The Mulberry Bush Waterlooville

A garden reached directly from the rooms, sensory spaces for each age group and a kitchen that preschool children can look into give The Mulberry Bush Waterlooville a recognisable character. Children can move between active play, quieter exploration and outdoor experiences. The physical arrangement matters here: the youngest children have their own sheltered garden area rather than relying entirely on space shared with older children.

At its 24 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with positive findings about children's learning, relationships and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). That judgement belongs to 2022. Later supervision concerns also matter to the decision.

The nursery accepts children from three months to five years at Waterberry Drive, Waterlooville, PO7 7UN. Morning, afternoon and all-day bookings provide different ways to use the setting.

Rooms and Ages

Blueberries, for approximately three months to one year, combines books and early language with opportunities to crawl, climb and practise emerging movement skills, using surfaces at different heights and textures. Blueberries has a minimum ratio of one adult to every three babies. Strawberries, for one to two years, has connected play spaces for dancing, creative activities and quieter moments, with a miniature kitchen and dressing-up clothes supporting early pretend play.

Raspberries, for two to three years, brings construction, mathematics, imaginative play and mark making into more clearly defined areas, alongside a dedicated sensory room and direct garden access. Elderberries, for three to five years, follows children's interests across spacious preschool areas, with its own sensory room and French windows opening onto the garden.

Raspberries uses a maximum staff:child ratio of 1:4. That ratio describes staffing, rather than a cap on the number of children in the room.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care: children learn through play, with adults adapting activities to their interests and stage of development. Here, observation helps practitioners decide which materials and experiences to offer next. The framework is the starting point; the practical detail lies in how the rooms and resources support that play.

In August 2022, language work included exploring what happens to objects in water and introducing words for those changes. Creative experiences involved paint rollers and making marks in foam. These examples connect vocabulary and early writing skills to something children can investigate themselves, rather than separating learning from play.

During the same month, children used yoga and brain gym, a movement activity intended to warm up their bodies. Climbing equipment, planks and balancing beams gave them physical challenges. These are dated examples of the nursery day, rather than a current timetable of sessions.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Sensory Walk links garden areas through different textures, colours and smells. Story Corner gives preschool children a place to share books beneath a tree, while a trike track and spaces for water and sand play support more active exploration. These features give outdoor time several purposes, from movement to storytelling.

For Blueberries and Strawberries, the partly sheltered garden includes covered sand play that the youngest children can reach. Access comes directly from their rooms, making outdoor exploration part of their immediate environment. The Growing Area adds another connection: children can plant, water and harvest produce, with crops passed to the nursery kitchen when suitable. It gives them a practical way to explore where food comes from.

Relationships and Communication

A key person coordinates each child's care and shares the day's experiences with parents, including successes and difficulties. This creates a regular point of contact who can connect what happens at nursery with the child's routines and interests at home. The relationship is also central to settling in.

Around two months before a child starts, families are contacted to organise a meeting and settling sessions. All About Me records the child's preferences and home life. The recommended introduction includes a free 30-minute session and a free one-hour session; additional half-day settling sessions are charged. For some children who are very anxious, a home visit may be offered.

Room changes have their own preparation. Approximately a month beforehand, parents receive details of the next key person, meet them and update their child's information. Practitioners hand over what they know, and introductory visits are adjusted to the child. Familiar staff may accompany a child who needs that support, while a confident child can spend longer in the next room.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In August 2022, quieter play spaces included bubbles and stories, and bucket time used familiar objects and their sounds to encourage attention and participation. The same visit identified two weaknesses: apprentices needed more specific guidance to develop their teaching, and staff needed a better understanding of children's cultures so that differences could be shared and celebrated. These weaknesses affected teaching and children's understanding of similarities and differences.

Ofsted's compliance outcomes dated 13 June 2023 and 8 April 2024 recorded action to correct shortcomings involving supervision and headcounts, with the first following a child being left alone in a sleep room and the second including changes to internal doors and checks on staff deployment. The outcomes describe corrective action, but the recurrence makes supervision a material consideration for families.

The youngest rooms share a sleep room with air conditioning and daily fresh bedding; Raspberries children can rest on mats with their comfort items. Child-sized toilets and low sinks in Raspberries make toileting easier to practise, with parents and practitioners working together on the timing.

Food is prepared on site by nursery chefs, including meals adapted for weaning. The dietary policy offers menu adjustments for special requirements.

School preparation includes inviting Reception teachers to visit, using school photographs or booklets and borrowing uniform and book bags for pretend play. Where possible, staff accompany children on school visits. The emphasis is on familiarity and expressing feelings about the move, alongside practical independence.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with closures on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas. The morning session runs from 7.30am to 1pm, the afternoon from 1pm to 6pm, and the all-day session from 7.30am to 6pm. Full-week attendance is also offered.

Additional paid hours around funding must combine into one of the nursery's sessions. This matters if a family wants a small amount of extra childcare: the booking is organised around session patterns rather than individual hours alone.

The address is Waterberry Drive, Waterlooville, PO7 7UN. The Waterlooville team can be contacted on 02392 265 151 or through its enquiry form. Registration carries a non-refundable administration charge, and agreed start dates and attendance days are confirmed by letter or email. Later requests to change those arrangements may be declined.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible two-year-olds can use funded childcare from the term after their second birthday. The preschool offer starts at the beginning of the term following the child's third birthday and includes up to 30 hours for 38 weeks, stretched across 51 weeks to provide up to 22 hours each week. Eligibility remains a condition of the offer. Additional hours are paid separately.

There are basic funded and guaranteed session funded contracts. Food is included in private session fees, with breakfast, a snack and lunch attached to mornings, and afternoon tea attached to afternoons; funded attendance carries a separate food charge and guarantee charges where applicable. The fees and hours information explains the contract structure, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

The group terms used on the Waterlooville registration form provide nappies and wipes, while allowing families to bring their own; parents supply sealed formula for bottle-fed babies. Those terms distinguish nursery-provided changing supplies from milk brought from home.

• Repeated supervision concerns. The June 2023 and April 2024 outcomes both involved headcount or supervision procedures and recorded corrective action. During a visit, ask how staff account for children during sleep, room changes and outdoor play.
• Teaching support and cultural understanding. In August 2022, apprentices needed more specific support and children's cultures were not consistently understood or shared. Ask how staff development and family knowledge now shape daily practice.
• Funding contracts and fixed sessions. Basic funded and guaranteed session funded contracts have different charge structures, and extra hours must fit a session. Compare a written quotation against the attendance pattern you actually need.
• Allergies and settling. Menu adaptations and key-person-led introductory sessions are part of the arrangements. Use the pre-registration enquiry and visit to discuss allergy management and whether your child would benefit from additional settling time.

The Mulberry Bush Waterlooville suits families seeking morning sessions, afternoon care or all-day attendance, with separate age-group spaces and direct access to outdoor play. Its sensory rooms, sheltered baby garden and planned room transitions give parents concrete features to weigh. The Good judgement from 2022 provides a dated quality assessment; repeated later supervision concerns deserve equal attention when assessing how the nursery operates now.