Partou Sucklings Yard Day Nursery & Pre-School

A Community Playthings nursery gym, playrooms arranged by age and a building spread across two floors give Sucklings Yard a recognisable character just off Ware’s high street. Physical play has space here. The nursery accepts children aged 3 to 60 months and has capacity for 56 children in total.

At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, finding effective safeguarding, a key-person system that supported individual needs and useful collaboration with outside professionals, while asking for better support with behaviour and more engaging challenges for younger children. That judgement is dated; later safeguarding and behaviour action also matters to the choice families make today.

Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings sit alongside term-time attendance. This gives parents several ways to organise care rather than a single daily pattern.

Separate playrooms organise children by age, with resources selected for their stage of development. Across the two floors, activities are shaped around children’s interests. For a parent, the practical attraction is the combination of age-specific spaces and opportunities to pursue something that has caught their child’s attention.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care, so play supports communication, physical skills and relationships as well as exploration. Alongside that framework, Partou’s group-wide child-led approach gives children choices about their activities, with adults supporting their curiosity. Choice is part of the approach; it does not replace adult help or planned learning.

The Community Playthings nursery gym provides a resource for movement, while the multipurpose outdoor play area adds another setting for active play. These are useful features for families who want physical activity to be part of the nursery day, rather than something confined to outings.

In August 2022, children climbed and balanced on fixed equipment, with adults helping them practise jumping and take manageable risks. Water play also prompted boat-building: children collected materials and worked on their ideas with staff. Those examples show how movement and imaginative play could lead into problem-solving during that period.

Plant care brought the natural world into the same August 2022 day. Children tended the greenery around the outdoor area and planted seeds to grow at home, connecting what happened at nursery with something they could watch afterwards. Adults introduced words for plant growth as they talked. The August 2022 improvement point for younger children concerned the activities themselves: resources needed to be used in ways that sustained interest and offered an appropriate challenge for their stage of development.

Every child has a key person, giving families a familiar relationship around which to organise care. Regular information about a child’s progress is included within the care fee. Together, those arrangements give parents a named role to turn to and a continuing account of how their child is getting on.

In August 2022, staff shared progress updates with parents and used conversations, songs and stories throughout play. During disagreements they comforted upset children, but sometimes missed opportunities to help children understand what their actions meant for others. Warmth and behaviour guidance are different parts of care; families should weigh both.

Later action requires a clear account: Ofsted’s May and September 2025 compliance documents recorded repeated shortcomings involving safeguarding and behaviour, with the May actions met at a monitoring visit on 27 May 2025 and further corrective measures recorded following the 4 September 2025 visit, including behaviour and safeguarding training, bathroom vigilance and medication checks. Those outcomes matter, but repeated issues also make the consistency of daily practice a substantial consideration.

Food is prepared on site, using seasonal menus that rotate every three to four weeks. The nursery has allergy procedures and provides alternatives for dietary needs; families affected by allergies should discuss how those arrangements apply to their child.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Sucklings Yard, Church Street, Ware, SG12 9EN. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. A full-day booking runs from 8am to 6pm; mornings run from 8am to 1pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. The shorter sessions make the offer useful for families organising care around part of the working day as well as those needing the complete opening window.

Year-round and term-time attendance are both offered. Closures include bank holidays, the period between Christmas and New Year, and a staff training day on the Thursday before Good Friday. Charges run across 52 weeks, including bank holidays, so the billing calendar and the days children attend are separate considerations.

Families can book a visit or telephone the nursery on 01920 485021. A registration payment is either a non-refundable fee or a deposit to reserve the child’s place, with eligibility governed by the terms and conditions. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through Hertfordshire Local Authority, with 15 or 30 hours per week applied across 38 term weeks, according to entitlement. For year-round attendance, funding is stretched across 51 weeks: the corresponding weekly amounts are 11.17 or 22.35 hours. Term-time attendance uses the 15 or 30 hours across the term weeks instead. The difference matters when comparing a weekly care requirement with the hours funding covers.

Meals and snacks are charged separately from care, as are consumables, including nappies, wet wipes and sun cream. Both charges apply to funded sessions too. Funding therefore covers the care element rather than the whole invoice, and any privately paid care sits alongside those separate categories.

• Repeated care concerns. Safeguarding and behaviour issues recurred in May and September 2025 despite corrective action. On a visit, ask how managers now monitor behaviour support, bathroom supervision and medication checks in everyday practice.
• Younger children’s learning. In August 2022, some activities did not give younger children enough interest or challenge. Ask to see how activities are adapted for your child’s stage and how their key person helps them take the next step.
• The annual bill. Charges apply across 52 weeks, including bank holidays, while stretched funding uses 51 weeks. Compare the written quotation for your chosen full-day or shorter-session pattern, including food and consumables.

Sucklings Yard suits families seeking either full-day care or morning and afternoon sessions, with term-time attendance also part of the offer. Age-separated playrooms, the Community Playthings nursery gym and an outdoor play area give the practical experience substance. The balance needs care: the Good judgement dates to 2022, and repeated safeguarding and behaviour issues in 2025 deserve serious attention alongside the corrective measures recorded afterwards.