Data sources and methodology

In short

• LondonEY is built from official public data, mainly Ofsted and the Department for Education.
• We show both Ofsted rating systems exactly as Ofsted publishes them, and never convert one into the other.
• Payment never affects ranking and never hides a setting.
• If we do not know something, we leave it out and say it is not known.
• If we have got something wrong, tell us.

Attribution

Contains Ofsted data © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information from the Department for Education (Get Information About Schools), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026. Source: Office for National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The Open Government Licence v3.0 lets anyone reuse this information, including commercially, if the source is acknowledged. It does not cover logos or personal data. We do not use the Ofsted logo, and nothing on this site means Ofsted or the Department for Education has approved or endorsed LondonEY.

Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors, via MapTiler, on area maps. Station locations come from OpenStreetMap via Overpass, © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).

Every data source

Which settings are included

Included:

• Childcare on non-domestic premises registered on Ofsted’s Early Years Register (full day care and sessional care).
• Childcare on domestic premises where Ofsted has not redacted the details.
• Maintained nursery schools.
• State-funded schools with a nursery class.
• Independent schools that take children under five.

Not included at launch:

• Out-of-school and holiday clubs.
• Settings that have closed or are no longer registered.
• Home childcarers (nannies and similar) on Ofsted’s voluntary register.

Childminders

Ofsted redacts the names, addresses and postcodes of childminders for their safety. We respect that. LondonEY shows only totals per borough (how many childminders, how many places, and the spread of Ofsted results) and explains how to find and check a childminder yourself using Ofsted’s search. We do not publish an individual childminder unless they ask us to and give their consent, and they can withdraw it at any time.

Who runs a setting

Where Ofsted’s “registered person” is a company, charity or school, we show its name and use it to group settings under one operator (for example a nursery chain). Where the registered person looks like an individual, we leave the name out. Chain names are matched by us from the operator’s name, so a match is our identification and not an official statement. If we have grouped a setting wrongly, tell us.

How Ofsted ratings are shown

England has two Ofsted frameworks in use for early years, and most London settings will carry the older one for some time. We show whichever applies, and label it.

New report cards (inspections from 10 November 2025)

Ofsted no longer gives an overall grade. Each inspection grades six areas on a five-point scale and records whether safeguarding standards are met.

The six areas:

1. Inclusion
2. Curriculum and teaching
3. Achievement
4. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines
5. Children’s welfare and wellbeing
6. Leadership and governance

The five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.

Safeguarding is shown as Met or Not met.

How we present it:

• We show the six grades as Ofsted gave them, with the inspection date. We do not add them up or invent an overall score.
• Expected standard is the normal result and the most common one. It means the setting meets the standard expected of it. We show it neutrally and do not colour it as a warning.
• Our colours for grades are deliberately neutral and are not the colours Ofsted uses.

Previous framework (Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement, Inadequate)

Settings inspected before the change keep their overall grade until their next inspection. We show it as, for example, “Good (previous framework), 2023”, with the inspection year or date. A legacy “Good” and a report-card “Strong standard” are different measures and are not equivalent. We never convert one into the other.

Other results

• Met / Not met (no children on roll at the visit): some newly registered settings are visited when no children are attending. Ofsted records a “met” or “not met” result rather than a grade. We show exactly that.
• Not yet inspected: the setting is registered but has no inspection result in the data we hold.
• Schools: where a school has an inspection outcome we hold, it is for the whole school, not for the nursery class on its own, and we say so. Independent schools inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) get a link to the report only, because ISI reports record whether standards are met rather than giving these grades.

Inspection dates matter. A grade may be a few years old, and a setting can change a lot between visits. Each row links to the official Ofsted report so you can read it in full.

How “highest-rated” lists work

Our highest-rated pages for each borough apply a fixed, public rule. Payment cannot change who is on a list or where.

1. Report-card settings: Strong standard or Exceptional in at least 4 of the 6 areas, with safeguarding Met.
2. Previous-framework settings: overall grade Outstanding.
3. Within each group, the most recent inspection comes first. The order is by date, not by quality.
4. A highest-rated page is only published where at least three settings qualify.

This rule is a simplification we chose to be transparent. It is not an Ofsted ranking. A setting that is not on the list may be excellent, and one that is on the list may no longer be the same. Always read the report and visit.

How lists and pages are ordered

Lists show every setting we hold for the area. You choose how to sort and filter them (for example by name, rating, places or distance to a station). We do not move a setting up or down for payment. See the sponsor terms.

Sponsored placements

Some pages carry a band labelled Sponsored. It is separate from the list, shows at most three slots, and never changes the order of the list or hides anything. Sponsors must meet eligibility rules, and their Ofsted results are shown in the same way as everyone else’s. Full rules are in the sponsor terms.

Other things we calculate

• Places are the maximum number of children Ofsted registered the setting for. They are not a count of vacancies or children currently attending.
• Neighbourhoods are our own groupings by postcode district. They are not official boundaries.
• Nearest station is a straight-line distance, not walking time. Check the route yourself.
• Borough and ward come from the postcode.
• Fee averages are taken from the cited survey and are averages across many settings. They tell you nothing about a particular nursery.
• Funded hours: we only say a setting offers funded places if the setting or its council says so, and we show when we checked. “Not known” means exactly that.

How often it is updated

The “Last updated” date on every page is the date its data was last refreshed or checked. Between refreshes, the Ofsted report is always the authority.

Corrections and removals

We want this to be accurate.

1. Use the correction form or contact us. Please tell us which page and what is wrong, and give a source if you have one.
2. We check the claim against the official record.
3. If our page differs from the official record, we fix it. If our page matches the official record but you think the record is wrong, we cannot change it. We will tell you which body to contact (Ofsted for inspection results, the Department for Education for school details).
4. If you run a setting, you can claim your listing to add or change fees, funded places and photos. We verify claims by hand before applying anything.
5. If you are an individual and want your details removed, tell us. See the privacy notice for your rights.

Corrections are free and do not require a sponsorship. Sponsors get no faster or better treatment than anyone else for corrections to official data.

What we never do

• Never take payment to change a rank, to hide another setting, or to remove a true inspection result.
• Never publish a childminder’s name or address.
• Never show Google’s review text or photos.
• Never combine Ofsted grades into a score of our own.
• Never imply that Ofsted or the government backs LondonEY or any sponsor.

Limits

LondonEY is a starting point. Data from official sources can be out of date by the time you read it, and our extraction can contain errors. Before you decide, read the latest Ofsted report, visit the setting, and ask for current fees and availability. See our terms.