Banana Moon Day Nursery Gloucester

A dedicated sleep room, daily outdoor play and a natural adventure area give Banana Moon Day Nursery Gloucester a practical identity: babies have somewhere quieter to rest, while active children have space to explore beyond the indoor rooms. This Stroud Road nursery takes children from three months to five years and has capacity for 47 children in total.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 17 November 2023 inspection. The observations give that judgement useful substance: younger children brought books to adults for a story, older children drew staff into pretend play, and children took responsibility for small tasks such as washing their hands and clearing spilled sand. These are everyday experiences with a purpose. They let children practise doing things for themselves while keeping adults involved in their play.

Baby Moons, Teenie Moons, Mini Moons and Full Moons organise the progression towards preschool. Full-day and half-day attendance sit within opening hours of 7.30am to 6.30pm, with the detail of the recommended weekly pattern below.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Moons starts at three months and continues until children are confidently moving around, with sensory exploration through textures, shapes and colour, plus separate facilities for sleeping and changing. The maximum ratio is three children per adult.

Teenie Moons takes confidently mobile children up to two years, with painting, songs and messy activities in a bright room that supports increasingly active exploration.

Mini Moons covers two to three years, combining support for toilet training with choosing activities independently and planning around each child's interests.

Full Moons takes children from three to five years, with outdoor activity, social play and opportunities to make choices, while a key person observes learning and records progress.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning and care: children develop skills through play, with adults observing their interests and planning what they can try next. Alongside it sits the group-wide Banana Moon Early Learning & Development Programme, which uses children's interests to shape teaching and the environment, supported by communication with families and open-ended resources. The curriculum overview explains that approach.

In November 2023, stories were a recurring part of learning: familiar books encouraged older children to join in the telling and anticipate what happened next, while younger children explored animal pictures, sounds and descriptions. Songs with actions gave younger children another way to practise words. Repetition had a clear use. Returning to familiar material allowed children to participate more confidently rather than constantly starting afresh.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play happens daily across the year. A secure playground and natural adventure area provide different settings for exercise and exploration, making outdoor time part of the ordinary nursery day rather than an occasional extra.

In November 2023, staff arranged a garden obstacle course where older children practised jumping, hopping and balancing. Some approached the challenges cautiously before trying them with greater confidence. The activity linked physical effort with making decisions about what they could attempt, while adults remained involved to support them.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is flexible, with sessions that parents attend so they can discuss routines and individual requirements with staff. For babies, the intention is to carry familiar home routines into nursery life. This gives parents a practical role in the handover of care: information about sleep and daily habits can shape the child's early experience rather than being left until difficulties arise.

The group-wide Parent App shares photographs, learning journals and information about snacks, sleep and activities. Family members can be given access, and parents can comment from home, connecting nursery routines and learning with family life.

In November 2023, children shared family photographs and talked about the people important to them. These conversations gave staff a way to recognise each child's home life within the nursery day. Children also practised taking turns and looking after resources, although the support for handling difficult feelings needed greater consistency.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support good, with staff using parental input, professional guidance and targeted plans, while identifying a need for more focused language support for children learning English as an additional language and more consistent help with expressing emotions. These priorities concern how adults adapt their support to individual children.

Sleep has its own physical space. The dedicated sleep room contains wooden cots and low lighting, with individual bed linen washed on site; staff make regular checks alongside CCTV monitoring and aim to follow established sleep routines. For babies, separating rest from the activity of the play rooms is a concrete part of the care arrangement.

Access uses fingerprint recognition for registered parents, with staff admitting other visitors, and CCTV operates across the nursery. These are access and monitoring arrangements; the dated safeguarding judgement above remains the assessment of practice.

Two group-wide initiatives have also brought equipment to this branch: Little hearts, bright futures installed a CardiAid automated external defibrillator in reception, and Big moments, bright futures added a LifeVac anti-choking device. Their relevance is the equipment present at Gloucester, alongside attention to food preparation and supervision at mealtimes.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 136 Stroud Road, Gloucester, GL1 5JR. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, with care across the year and closures for bank holidays and Christmas.

Full days and half days are attendance options. The recommended weekly pattern is one full day or two half days, rather than a compulsory minimum. That distinction matters for families balancing nursery with care at home: the recommendation describes the rhythm the nursery encourages, while the two patterns provide different ways of arranging attendance.

Fees remain payable during a child's sickness or holiday absence. The payment terms cover 51 weeks, including bank holidays, so a family planning around closures or time away should distinguish days of attendance from the charging period. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees page provides the enquiry route for fees and funded childcare opportunities.

Parents can contact the nursery by telephone on 01452 505327, email info@bananamoon-gloucester.co.uk or the callback form. A virtual nursery tour is another way to become familiar with the setting before arranging a visit.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside paid attendance. In November 2023, the nursery received early-education funding for children aged two, three and four; that is a dated description of participation rather than a promise of eligibility for an individual family.

Food is cooked in the nursery's own kitchen, with two hot meals each day, snacks and a separate menu for babies being weaned. The dietary policy covers allergies and other individual requirements, while older children are encouraged to serve themselves, making meals another opportunity to practise independence.

• Language and emotional support. The November 2023 improvement points concerned additional help for children learning English and consistency when helping children manage feelings. On a visit, ask how staff adapt conversations and respond when a child becomes upset, including how this is shared with parents.
• The attendance and payment rhythm. One full day or two half days a week is recommended, and sickness or holiday absence still attracts fees. Discuss how that pattern would fit your child's settling sessions and your family's planned attendance.
• Food and the funded quotation. Hot meals, snacks and baby weaning menus are part of the day, with a policy for individual dietary needs. What would your written quotation cover for funded hours, meals and non-food consumables, and how would your child's allergy requirements be handled in practice?

Banana Moon Gloucester suits families seeking either full-day attendance or a half-day pattern, with provision that follows children from babyhood towards school age. The separate sleep room, daily outdoor play and parent communication system have clear practical value: they address rest, activity and the connection between home and nursery.

The November 2023 judgement was positive, but its two improvement priorities deserve attention when choosing care. Families needing additional language support or help with emotional regulation have specific points to discuss. For others, the strongest reasons to consider this nursery are equally concrete: staged rooms, familiar routines for babies, and increasing opportunities for children to take responsibility as they grow.