Marks Gate Nursery & Pre-School

Warm relationships and purposeful community experiences are the clearest strengths at this Chadwell Heath nursery. Ofsted judged it Good in August 2024, finding effective safeguarding and a broad, balanced curriculum. Babies through to children aged five can attend, with 52 places in total. The nursery’s not-for-profit ownership sits alongside a strongly community-minded inspection picture. For parents, that combination makes the care-home visits, support for homeless people and practical sustainability work central to the choice, not decorative extras.

The inspection detail is unusually concrete: babies used Makaton, older children learned emotional regulation through Breathing Buddies, and children grew food for lunch. Those experiences connect communication, self-control and healthy living rather than treating them as isolated themes.

In August 2024, staff adapted conversation to children’s stages: babies took part in responsive sound play, while older children talked through familiar topics such as the weather. Babies also learned Makaton signs such as hello. This gives the youngest children another route into communication while spoken language develops.

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the areas of learning and development that shape nursery education. Here, that meant staff planning from their knowledge of each child across communication, physical, personal, social and wider learning, rather than running a school-style timetable. The curriculum itself was broad and balanced, although staff did not always extend what children already knew. During water play, for example, opportunities to introduce measurement language were missed.

Community activity gave the curriculum character. Regular farm visits developed children’s understanding of animals and life cycles, while preparing care packages for people experiencing homelessness turned empathy into action. Seed germination, including work with avocado stones, and everyday recycling made sustainability tangible. These are practical routes into empathy, sustainability and knowledge of the world.

Relationships were a strong thread through the 2024 inspection. Staff greeted children warmly, offered cuddles and reassurance when they were upset, and key persons used their knowledge of individual children to choose resources and activities. Breathing Buddies helped children manage emotions, while rules and routines supported positive behaviour.

Staff worked with parents and external professionals so that children with special educational needs or disabilities, and children who spoke English as an additional language, made good progress. Home-language phrases and attention to children's cultures supported inclusion. Parents also received home-learning strategies, giving them practical ways to continue learning beyond nursery.

Safeguarding arrangements were effective in August 2024. Inspectors found that children's welfare guided safeguarding practice. Growing ingredients and cooking with them connected food education with healthy choices. It also carried practical science into a familiar part of the day.

Marks Gate Nursery & Pre-School is at Off Lawn Farm Grove, Rose Lane, Chadwell Heath, RM6 5LL. It serves children from birth to five and has 52 places in total.

The current record shows weekday opening from 8am to 6pm, throughout the year, with closure on bank holidays and at Christmas. The record identifies full-day care within this window. Families therefore have a concrete long-day option to assess against work and travel commitments.

• Learning challenge. Ofsted's August 2024 improvement point was for staff to use what children already know more consistently to add challenge and extend learning. Families can explore how practitioners now build the next step into play for older or confident children.
• Attendance pattern. The published weekday window supports full-day care. Families needing a shorter or part-week arrangement should establish whether the nursery can match their preferred weekly pattern.
• Practical budgeting. Families should seek a current written quotation and establish the treatment of funded hours, meals and everyday consumables before comparing the full cost of attendance.

Marks Gate combines affectionate care with experiences that reach beyond the nursery: Breathing Buddies, Makaton, care-home visits, farm visits and food growing all have a clear developmental purpose. The 2024 Good judgement is supported by detailed evidence of secure relationships, inclusive practice and effective safeguarding, while the call for more consistent challenge is a meaningful limitation.

It is best suited to families who value community involvement and communication-rich care, who need weekday full-day care, provided the nursery’s attendance pattern matches the days they need.