The Gateway Nursery

A polytunnel where children grow produce, a woodland area for Forest School and a separate sleep room for the youngest babies give The Gateway Nursery a recognisable character. Its purpose-built, single-level premises in Bartestree bring gardening, outdoor play and age-specific rooms together on one site. There is plenty for children to explore.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its March 2025 inspection, with priorities to make teaching more consistent and improve the planning of outdoor learning. Those priorities matter alongside the physical facilities: having generous outdoor space and making full educational use of it are separate considerations.

Gateway has capacity for 115 children aged six months to five years, with its nursery rooms serving babies through to preschool children. Flexible attendance and term-time funded sessions provide different ways to organise care. The strongest practical details are the published caps for the youngest rooms, arrangements for maintaining home routines and the gradual preparation for moving between rooms.

Rooms and Ages

Daisies accommodates up to twelve babies aged approximately six to seventeen months, combining sensory exploration and early mark making with soft furnishings, climbing opportunities in its free-flow area and its own sleep room.

Poppies takes up to twelve children from seventeen months to two years, with a book corner and space to regulate emotions, activities led both by adults and children, and a shared conservatory with Daisies for movement and climbing.

Bluebells accommodates up to twenty-four children, introducing gentle routines and self-care alongside a mark making area, role-play room, interactive whiteboard and a garden with access to the polytunnel.

Rising Threes opens between January and July as a temporary step between Bluebells and preschool, helping children practise sharing, manage feelings and build independence, with short visits to Sunflowers supporting the eventual move.

Sunflowers accommodates thirty-six children and combines communication, emotional understanding and independent self-care with a quiet area, a water wall and a choice of gardens, including one with a giant pirate ship.

These rooms offer different environments as children develop. The two youngest rooms' published caps are especially useful for parents weighing the scale of baby and toddler care; they describe room capacity, rather than the number attending on a particular day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the statutory foundation for learning here: activities are planned around children's interests and needs, with opportunities for children to choose their play as well as join sessions led by adults. The practical emphasis is on what a child needs to learn, how staff will help and what the child takes from the experience.

In March 2025, younger children experimented with shaving foam to join bricks into towers, while older children tried cheerleading movements and supported cartwheels. Stories also fed into activity planning: interest in robots led to making models from boxes. These examples show how an interest can become something to investigate, make or physically attempt.

Books and conversation had a clear place in that nursery day. In March 2025, staff gave children time to answer questions about stories, and older children connected the books with experiences from home. This makes shared reading a chance to practise expressing ideas as well as listening.

Outdoor and Community Life

Each room has outdoor access and its own garden, with opportunities that include mud kitchens, dens, water play and sand. The polytunnel gives each room a planter to care for and also offers shelter for outdoor activity in wet weather. Planting and tending crops connect the gardens with the food children encounter.

Forest School adds child-led exploration in a natural setting. Sessions for Sunflowers take place where possible with a Forest School leader, using an area among the trees for experiences such as den building, campfire cooking, discovering mini-beasts and working with tools. The conditional scheduling matters: this is an addition to the nursery day, rather than a promised weekly timetable.

Outdoor planning remains a point to examine. In March 2025, younger children used bikes and equipment for climbing and balancing, but older children's outdoor experiences needed greater breadth and imagination while their area was being developed. The current gardens and equipment provide useful resources; the question for families is how these translate into learning for their child's room.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person, giving families a particular practitioner with whom to share routines and discuss their child's interests. In Daisies and Poppies, this includes working with parents on care routines, so the transition between home and nursery has a familiar reference point.

Sleep arrangements are specific. Daisies has its own sleep room, with individual sleeping pods, mattresses and bedding, and checks every ten minutes; Poppies uses Daisies for afternoon rest. These arrangements help families understand how afternoon rest fits into each room's day.

In March 2025, children sought out their key person for play or comfort, and staff followed younger children's routines and monitored sleep. Information about care and learning travelled both ways between families and staff. That exchange helps adults understand what is happening across home and nursery, rather than treating the two parts of a child's day separately.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its March 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with SEND well supported, including through early intervention, visual prompts, objects used to explain routines and timetables showing what happens now and next. Staff also worked with families and external professionals to identify learning needs and seek further support.

The management structure includes a SENCO role, and a designated safeguarding lead or deputy is on site. Sweet peas provides a room for confidential family discussions and wellbeing resources, while the sensory room offers textures, lights and sounds, with space for reflection and regulation. These spaces provide places for private family conversations and children's sensory exploration.

An on-site chef cooks meals and snacks on the premises, using locally sourced ingredients where possible, including some produce from the nursery's polytunnel; the food arrangements cater for a number of allergies, intolerances and cultural preferences. Menus are shared through notice boards and Famly, and milk or a non-dairy alternative is provided without charge.

Preparation for school includes independence as well as learning. Sunflowers encourages children to manage shoes, toileting and handwashing, while key persons support transition through reports to schools and help with arranging visits and meeting teachers. For families, this provides a practical connection between the final nursery room and the next stage.

Sessions and Attendance

Daycare opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 5.30pm, at The Gateway Centre, Longworth Lane, Bartestree, Hereford, HR1 4GA. Fixed or flexible attendance can run across the year or during term time. Flexible hours are charged by the hour, with timings accommodated where possible and subject to availability; flexi spaces carry a higher charge to hold the arrangement when a child is absent.

For funded childcare, Contract A permits families to choose sessions and days, subject to availability, and use funding between 7.30am and 5.30pm on weekdays. Families can choose term-time attendance or stretch funding across more than 38 weeks, including school holidays. Contract B offers a limited number of free funded places for eligible children, with term-time sessions from 9.15am to 3.15pm.

The contact form and telephone provide enquiry routes. Ordinary sickness absences and holidays remain payable when the place is being held, while fees are not charged during the nursery's Christmas closure or on bank holidays. This makes the attendance contract relevant even when a child misses a booked day.

Funding and Paid Extras

Gateway accepts eligible two-year-old funding, including children with a Local Authority Golden Ticket, subject to availability. For three- and four-year-olds, funding begins in the term after the third birthday: the entitlement is 15 hours, with 30 hours for some eligible families. Children from nine months may also qualify for 30 funded hours under the arrangements introduced in September 2025.

The two funding contracts have different extras. Contract A involves opting into a voluntary daily service contribution, covering items such as a drawstring bag and Gateway T-shirt, visits and celebrations; breakfast is included between 7.30am and 8.15am, while other food can be chosen through the food-charge arrangement. Under Contract B, parents can bring snacks and lunch or opt into food charges, and additional activities can be selected or declined, with a separate charge when taken.

Contract A includes music and movement classes and animal encounters among its visits, plus annual graduation ceremonies and carol services. These additions sit within that contract choice, so families should weigh them alongside their preferred attendance pattern. Additional privately paid hours are also offered beyond a child's funded entitlement.

For current prices, ask the nursery for a quotation. The fees page sets out the contract choices and payment arrangements.

• Outdoor learning for preschool children. March 2025 brought a recommendation to broaden outdoor experiences, especially for older children. On a visit, ask how Sunflowers now uses its gardens and how Forest School fits into its programme.
• Teaching consistency. March 2025 also brought a recommendation to strengthen consistency across the provision. Ask how staff development and oversight support teaching in the room your child would join.
• Contract choice. Contract A combines adaptable funded attendance with a voluntary service contribution; Contract B offers a limited number of free funded places for eligible children, with term-time sessions from 9.15am to 3.15pm and elective food and activity charges. Choose the arrangement against your actual working pattern and the extras you want.
• Sleep and dietary needs. Daisies checks sleeping babies every ten minutes, and the kitchen caters for a number of dietary requirements. Discuss your child's sleep routine and, where allergies are relevant, confirm the current food-handling arrangements before joining.

Gateway suits families seeking flexible hours across the year and those wanting term-time funded sessions. The baby-room caps, sleep arrangements, polytunnel and Sunflowers' outdoor resources give parents useful detail on both care and learning. Its March 2025 Good judgement sits alongside clear development priorities around teaching consistency and outdoor planning. The best fit depends on the child's room and the funding contract.