Partou Bourne Explorers Day Nursery & Pre-School

A large garden gives Bourne Explorers much of its character, with outdoor movement part of the current offer and a baby garden, growing activities and a forest area featuring in its June 2024 nursery day. This Hemel Hempstead setting combines space to explore with a practical choice of attendance patterns. The outdoor detail is its strongest draw.

Partou Bourne Explorers Day Nursery & Pre-School cares for children aged 3 to 60 months and has 48 places in total. At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall and judged safeguarding effective. The important qualification concerns teaching for younger children, which needed greater consistency.

Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings give families different ways to use the nursery. Paid childcare includes meals and everyday essentials, while food and essentials attract separate charges on specified funded bookings.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: in everyday terms, play and interaction support skills such as communication, movement and managing relationships. Alongside that framework, the group-wide The Partou experience encourages children to select activities that interest them, with staff helping them explore their choices. That gives children a say in what they do next.

In June 2024, activities connected children's interests with further exploration. Toddlers made farm-animal pictures and investigated habitats through sensory play; older children discussed animals and compared different kinds of milk. These were concrete ways to extend a familiar subject, moving from making and handling things towards conversation and comparison.

Books also linked play with language in June 2024. Babies shared books with sensory elements alongside staff, while older children retold stories through action, including a garden bear hunt. Animal noises, rhyming words and starting sounds gave the different age groups different ways into language. Reading was an activity to participate in.

For preschool children, June 2024 group gatherings introduced routines resembling those they would encounter at school. Children talked about activities and discussed the reasons for rules. This brought listening, speaking and shared expectations into the same part of the day, rather than treating school preparation simply as early academic work.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large garden supports physical play. In June 2024, babies used their own garden space to practise movement, while older children explored the wider grounds and forest area. Separating those experiences by age mattered: babies had space suited to their stage, and older children had more room to investigate.

Growing food added another dimension to outdoor life in June 2024. Children ate fruit and vegetables they had grown and had picnic meals outside. The garden therefore connected movement with food and first-hand discovery, giving children something tangible to discuss and taste.

Relationships and Communication

In June 2024, managers matched babies with key staff by considering the relationships the children had already formed. The baby environment was calm, with close staff support. For a family choosing care for a very young child, that attention to an existing bond is more meaningful than a generic promise of quick settling.

Daily conversations with staff, consultation appointments and an electronic journal formed the parent communication arrangements in June 2024. Parents also received help with difficult behaviour.

Behaviour support in June 2024 combined praise with conversations about how actions affected other people. Toddlers practised sharing and taking turns during a sand-based treasure activity; older children reminded each other about rules and used good manners. These examples show how expectations were worked into play and conversation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Yoga and mindfulness gave older children ways to relax in June 2024. Hygiene teaching also used a memorable character: Sneezy Susan helped preschool children understand how sneezing spreads germs and why tissues help. The explanation made an everyday care routine something children could understand, rather than merely follow.

Meals are cooked at the nursery using a seasonal menu, with a rotation lasting three to four weeks. Dietary requirements can be accommodated, and the nursery has procedures for food allergies.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Kingsway, London Road, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 2RQ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and a week at Christmas, so families need to allow for those breaks in their childcare arrangements.

A full day runs from 7.30am to 6pm, a morning from 7.30am to 1pm, and an afternoon from 1pm to 6pm.

Its location near the A41 makes the setting relevant to families commuting from Berkhamsted.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including up to 30 hours. Private childcare fees include food, milk, wipes, nappies and other everyday essentials.

On funded bookings for children aged three to four, and for younger children using a Working Families funding code, food and other essentials are charged separately. Funding applies to the care part of the invoice. A non-refundable registration charge also applies, and an Early Start option carries an additional charge. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Teaching for younger children. The June 2024 improvement requirement was for staff working with younger children to understand the curriculum more clearly and provide consistently better learning opportunities. On a visit, ask how staff now plan and explain the learning in the youngest children's activities.
• Your funded booking. Food and essentials are charged separately for three- and four-year-olds using funding and for younger children with a Working Families code. Request a written breakdown for your chosen full-day, morning or afternoon pattern so the distinction between care and extras is clear.
• Food allergies. Meals are prepared on site, with dietary options and allergy procedures. Discuss your child's requirements and confirm the current preparation and serving arrangements before joining.

Bourne Explorers suits families seeking either full-day childcare or shorter morning and afternoon sessions, especially those who value a large garden and meals prepared at the nursery. Its June 2024 day combined outdoor exploration, books, growing food and practical preparation for school routines.

The younger children's curriculum is the main point to examine closely. The choice of attendance patterns and the clear separation between paid-fee inclusions and funded extras give families useful practical grounds for a decision, alongside the garden and the dated account of care.