Childcare costs in Harpenden
Published prices run from £11.00 to £12.55 an hour (the middle is £11.54); a full day at a day nursery from £119.68 to £124.26.
Read from the nurseries' own fee pages, most recently on 19 October 2026.
Work out the cost for your child's age and days
Funded hours, by age
| Age | Funded hours | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Under 9 months | None | Every family pays the full fee. |
| 9 months to 2 years | Up to 30 hours a week, 38 weeks a year | Working parents (gov.uk) |
| 2 years | Up to 30 hours a week if you work; 15 hours if you get certain support | Working parents, or families on some benefits (gov.uk) |
| 3 and 4 years, until Reception | 15 hours a week for every child; up to 30 for working parents | Everyone (gov.uk) |
Hours start the term after your child reaches the age: terms start on 1 September, 1 January and 1 April. 30 hours a week for 38 weeks is 1,140 hours a year, and many nurseries spread them over more weeks. Working parents apply on gov.uk for a code and reconfirm it every three months. Key dates works out when your child's hours start.
National rules for England from September 2025: gov.uk. Nurseries may charge for meals, nappies and activities on funded hours; those charges are not in the figures here.
Nurseries with a published fee (5)
"A year full time" is 5 days of 10 hours for 51 weeks (2,550 hours). With 30 funded hours (a child from 9 months to 4 years, parents working) 1,140 of them are free and 1,410 are paid at the nursery's hourly rate. Pre-schools open for sessions, not full days, so only their hourly rate is shown.
The Kinsbourne Common Nursery And Pre-School (pre-school, 2603962)
£11.00 an hour (its published hourly rate)
The nursery's published price on 19 October 2026: its fee page. Check with the nursery before you rely on it.
The Kinsbourne Common Nursery And Pre-School (pre-school, 2603961)
£11.00 an hour (its published hourly rate)
The nursery's published price on 19 October 2026: its fee page. Check with the nursery before you rely on it.
Bright Horizons Harpenden Luton Road Day Nursery and Preschool
£119.68 a day (day rates listed: £119.68 to £132.98) · £12.09 an hour (its published hourly rate)
The day rate is worked out from a monthly price for full time.
A year full time: £17,050 after 30 funded hours (£1,421 a month); £30,830 with no funded hours (under 9 months).
The nursery's published price on 8 October 2026: its fee page. Check with the nursery before you rely on it.
Bright Horizons Harpenden Central Day Nursery and Preschool
£124.26 a day (day rates listed: £124.26 to £138.07) · £12.55 an hour (its published hourly rate)
The day rate is worked out from a monthly price for full time.
A year full time: £17,700 after 30 funded hours (£1,475 a month); £32,000 with no funded hours (under 9 months).
The nursery's published price on 8 October 2026: its fee page. Check with the nursery before you rely on it.
Highfield Pre-School
£40.00 a day · a pre-school's day is a session of its own length, so no hourly figure is worked out
The day rate is worked out from a weekly full-time price.
The nursery's published price on 8 October 2026: its fee page. Check with the nursery before you rely on it.
Nurseries whose fee we do not hold (13)
- Artisans Kindergarten (Pre-school; Ofsted: Report card: strong standard or better in every area, 28 November 2025): fee unknown
- Batford Day Care (Day nursery; Ofsted: Outstanding, 27 August 2025): fee unknown
- Busy Bees Day Nursery at Harpenden Leyton Road (Day nursery; Ofsted: Good, 14 November 2023): fee unknown
- Busy Bees Day Nursery at Rothamsted Lodge (Day nursery; Ofsted: Good, 1 February 2023): fee unknown
- Cosmos Nursery and Kindergarten (Day nursery; Ofsted: Not inspected yet): fee unknown
- Fingertips Woodland Nursery (Day nursery; Ofsted: Outstanding, 8 June 2022): fee unknown
- Friends Together (Day nursery; Ofsted: Outstanding, 11 January 2024): fee unknown
- Fusion Pre School Southdown (Pre-school; Ofsted: Not inspected yet): fee unknown
- Harpenden Day Nursery and Pre School (Day nursery; Ofsted: Not inspected yet): fee unknown
- Noah's Ark Nursery at the Lea (Pre-school; Ofsted: Outstanding, 10 October 2022): fee unknown
- Noah's Ark Pre-School (Pre-school; Ofsted: Good, 22 February 2022): fee unknown
- United Reformed Church Pre-School and Nursery (Pre-school; Ofsted: Outstanding, 1 February 2022): fee unknown
- Whanau Day Nursery Harpenden (Day nursery; Ofsted: Good, 1 February 2022): fee unknown
For comparison, a paid hour at a typical nursery in the South East region costs £8.06 for a child under 2 and £7.58 for a 2-year-old. That is a survey average, not any nursery's own price.
Source: Coram Family and Childcare, Childcare Survey 2026: average nursery price for 50 hours a week after the working-parent entitlement (paying for 20 hours), by region.
More in nurseries in Harpenden, ranked by what Ofsted found, and private school fees.
Nurseries: Ofsted, Childcare providers and inspections. Fees: each nursery's own website, read by kinplace's fee reader; a fee is left out when the page is shared with other nurseries (unless it is a chain's own price list, checked again for each branch), on another website, for an earlier year, or read more than 120 days ago.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. All sources.