Hugo and Holly Day Nursery

A garden for vegetable growing and picnic lunches, plus access to Brunswick Square Lawns, gives this Gloucester nursery room to take play beyond its indoor spaces. Outdoor exploration is a substantial part of its character. Children can use the lawns for games and sport, while the nursery garden offers space for play with materials that can become whatever their imagination requires.

Hugo and Holly Day Nursery occupies 3 Brunswick Square, Gloucester, GL1 1UG, and accepts children aged 3 to 60 months, with 55 places in total. At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall and in each assessed area. The detail behind that judgement matters: children made choices about their activities, practitioners built conversation into play, and everyday materials became tools for investigation.

That inspection provides a clear picture of the nursery at that point. Its strongest thread was children's participation in their own learning, rather than a day organised entirely around adult instructions.

Learning and Activities

In August 2022, the nursery followed the Reggio Emilia educational approach, with children's ideas influencing what happened next. One example was a group choosing free play rather than another story after staff invited them to discuss their preferences. The choice involved listening to friends as well as expressing an individual wish. It made decision-making something children practised, rather than something adults simply explained.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for learning, development and care. For parents, that means play also supports communication, social development and other early learning. Reggio Emilia sat alongside that framework, with the August 2022 examples showing children exploring materials, developing their own ideas and talking with practitioners about what interested them.

Language threaded through the day in August 2022. Practitioners listened to children's answers, encouraged discussion and used activities with several possible outcomes to invite their ideas. Singing and rhymes happened spontaneously across the rooms. Conversation was part of play, rather than confined to a separate language activity.

Rooms and Ages

The August 2022 baby room offered accessible resources that babies could investigate themselves; tubes became pretend telescopes, and practitioners helped them look through the window at trees, passing cars and squirrels. This was a concrete example of adults joining a baby's interest and extending it through shared attention.

For toddlers in August 2022, a den made by staff provided a place for stories and animal sounds, while preschool learning included talking about feelings and explaining their causes. These were different emphases for different stages. Books encouraged toddlers to listen and remember; conversations about emotions gave older children opportunities to put an internal feeling into words.

Outdoor and Community Life

Brunswick Square Lawns add an open setting for games and sporting play alongside the nursery's own garden. The garden accommodates vegetable growing, exploration and lunches outside. That combination gives families something more concrete to assess than a general promise of outdoor learning: there is both a nursery garden and access to the square's lawns.

In August 2022, children investigated wood, herbs, water, plants and tyres, combining and sorting materials with friends. An outdoor classroom also supported imaginative play, including a pretend treatment for an unwell family member. The important detail was the flexibility of the resources: children could give familiar objects new purposes rather than follow a single prescribed use.

In August 2022, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) highly effective, with practitioners working alongside families and obtaining external help. These are dated inspection judgements. They describe both the protective arrangements and the practical support operating during that visit.

Children in August 2022 had preferred members of staff whom they approached, giving them a familiar adult to turn to with a worry. Practitioners discussed children's welfare together and knew how to escalate concerns. Suitable recruitment checks, induction and safeguarding training formed part of those arrangements.

Communication with families in August 2022 combined everyday feedback with scheduled meetings about development and milestones. This gave parents both immediate information and a longer view of how their child was developing. Staff also shared what each child was working towards, so learning was not dependent on one adult holding all the information.

The August 2022 team included 13 staff members and a cook. Staff development was actively supported, with practitioners seeking further training and managers recognising their strengths. These staffing details belong to August 2022.

The address is 3 Brunswick Square, Gloucester, GL1 1UG. Enquiries for this branch go to brunswicksquare@hugoandholly.co.uk or 01452 310958. The Brunswick Square location is convenient for families working in Gloucester's city centre or at the docks, placing childcare in the same area as those working destinations.

In August 2022, opening hours ran from 8am until 6pm throughout the year, with bank holidays excluded. These are the hours operating at that visit, rather than a current attendance commitment.

At the same point in August 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Funding and the attendance arrangement need to be considered together when planning a child's place. Current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation, with the chosen attendance pattern and any extras clearly separated.

• The age of the judgement. The Outstanding judgement dates to August 2022. On a visit, use the specific examples of child choice and conversation as starting points for discussing how learning works now.
• Outdoor space has two parts. Children use both the nursery garden and Brunswick Square Lawns. Ask how access to the lawns is organised for your child's age group and how supervision works there.
• Your attendance and funding arrangement. Ask for a written proposal covering session choices, funded hours, food and non-food consumables together. That makes the whole arrangement easier to compare with your family's working week.

Hugo and Holly suits families who value a central Gloucester location and substantial outdoor opportunities. In August 2022, children's interests also shaped learning. The garden and Brunswick Square Lawns give that proposition a physical basis. The August 2022 account also supplies memorable examples of children making choices, experimenting with ordinary materials and discussing their feelings.

For families weighing the nursery today, the dated Outstanding judgement is useful context alongside those concrete examples. The outdoor spaces are a current strength; the child-led learning examples date to August 2022.