The Marlow Day Nursery

A sensory garden, weekly music and dance, and an annual leavers’ outing to Odd’s Farm give The Marlow Day Nursery a recognisable mix of outdoor exploration and shared experiences. The Sandygate Road setting cares for children aged 3 to 60 months, with separate rooms organised around their stage of development. Its appeal lies in the detail: babies have their own outdoor play area, while older children have opportunities to explore beyond the nursery.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall, with education, behaviour, personal development and leadership all receiving the same grade. That judgement comes with two practical teaching priorities: allowing children longer to answer questions and making better use of play to develop mathematical understanding. Both matter when deciding how well everyday activities become learning opportunities.

Attendance includes full days and shorter funded patterns across the year. The distinction is useful for families balancing working hours with funded childcare, but the extra-service choices deserve careful attention before committing.

Rooms and Ages

Little Stars accommodates babies up to 20 months, with activities shaped around their interests and developmental stage; Big Stars takes children up to 38 months and combines child-chosen play with adult-led activities and a key carer system.

Moons serves children aged 3 to 5 years, combining indoor and outdoor play with Funky Fingers activities for fine motor development; Pre school takes children up to 60 months and mixes organised learning with play to support independence and preparation for school.

These room descriptions put development alongside age. For parents, that makes the way a child moves between rooms an important part of understanding the nursery, especially where the older age bands overlap.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care. In everyday terms, learning belongs within play, conversation and growing independence, rather than being confined to a formal lesson. Marlow adds named activities to that foundation, with different opportunities to move, communicate and explore.

Kiddley Divey brings weekly dance and music to toddlers and preschool children. Preschool children also have weekly Spanish lessons with BilinguaSing. Together, these give the week recurring opportunities for movement, music and another language, rather than leaving those experiences entirely to spontaneous play.

Forest School is another regular element for preschool children. Led by the nursery’s own Forest School leaders, it uses outdoor activity directed by children, giving them scope to explore nature and make choices about their play. This sits alongside the nursery’s broader curriculum, rather than replacing its early-years responsibilities.

In June 2023, children persisted with construction projects, used tools with play dough and explored herbs and spices through potion-making. These examples connect learning with something tangible: a design to build, material to shape or mixture to investigate. Toddlers chose board books for themselves, and books could also be borrowed for reading with families at home.

The teaching priorities from June 2023 are equally concrete. Adults sometimes moved questions on before children had enough thinking time, and potion-making did not consistently become an opportunity to explore measuring or weight. Interesting resources are only part of the equation. The adult’s response helps determine how far the learning goes.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor provision has several different purposes. A climbing frame and wheeled-toy area support active play, while the sensory garden offers another kind of exploration. The main garden combines grass and hard surfaces with a digging pit, playhouse, shade and water play; babies also have a dedicated play area. This gives outdoor time more variety than a single open space.

Trips extend the day beyond those gardens. Children visit the local market and park weekly, with regular excursions to local shops and Higginson Park. The Annual Pre-School Leavers Trip goes to Odd’s Farm, providing a shared outing at the end of the nursery stage.

Families are invited to celebrations including Christmas, the Easter Bonnet Parade and Graduation. These are opportunities to take part in nursery life together, alongside the smaller exchanges that happen through everyday communication.

Relationships and Communication

A key carer system is part of the Big Stars and Moons arrangements, giving relationships an explicit place in those rooms’ daily provision. Settling sessions are offered to children starting nursery, allowing the beginning of attendance to include a separate settling stage rather than treating the first contracted day as the whole introduction.

Ovivio is the parent communication app, carrying information about meals, sleep and daily activities. Its practical value is continuity: knowing how a child has eaten or slept helps parents understand the rest of their day. Communication is more useful when it reaches beyond a general account of activities.

In June 2023, parents contributed to initial assessments and received information through conversations, newsletters and online communication. That involved families in understanding their child’s starting point as well as hearing about nursery life afterwards. Older children also practised independence through helping at lunch, using cutlery and managing personal care.

A February 2026 announcement set out whole-team specialist training on interactions with children, scheduled from September 2025 to July 2026. This was a defined training period, with a clear subject relevant to the quality of everyday exchanges; it does not establish that the earlier teaching priorities have been resolved.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support good, with emerging needs recognised, external advice sought where necessary and parents involved. Those are dated findings about practice, rather than a guarantee about an individual child’s future experience.

Meals are freshly prepared on site, with breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks forming the food offer. The nursery’s menu policy covers allergies, intolerances and religious or cultural dietary requirements, and its seasonal menus include allergen guidance.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Sandygate Road, Marlow, SL7 3AZ. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with an early start bookable from 7.30am. Attendance runs across 51 weeks, with closures for bank holidays, inset days and a week between Christmas and New Year. There are two inset days each year, so the annual pattern needs to work alongside a family’s other childcare arrangements.

Full days are offered alongside funded attendance patterns. For the 30-hour entitlement, the funded pattern is three days each week, 9am to 4.30pm; for the 15-hour entitlement, it is two days each week, 9am to 2.30pm. These are different booking options, rather than a promise that funded hours can be arranged at any chosen time.

The early-start booking runs from 7.30am to 8am and can be arranged monthly. Half days are extra sessions rather than regular contracted attendance, and one-off emergency hours can also be booked. Extra sessions require booking at least 24 hours ahead.

Contracted sessions cannot be exchanged for different days. A full month’s notice applies when changing contracted attendance or ending a place, while cancelling an extra session requires two weeks’ notice. Fees remain payable for absence caused by illness or holidays. These terms make the distinction between a regular contract and occasional extra care important.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 30 Hour Funding for eligible children aged 9 months to 4 years, 15 Hour Funding for children aged 3 and 4 years, and 15 hours Early Learning for children aged 2 receiving some additional forms of support. The 30-hour offer is stretched across 51 weeks, and the shorter funded attendance patterns also run across that annual period.

Private attendance fees include meals, snacks, consumables, activities and nursery experiences. On fully funded days, meals and snacks, consumables and extra services carry separate voluntary contributions. Families choosing to opt out provide food under the Food from Home policy and bring consumables in a labelled bag each day.

The consumables provision includes wipes, sun cream, nappy cream, aprons, bedding and hygiene supplies. Opting out of the activity and experience contribution excludes participation in those extras and outings, while other educational activities continue. App access is also excluded when its contribution is declined. Changing between nursery meals and food brought from home requires three months’ notice.

Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The funded-hours timetable and the extra-service choices should be considered together: funding the childcare hours does not mean every associated service is included automatically.

Getting There

A large parking area sits directly outside the nursery entrance. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form, and a registration form is the route onto the waiting list.

• Teaching through conversation. June 2023 priorities concerned thinking time and mathematics during play. During a tour, ask how practitioners now pause for children’s answers and introduce measuring or counting within activities.
• Room moves. Moons covers ages 3 to 5, while Pre school takes children up to 60 months. Ask how the nursery decides between these rooms and manages the transition from Big Stars for your child.
• Funded extras. Contributions on fully funded days are voluntary, but opting out changes meals, consumables, app access and participation in extras. Establish which choices suit your family before signing, including the three-month notice for changing meal arrangements.
• Dietary needs. The menu policy covers allergies and other dietary requirements. Families affected by allergies should confirm current ingredient checks and the arrangements for their child, including any food brought from home.

Marlow suits families seeking full days, shorter days through its 30 Hour Funding or 15 Hour Funding patterns across the year, or occasional extra sessions. Weekly Kiddley Divey sessions, Forest School and outings around Marlow give the offer substance, while the separate baby play area adds a useful physical distinction for the youngest children.

The June 2023 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, with clear teaching priorities to discuss. The strongest decision is one that weighs those everyday experiences alongside the exact funded timetable, room transitions and voluntary-extra choices. Those practical details will shape the family’s experience as much as the headline grade.