Bumbles Nursery Old Swan

A ground-floor sensory room for babies and a preschool room opening straight onto the garden give Bumbles Nursery Old Swan a clear physical character. This is a nursery spread across different levels of a converted building on Derby Lane, with separate spaces for babies, toddlers and preschool children. The layout matters as much as the activities: children’s daily surroundings change as they move between rooms.

At its 29 January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). There were also clear improvements to make: group activities needed to involve children more successfully, changes between routines needed better organisation, and staff development needed to address individual weaknesses more precisely.

With 58 places in total, the nursery accepts children aged 0 to 60 months. Full-day and half-day attendance are both offered; the practical detail belongs alongside the funding and charge arrangements below.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room occupies the ground floor, with windows at the front and rear and a dedicated sensory room that also serves as a changing space. For families choosing baby care, that sensory space is a useful feature to explore alongside the main playroom.

Upstairs, the Toddler Room has its own changing facilities and toilets, while the lower-floor Pre-School Room emphasises independence and preparation for school, with its own facilities and a door directly into the garden. These are different physical arrangements, rather than interchangeable rooms with different age labels.

Learning and Activities

The nursery follows the early years foundation stage, which brings children’s learning, development and care into one framework. In parent terms, conversations, stories, movement and learning to manage everyday needs all belong within the nursery day; learning is broader than preparation for reading and writing.

In January 2025, communication received substantial attention. Staff extended conversations, introduced unfamiliar vocabulary and used rhymes for children to repeat. Children were also beginning to communicate through signs, giving them another way to participate when spoken language was harder to use. The emphasis was on joining in and expressing ideas.

Story work was concrete. Older children arranged pictures to reconstruct familiar narratives, while younger children worked with dough to exercise the muscles used for early drawing and writing. Pencil handling and emerging letter formation were also part of the January 2025 picture. These activities connect physical practice with later literacy, rather than making school preparation solely about recognising letters.

Group learning was less consistent. In January 2025, some groups were too large for everyone to participate, and noise distracted some children. That distinction matters: an ambitious plan does not automatically produce an activity that works for every child.

Outdoor and Community Life

Direct garden access is a feature of the Pre-School Room, and outdoor play forms part of daily life at Old Swan. The garden supports both active movement and sensory exploration, providing a change from indoor activities.

In January 2025, children used tyres for balancing and tackled a climbing wall. Those examples give substance to the outdoor offer: children practised coordination and attempted physical challenges, rather than simply spending time outside.

Familiar adults were an important part of care in January 2025. The key-person arrangement had a buddy system, so another practitioner understood a child’s needs when their usual adult was absent. New babies received close physical comfort as they settled, and staff helped children work through disagreements and practise taking turns.

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff recognised emerging learning difficulties, arranged targeted help and involved outside professionals when needed, while parents received support with referrals. This gives families a more useful account of SEND support than a general statement about inclusion: recognition, additional help and professional contact were all part of the practice assessed.

Parents also received information about development and ideas for extending learning at home in January 2025. They were told about staffing changes and knew which practitioner was their child’s key person. That communication linked nursery experiences with care at home.

Routine changes were a weakness. In January 2025, waits during nappy changing and preparation for outdoor play sometimes lasted too long, leaving children restless. Staff development also needed greater precision: induction, supervision and training existed, but feedback did not sufficiently address each practitioner’s development needs. At that time, the team comprised 18 childcare staff, including 14 with early-years qualifications at level 2 or above.

Fresh meals are cooked on site each day by the nursery chef. Menus accommodate dietary requirements and allergies; families managing an allergy should confirm the current arrangements for their child.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 41 Derby Lane, Old Swan, Liverpool, L13 6QA. Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, with year-round operation. Full-day and half-day patterns offer different ways to use that opening window.

The enquiry form allows families to select Old Swan and give their preferred days, intended start date and attendance pattern. A separate Old Swan tour form provides a route to arranging a visit.

Getting There

A drive-on, drive-off car park and a pram store at the front support collection by car or on foot. Queens Drive provides road connections, alongside direct routes towards the city centre.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, subject to eligibility, from the term after a child reaches 9 months. The entitlement is a maximum of 30 hours per week for 38 weeks, stretched across 51 weeks with equal monthly payments; the funding rules require those hours to span at least 2 days, with claims of between 5 and 10 hours per day within Old Swan’s 7.30am to 5.30pm window. The funded entitlement can be accessed at a maximum of 2 settings.

Private fees include the additional-services and consumables charge, covering meals and snacks as well as non-food items such as sun cream and, at Old Swan, nappies, wipes and nappy bags. Funded sessions carry a separate discretionary charge for these items and additional services, so funded hours and the wider cost of attendance need to be considered separately.

Yoga is included among those additional services, with an emphasis on mindfulness and wellbeing; online learning journals use EyLog. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Group participation. In January 2025, noise and oversized activity groups prevented some children from joining in fully. During a visit, ask how activities now accommodate children who find larger groups difficult.
• Routine changes and staff development. The January 2025 improvements covered lengthy waits between activities and insufficiently targeted professional development. Ask what has changed in daily organisation and staff feedback.
• Different floors. Babies, toddlers and preschool children use rooms on separate levels. A tour is the opportunity to understand how children move between their room and outdoor play.
• Funded-session extras. Meals, non-food consumables and additional services fall within a discretionary charge on funded sessions. Request a written quotation showing how that charge applies to your chosen full-day or half-day pattern.

Bumbles Nursery Old Swan suits families seeking either full-day attendance or shorter half-day sessions, with on-site cooking, a baby sensory room and direct preschool access to the garden. Its January 2025 strengths included practical language activities, familiar adults and mechanisms for obtaining additional support.

The decision rests partly on how effectively the nursery has addressed group participation, routine changes and individual staff development. Those are specific questions to take into a visit, alongside the multi-level layout and the cost structure for funded sessions.