Rising Stars Day Nursery Grove Hill

A mud kitchen for messy experiments, a weekly sign to learn and a book of the month give Grove Hill a recognisable character. Play supplies the starting point; conversation, independence and shared activities give it purpose. Rising Stars Day Nursery Grove Hill serves children aged 12 to 60 months at Henry Wells Square in Hemel Hempstead.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with good support and progress for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That judgement comes with two useful qualifications: older children needed greater intellectual challenge, and staff development needed a sharper emphasis on teaching. These matter when weighing the preschool offer.

Two named rooms, Comets and Rockets, organise the nursery day. Attendance options include shorter morning or afternoon sessions, a School Day and a Long Day, giving families several ways to fit childcare around their routines.

Rooms and Ages

Comets takes children from 12 months to three years, with sensory exploration, construction and creative play shaped around their interests, plus access to a secure garden and mud kitchen. Those resources connect indoor discovery with outdoor experimentation: children can build, handle materials and try out ideas through play.

Rockets is the preschool room, where letters and sounds join books, imaginative play and construction, while circle time brings a book of the month, a sign of the week and opportunities to share experiences. The combination gives children something concrete to discuss together. It also creates opportunities to listen to other children rather than only to adults.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared early-years framework: children learn through play across areas including language, physical development, mathematics and creativity. Here, practitioners build on children's interests and assess their development to decide what comes next. The framework sets the foundation; the value lies in how staff turn it into everyday interactions.

In March 2024, water play became an opportunity to explore quantity as staff talked about containers being full or empty. Story reading encouraged older children to participate in familiar passages, while adults helped younger children express themselves through sounds and gestures. These are practical examples of language and mathematical ideas developing alongside play.

Hand control received attention too. In March 2024, younger children manipulated dough, while older children used tweezers to pick up small toy bears. Such activities give children practice in controlling their fingers through a task they can enjoy. The outstanding question for preschool families is how that work progresses into more demanding thinking, rather than simply more activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

The secure garden and mud kitchen provide a physical counterpart to the rooms. In March 2024, children used the garden daily for balance activities, running and beanbag games; older children also collaborated to put away outdoor equipment. Movement and cooperation were part of the same day.

Local outings added another dimension in March 2024. Visits to a bakery and a doctor's surgery introduced children to people working nearby and the services they provide. These were experiences of the surrounding community, rather than lessons confined to the nursery.

Relationships and Communication

A key person connects a child's learning with communication at home. Families receive termly reports and have a parents' evening each term, alongside daily updates through a parents app. That gives parents both an account of the day and a longer view of development, rather than relying on one kind of update.

In March 2024, staff shared activities that parents could use at home and discussed children's development, including the progress check at age two. Self-care was also woven into the day: younger children practised wiping their noses, while older children worked on managing shoes and coats. The practical emphasis was on doing more for themselves.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SENCO works with families and colleagues to identify children's needs and coordinates with outside agencies and other professionals. Parents' knowledge informs those decisions. This gives families a defined role in planning support and a named responsibility within the staff structure, rather than a general promise of inclusion.

In March 2024, individual support included care plans and targeted activities, with information exchanged during professional meetings and visits. The nursery employed ten childcare staff at that time. That is a dated whole-setting staffing count, rather than a measure of the number of adults working with a particular group today.

Meals follow the group's arrangement: food is cooked on the premises each day, with meals and snacks organised around a four-week menu. The dietary policy covers individual requirements, including food intolerances and special diets.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 12 Henry Wells Square, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 6BJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year; closures include bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

The Short Session comes in two forms: 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. A Long Day runs from 8am to 6pm, while the School Day is 8am to 3.30pm. Early Bird covers 7.30am to 8am. The distinction matters: the opening window and the booked session are separate, so families can compare the actual pattern against their working day.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01442 949140. The contact form also allows families to select Grove Hill when requesting a visit.

Funding and Paid Extras

In March 2024, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Preschool challenge. In March 2024, older children needed more opportunities to stretch their thinking, and staff teaching skills needed further development. During a visit, ask for an example of how Rockets now extends an activity for a child ready for the next step.
• Funding and the chosen session. Grove Hill has both shorter sessions and longer daytime options, while funded early education was provided in March 2024. Ask how your chosen pattern uses funded hours and what the written terms cover for meals and non-food care items.
• Dietary requirements. The menu operates on a four-week cycle and the dietary policy covers intolerances and special diets. Families managing allergies should confirm current preparation and serving arrangements before joining.

Grove Hill suits families seeking morning or afternoon childcare as well as those needing a School Day or Long Day. Comets' garden access and mud kitchen give younger children room to explore, while Rockets adds shared books, signs and early literacy to play.

The March 2024 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, but the preschool challenge and teaching-development points deserve attention. The strongest fit is for families who value practical independence, communication with a key person and several attendance patterns, and who want to understand how learning becomes more demanding as their child grows.