What Should a Nursery Website Include in 2026?

Nursery website checklist

The short answer

A nursery website in 2026 needs to do three jobs: answer the questions parents ask before they visit, share the information early years settings are expected to make available, and make it obvious how to enquire or book a look round. Everything else is decoration.

Most parents will read it on a phone, in the evening, while comparing you with two or three other settings. So the test for every page is simple: can a tired parent find what they need in a couple of taps?

This checklist is written for day nurseries, preschools, playgroups and nursery schools in England. Childminders and out-of-school clubs can use it too, just skip what does not apply.

1. Who you are, at a glance

The first screen should say what you are, who you are for and where you are: "A day nursery for babies to preschool in Knutsford, open 7.30am to 6pm." Add one honest photograph of your setting, not a stock image of a smiling model, and a visible button to book a visit or enquire.

• Your setting name and type (day nursery, preschool, nursery school, childminder)
• The ages you take and your opening hours
• Your town or area, with a map further down
• A phone number that works when tapped on a phone
• One clear call to action on every page

2. Rooms, age groups and a typical day

Parents want to picture their child in your setting. Describe each room or group (baby room, toddlers, preschool), what a day looks like, how settling-in works and how you use outdoor space. Keep it warm and concrete. "Snack at 9.30, garden at 10, story before lunch" is far more persuasive than a paragraph about holistic development.

How you deliver the EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework says group providers must share with parents how the EYFS is delivered, the range of activities and daily routines, and how parents can support learning at home (EYFS 2026, paragraph 3.100). Your website is the natural place to do that. A plain-English page about your approach, your key person system and how you share progress with parents covers it.

3. Fees, funded hours and chargeable extras

This is the page parents look for first and the one most nursery websites hide. Publish your fees, the sessions you offer, and how you deliver the free entitlement hours (15 or 30 hours a week for eligible families).

Since the Department for Education updated its statutory guidance on early education and childcare, providers are expected to publish the costs of any chargeable extras, such as meals, consumables and optional activities, on their websites, clearly and in a way parents can find (Early education and childcare, statutory guidance from 1 April 2026, paragraphs A1.39 to A1.40). There is a DfE template for this. Our guide to nursery fees and funded childcare on your website goes through it line by line.

4. Ofsted, registration and how to complain

Parents will look for your Ofsted report whether or not you link to it. Link to it. Ofsted now publishes report cards rather than a single overall grade, so a short explanation of what the areas mean is helpful.

The EYFS also requires you to make available to parents the details of how to contact Ofsted (paragraph 3.102) and to have a written complaints procedure (paragraph 3.101). A short "Compliments and complaints" page with your procedure and Ofsted’s contact details does both. Our nursery website requirements guide explains what applies to your setting and where each requirement comes from.

5. Safeguarding, SEND and inclusion

A safeguarding statement in plain language, the name of your designated safeguarding lead, and a short description of how you support children with special educational needs and disabilities. Providers must share with parents how the setting supports children with SEND (EYFS paragraph 3.100), and this is also where parents of a child with additional needs decide whether to pick up the phone.

6. Policies and a document library

Parents rarely read policies before they join, but they check that they exist. A tidy policies page with your key documents (safeguarding, complaints, behaviour, illness and medication, admissions, privacy) is reassuring and easy to keep current. It also saves you emailing PDFs every week. See what policies a nursery should publish on its website for a sensible list.

7. Food, menus and allergies

What you cook, whether it is cooked on site, how you handle allergies and special diets, and a sample menu. Before a child starts, providers must get information about dietary requirements and allergies (EYFS paragraph 3.65), and parents want to see that you take it seriously. A menu you can update each term is worth more than a glossy statement about nutrition.

8. Staff and key persons

Photographs and first names of your team, their roles and qualifications, and an explanation of your key person system. The EYFS requires providers to tell parents how staffing is organised and the name and role of their child’s key person (paragraph 3.100). A friendly team page is the human face of your setting and the thing parents remember from a visit.

9. Galleries, news and events

Real photographs of real days, with parental consent handled properly. A news section for term dates, open mornings, sports day and what the preschool did with the pumpkins. This is where a nursery website goes stale fastest, so choose a platform you can update from your phone, or a provider who will do it for you when you ask.

10. Availability, enquiries and admissions

Say whether you have places, which days, and how the waiting list works. Then make enquiring easy: a short form (name, child’s age, days needed, a message), a tap-to-call number and a "book a visit" button. Tell parents what happens next. A downloadable registration form or an online admissions form is a bonus.

11. Vacancies

Recruitment is hard in early years. A vacancies page that describes the role honestly, shows the team and links to an application route costs nothing to keep and saves agency fees. Keep it current, or take it down.

12. Privacy, accessibility and the legal bits

Every nursery website that collects personal data through a form needs a privacy notice that tells people what you collect and why, provided at the point you collect it (ICO, the right to be informed). If you are a limited company, your registered name, number and office address must appear on the site (Company, LLP and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015, regulation 25), and the E-Commerce Regulations 2002 require your name, geographic address and email to be easily accessible.

Accessibility matters too, both because parents and grandparents use your site with varying eyesight, devices and confidence, and because service providers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments. Our practical guide to nursery website accessibility covers the practical steps.

What to leave out

• Stock photos of children who have never been to your setting
• Long mission statements before any useful information
• PDFs as the only way to see fees or menus
• Anything you cannot keep up to date

A checklist you can copy

• Setting name, type, ages and opening hours on the first screen
• Book a visit and enquire buttons on every page
• Rooms and a typical day
• How you deliver the EYFS and your key person system
• Fees, sessions, funded hours and chargeable extras
• Ofsted report link, registration and complaints procedure with Ofsted contact details
• Safeguarding statement and SEND support
• Policies page
• Menus and allergy approach
• Team page
• Gallery, news and events
• Availability and enquiry form
• Vacancies
• Privacy notice, accessibility and company details

If you would rather not build all of this yourself, that is exactly what nursery website design from Little Fruitcakes is for: a nursery website designed around this list, kept up to date from your phone or by us, for £79 a month.

Common questions

Sources

• Early years foundation stage statutory framework for group and school-based providers, DfE, in force from 1 September 2026
• Early education and childcare: statutory guidance for local authorities, DfE, valid from 1 April 2026
• Understanding Ofsted report cards and grades, GOV.UK
• The right to be informed, ICO
• Company, LLP and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015, regulation 25