor space of a kind that most London settings improvise with a strip of astroturf, and Tivoli Road is a quiet approach for a buggy compared with the Broadway.

Kido Crouch End

Earl Haig Hall, 18 Elder Avenue, Crouch End. Ages three months to five years, 60 places, open 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, with English, French, Spanish and Mandarin. Inspected on 12 October 2022 and rated Good overall, with Outstanding for behaviour and attitudes: Ofsted report. Price on enquiry. Provider page.

This is the pick for parents who want the languages, and the only one here rated Outstanding for anything. One practical warning: the postcode given for Earl Haig Hall varies between listings, so put Elder Avenue rather than a postcode into a map before you set off for a show-round.

Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery & Preschool Crouch End

Hornsey School For Girls, Inderwick Road, London N8 9JF. Registered on 8 April 2026 and awaiting its first inspection, so there is no rating yet: Ofsted record. Price on enquiry.

The newest of the five, and the gamble of the group, in the ordinary sense that a first cohort of families is going on the school's judgement and the operator's rather than on an inspector's.

Les Petites Etoiles Bilingual Montessori, Crouch Hill

33 Crouch Hill, London N4 4AP. A French-English bilingual Montessori setting with 40 places, ages six months to five years. Last inspected on 6 September 2022: Ofsted record. Price on enquiry. Provider page.

The outlier, in a useful way: a proper bilingual Montessori rather than a chain house with a French afternoon. Two things to know. It starts at six months, not three, so it is no help for the earliest return to work. And Ofsted files it under Islington rather than Haringey despite the Crouch Hill address, which matters only if you are chasing funded hours through the council and want to know which one to ring.

How to choose

If you are going back to work before the baby is six months old, the choice is Crouch Hill, Tivoli Road or Elder Avenue. If languages are the point, it is Kido. If a recent inspection is what reassures you, the Crouch Hill Bright Horizons house is the only setting here inspected in the past two years. None of the five publishes a price, which is normal for London nurseries and irritating all the same, so the question worth asking on the phone is not the headline day rate but what a full-time place costs once the free hours are applied, and what the deposit and the retainer over August come to.

One name is missing. Priory Park Preschool is left out of this edition because we could not match it to an entry on the register in time to print the right inspection history.

The practical test of this patch is whether a family can find a place within walking distance, and on that the answer here is better than in much of north London. What nobody in Crouch End can find out without picking up the phone is what it costs. The next thing to look for is Monkey Puzzle's first inspection at Hornsey School for Girls.

Checked: 6 September 2026.