Young Friends Kindergarten

89 Holland Road, Hove BN3 1JP
Review Us
8.1 27 Reviews
  • Young Friends Kindergarten, Hove
Welcome to Young Friends Kindergarten. Hove’s first Eco-Nature Nursery. They are a little bit different. Many settings dabble in outside play, forest school and nature – but they really do go for it.

Nature, of course, is not enough on its own… staff take their jobs as educators and carers seriously. After all, it’s a privilege not to be taken lightly. They are consistently excited to be helping shape little people’s outlook on life and in turn their futures, so it's important that they take great care to do it well.

Their Nature School is their most exciting feature and intertwines every day. It is comprised of Beach School, allotment, exciting garden and environmental education and the benefits to the children are plain to see.

They consider themselves a family away from home and families often say the same. Interactions and communications with children and families is warm, welcoming and intelligent.

A relaxed, cosy and fun family environment for the children means the nursery is a happy settled place.

This, balanced with fanatical ‘behind the scenes’ attention to the infinite improvement and considerable helping of an always smiling, brilliant (and close) staff team, is a winning recipe.
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Funding & Fees

All fees are charged monthly.


Weekly fees are multiplied by 50 and divided by 12.


Sibling discount = 10%
Five day discount = 5%


Kindergarten Charges Without Funding
      
8-4 £90.64   
8-6 £104.23
Additional Hour £11.49

At Young Friends, we see early years care as an investment — not a commodity.


We are a fully plant-based, sustainability-led early years community, designed for families who value calm, connection, and meaningful childhood experiences. Our fees reflect the true cost of providing high-quality care in a way that aligns with our values.


This includes:


Fresh, homemade food cooked daily


Sustainable care practices, learning and materials


Experienced educators who work with presence and intention


A thoughtfully curated environment that supports emotional wellbeing


Enrichment rooted in real life: cooking, gardening, nature and community

Contact Young Friends Kindergarten to get a personalised quote.

Contact Young Friends Kindergarten to get a personalised quote.

Type of Service

  • Day Nursery
  • Open all year
  • Full Day Care

Owner

  • Louise Lloyd-Evans
  • Privately Owned

Person in Charge

  • Jasmin Clay-Joyce (Education Manager)

Admission Information

  • None

Number of Childcare Staff

  • 18

Total Places for Children

  • 60

Age Range

  • from 0 years
  • to 5 years

Opening Times

  • Monday 08:00-18:00
    Tuesday 08:00-18:00
    Wednesday 08:00-18:00
    Thursday 08:00-18:00
    Friday 08:00-18:00

When Closed

  • Bank Holidays, 1 week at Christmas & 2 inset days

Parking

  • Street parking, right outside

Young Friends Kindergarten Reviews (27)

8.1

Young Friends Kindergarten has a Review Score of 8.1 (8.083) out of 10, based on 1 reviews in the last 2 years.
Over all time Young Friends Kindergarten has 27 reviews.

Overall Experience
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Date Published
  • 27
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Reviewer Connection to Young Friends Kindergarten
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Total of 27, showing 21-27
Review from E. D. (Mother of Child) published on 30 August 2016 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
Young Friends is just fantastic. My 3-year-old has been at Young Friends since he was 9 months old, and we all love it. The nursery is fab and the Manager and her team are always looking to improve it and find new things for the kids to do. One of the high points in the last few months has been the
allotment: the children go on little visits there, help with looking after the veggies and get to eat fresh from the plants! Fantastic! My son also enjoys the Reggio Emilia table and all the natural toys on offer.
But to me, the best thing about the place is the staff. My son's key person has developed such a special relationship with him, but they are all amazing. Caring, dedicated, creative, warm, enthusiastic.
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Review from Rebecca S (Mother of Child) published on 19 August 2016 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
My husband and I have been extremely lucky to find Young Friends as the nursery for our daughter. She started there at 7 months and now she is 2 years old and has lived every minute of being there. The staff are lovely, have a very caring nature and you can see they really adore all the children that
they work with. The facilities are excellent, the garden, the rabbits, our daughter regularly comes home and talks about her day to us and all of the great activities that she has been doing. She has gone from strength to strength with her learning and also her people skills from being at this nursery. The staff teach them good manners and sharing skills. The weekly blog and the updates are a great way of finding out what has been going on at the nursery and to receive photos of your little one having so much fun doing a variety of activities is so rewarding to see! Thank you, Young Friends!
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Review from Jane R (Mother of Child) published on 18 August 2016 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
I have two children at Young Friends Nursery and I absolutely love the care they receive while attending here. My oldest is just about to leave for school and I have no doubt that the attention, education, fun and friends she has made at Young Friends will pave the way for enjoyable school years ahead.


I

love that Young Friends is a family run nursery. One of the factors that has impressed me the most about the nursery is the constant investment from the owners into making the building a stimulating and fun place for the children to learn and explore. From allotments to outdoor classrooms and yoga it really is a magical place that my children love to go to.


Thank you for a great 3 years for my daughter and son.

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Review from Holly S-B (Mother of Child) published on 26 July 2016 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
Since starting in November last year, my daughter has thrived at Young Friends. She was nervous to begin with but all the staff were so loving and comforting towards her, that I felt more than happy that she would be safe and well looked after. She is always as happy as she can be when I pick her
up and completely shattered after a day of fun activities. Young Friends is a happy, fun and loving environment that would make any nervous parent feel at ease when leaving their little one for the first time. I was recommended Young Friends by a friend and will continue to pass the recommendation on to others.
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Review from Neon W (Mother of Child) published on 13 November 2015 Submitted via Postal Card • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
I love Young Friends my daughter has been going there since October 2011 to present, this week is her last week before she starts primary school. I believe that Young Friends has played an integral part in my daughters upbringing. They provide care, education, fun/loving, safe environment. Sad very
sad that they journey has come to an end.
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Review from Flo C (Mother of Child) published on 24 July 2015 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
Amazing nursery with a real family atmosphere and dedicated staff. Always buzzing with activity and new ideas too enrich the children's lives. We couldn't have found a better place for our daughter to attend for three fabulous years!
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Review from Rob M (Father of Child) published on 24 July 2015 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
Said short: They are a really great nursery and take excellent care of the children. For any one wanting more detail: They consider every detail that you would want to have been thought about, and run a really tight ship. In fact, you can see from the staff how happy they are and it speaks miles to
how good they in fact are. To any parent looking a nursery, I can only that I looked intensively for flaws in them when we were considering a nursery, and I honestly could not find one, we are very glad that our child goes there, and when we first moved to the UK from Germany, we were fairly concerned about finding a nursery; moreover, we were unfamiliar with English nursery standards or - in general - what to expect, and we did a good deal of research and visiting other nurseries in the area, they were hands down the best one. We consider ourselves really lucky to have our child at Young Friends. I know how hard this process can be, so I would suggest anyone in the Brighton or Hove area looking for a top-notch nursery to check them out, you won't be disappointed.
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Current Review Score: 8.1 (8.083)

Overview of Review Score

The Review Score of 8.1 (8.083) out of 10 for Young Friends Kindergarten is based on a) the Average Rating and b) the number of positive Reviews.

  1. The Average Rating is 5.0 out of 5 from 1 Reviews in the last 24 months.
  2. The score for the number of positive Reviews is 3.1 out of 5 from 1 positive Reviews in the last 24 months.

Detailed Breakdown of Review Score

The maximum Review Score for a Day Nursery is 10, which is made up from the Average Rating of Reviews (maximum of 5 points) and the Number of Reviews (maximum of 5 points) in the last 24 months:

  1. 5 Points are available for the Average Rating from all Reviews in the last 24 months. The Average Rating of 5.000 for Young Friends Kindergarten is calculated as follows: ( (12 Excellents x 5) ) ÷ 12 Ratings = 5
  2. 5 Points are available for the number of Positive Reviews in the last 24 months. A Positive Review is defined as any Review with an 'Overall Experience' of '4' or '5' (out of a max rating '5'). The 3.083 Points relating to the number of positive Reviews for Young Friends Kindergarten is based on 1 positive Reviews in the last 24 months and is calculated as per below:

    The 5 points available are broken down as follows:

    1. 4 points are available for the first 20 Positive Reviews in the last 24 months; 3 points for the first Positive Review, 0.125 Points for each of the next four Positive Reviews, 0.05 Points for the next five Positive Reviews, and finally 0.025 Points for the next ten Positive Reviews. (1st = 3.000, 2nd = 0.125, 3rd = 0.125, 4th = 0.125, 5th = 0.125, 6th = 0.050, 7th = 0.050, 8th = 0.050, 9th = 0.050, 10th = 0.050, 11th = 0.025, 12th = 0.025, 13th = 0.025, 14th = 0.025, 15th = 0.025, 16th = 0.025, 17th = 0.025, 18th = 0.025, 19th = 0.025, 20th = 0.025) 3 = 3
    2. 1 point is available for the number of Positive Reviews reaching 20% of the number of registered child places in the last 24 months. If this number is partially reached, then that proportion of 1 point is given. eg a Day Nursery registered for a maximum of 50 child places has to reach 10 Positive Reviews to receive 1 point, if it has 7 reviews it will receive 0.7 points. 20% of the 60 number of registered child places is 12. 1 Positive Reviews ÷ 12 = 0.083
  3. When a Review is submitted by someone who has previously submitted a Review, only the latest Review will count towards the Review Score.
  4. If a Day Nursery does not have a review in the last 24 months, then it will not have a Review Score.

Child Vacancies

Please contact us for latest vacancies.

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Awards / Recognitions (6)

Meet the Team (3)

Louise

Louise Lloyd-Evans

Job Title: Director Joined: 2008

My pronouns: she/her


Child care qualifications


Louise is qualified to Level 6 Childcare and Education with Early Years Professional Status. She also has a BA (Hons) in History of Art and has Scuba Diving and Skydiving qualifications.


About me


I have three brilliant children. At 6, my eldest, now storming it at Uni, was an integral part of Young Friends at its conception. Those first few children adored her and her them.


My mission, together with my father (now sadly passed), was, in his word to create ‘the best nursery in the UK’. My other two children also spent their first years in Young Friends. We lived in the building, and they were literally breastfed during staff supervision!


I’ve lived and breathed the place all that time, always fascinated by nature alongside child development and wellbeing. More recently, in tandem with a passion for this at home, I became intent on merging all of this with sustainability.


As Founder, I have now finally taken a step away from daily management – a difficult decision because I just love the Young Friends team, and only made possible because Emma and I happened upon each other. I was determined only to do this when the absolutely right person came along. It’s been a sweeping learning curve for me in many areas, like biodiversity etc, and my passion has increasingly become about creating little sustainable citizens and helping the team get excited by this. I want to help them to understand what natural, sustainable learning truly means in practice and to child outcomes, and how to facilitate it whilst sticking to the EYFS. It’s an exciting journey we are all on, and far from over yet.


When I’m not building up the kindergarten, I love running and going for country walks with my family and my beautiful Labrador. She has the perfect temperament for a nursery dog, and I often take her to kindergarten. The children adore her. I have always owned pets and been interested in animal therapy. We’ve started keeping (and rescuing) guinea pigs at the kindergarten, too. They are hilarious, and I love to encourage the staff to spend lots of time with them with the children.


I also adore gardening and am soon to embark on my RHS gardening course. I learnt a lot about rewilding, and in my last house (much to my children’s dismay), I turned the entire (small) garden into a haven for wildlife. Of course, I also bring this to kindergarten– hence our gorgeous wild woodland garden.


I am passionate about sustainability inside the house, too and have a cupboard dedicated to making my own cleaning and other products. It’s so rewarding.


Interior Design has always been a passion of mine, and I love to create a feature wall. Colour plays a massive role in well-being and how we feel, and I have tried to incorporate this into the kindergarten décor to establish a feeling of calm and well-being.


I also love photography, which I also manage to use when creating social media posts and to promote a healthy partnership with our families and wider community.


I love coming to work because I am incredibly proud of the environment and team I have created. I believe what Young Friends Kindergarten and Young Friends Tribe are doing is incredibly important, and our talented and caring team do too. It’s exciting to be making a difference to these children’s lives and, though they don’t know it yet, many of them will grow up to do important things with regard to sustainability because it will be a part of them – they will just do it naturally. That makes me very proud indeed.


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Jasmin

Jasmin Clay-Joyce

Job Title: Early Years manager Joined: 2025

My pronouns: she/her


Child care qualifications


About me

Ivan

Ivan Jarauta Estaban

Job Title: Early Years Educator Joined: 2025

My pronouns: he/him


Child care qualifications


Ivan is just about to complete his Level 3 in Early Years.


About me

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