My Ohana Gloucester Nursery

A large garden, access to college grounds and a shared minibus give My Ohana Gloucester Nursery a day that reaches beyond its playrooms. The purpose-built setting sits on the Gloucestershire College campus near Gloucester Quays, combining space for everyday outdoor play with outings to explore the surrounding area. For parents who value movement and experiences beyond indoor activities, those are concrete reasons to look closely.

At its 25 February 2026 inspection, Ofsted judged inclusion to be Strong standard and achievement, behaviour and routines, welfare and wellbeing, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance to be Expected standard, with safeguarding standards met. That is a report card with a clear strength in inclusion, alongside specific improvements needed in storytelling, emotional independence and mealtime organisation.

Children aged three to 60 months are accepted, and the nursery has 79 places in total. That figure describes the whole setting, rather than the number of children sharing a room or attending on any particular day. Full days and morning or afternoon attendance are offered, with a minimum booking of two days or four sessions each week.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation, physical activity and growing independence belong together. Alongside it, Gloucester's flexible curriculum uses observations of children's interests and development to adjust activities to their learning needs.

The group-wide wholebeing approach connects thinking and expression with healthy habits and an understanding of other people and places. Its practical emphasis is on children exploring ideas, repeating useful routines and discovering the world beyond their immediate experience. Gloucester's outdoor spaces and trips provide concrete opportunities for that last element.

In February 2026, language teaching included songs, shared conversations, gestures and visual prompts. Those different ways of communicating gave children more than spoken instructions to work with, including children learning English as an additional language. Mathematical ideas also appeared in ordinary play: younger children used counting songs, while older children matched socks by their patterns. Learning was woven into familiar activities rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Books need closer attention. In February 2026, children explored books with interest, but group storytelling did not consistently give everyone a suitable setting or an uninterrupted chance to listen. This matters because having books within reach and making shared reading work for every child are different tasks. Improving sustained engagement with stories was one of the nursery's next steps.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor Learning, a group-wide enrichment programme, has a practical base here in the garden and additional campus space used for learning outside. The playground includes opportunities to climb and slide, giving physical play a place in the daily offer. Spacious indoor rooms complement that outdoor provision, so the setting's appeal is about usable space as well as trips.

Access to a shared minibus extends the possibilities. Gloucester outings have included the canal, country parks, historical sites and a farm visit involving fruit picking. These are examples of experiences children have had, rather than a fixed weekly itinerary. They introduce places and activities that cannot be recreated entirely inside a nursery room.

In February 2026, children used balancing equipment, had space to run and practised coordination with scissors. Physical learning involved both large movements and careful hand control.

Relationships and Communication

ParentZone provides a two-way app channel between families and the nursery team. That gives parents a way to keep in touch during the day, alongside direct conversations about their child. In February 2026, information from families helped staff adapt care to changes in children's lives and needs.

In February 2026, key persons built familiarity with children and exchanged information with families from the start. Babies' home routines were carried into nursery care, including familiar comforters used for sleep. Younger children could use places to rest when tired, while older children practised managing their own toileting. These examples show how care routines and increasing independence sat alongside one another at that point.

Respect for children's preferences also appeared in personal care. In February 2026, practitioners sought children's agreement before nappy changes and responded to their signals. For a parent of a child who communicates mainly through gestures or behaviour, that is a useful detail about how staff approached an intimate part of the day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2026 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified SEND needs early, used individual plans reviewed closely, worked with outside agencies and families, and used additional funding for specialist resources and more regular attendance for children facing disadvantage. The strength lies in the mechanisms: support was adapted to individual children, and advice from other professionals informed what happened both at nursery and at home.

Emotional support had a more mixed picture. In February 2026, staff responded warmly when children were distressed or unwell, but did not consistently help them resolve disagreements independently. Children needed more explicit help to understand the purpose of rules and manage their own feelings. For families, the distinction is between an adult settling an immediate problem and teaching a child how to handle a similar situation next time.

Mealtime organisation also needed improvement in February 2026. Waiting and interruptions in adult interaction could leave some children unsettled or disengaged. Strengthening that routine was a specific next step, with the aim of making eating a calmer, more sociable part of the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Gloucestershire College, 125 Business Park, Llanthony Road, Gloucester, GL2 5JQ. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm from Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5.30pm on Friday. Friday's earlier finish matters for a parent's working week, even when the other days fit comfortably.

Full-day, morning and afternoon attendance can be selected across the weekdays. A minimum of two days or four sessions each week makes this a regular booking commitment.

The nursery operates for 51 weeks of the year and closes over Christmas and New Year. There is a buggy store, a useful practical feature for families bringing a pushchair. Enquiries have a dedicated Gloucester form, and the branch telephone number is 01452 563287.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered to eligible families and stretched across 51 weeks. Paid childcare is also offered. The stretched arrangement spreads funded attendance across the nursery year, rather than concentrating it into term time; eligibility still applies.

Meals and curriculum activities are included in the fee. A seasonal menu draws on dishes from different parts of the world, and the nursery's dietary policy accommodates allergies, restrictions and cultural or religious preferences. Families affected by allergies should confirm current practice for their child.

Payment can be made by direct debit or tax-free childcare. Joining involves a non-refundable registration charge and a deposit credited against the final invoice. Families should obtain a current written quotation from the nursery, with the chosen attendance pattern and funding arrangement set out together.

• Regular attendance and Friday collection. The minimum is two days or four sessions each week, and Friday closes at 5.30pm. Compare that pattern with the care you need before committing to a booking.
• Stories and daily routines. February 2026 next steps covered uninterrupted storytelling, children's independent management of emotions and calmer mealtimes. On a tour, ask how staff have changed these parts of the day and request practical examples.
• The complete joining cost. Meals and curriculum activities are included in fees, while a registration charge is non-refundable and the deposit comes off the final invoice. Ask for one written breakdown covering your funded attendance, any additional paid hours and non-food consumables.

My Ohana Gloucester suits families considering full days or morning and afternoon sessions who value a large outdoor space, campus access and trips beyond the nursery. Its practical offer has substance: a shared minibus, daily garden learning and ParentZone communication each serve a clear purpose.

The February 2026 assessment makes individual support the strongest reason to consider it, while identifying ordinary routines that needed sharper organisation. Parents should weigh both. The useful decision is whether the regular booking commitment and collection times fit family life, and whether the nursery can demonstrate how storytelling, mealtimes and emotional independence now work in practice.