Bloomers Day Nursery, Hackney

Independence starts with small, practical jobs at Bloomers: toddlers tackle potty training, while preschool children learn to dress themselves and work out how many cups a table needs. These are useful foundations for life beyond nursery. The Hackney setting combines this everyday emphasis with garden play and support for children's speech and language.

Bloomers Day Nursery, Hackney has capacity for 80 children, with ages spanning four months to five years, at Unit 1-3, 130 Homerton High Street, London E9 6JA. At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and judged safeguarding effective. The improvement priorities concerned extending adult-led learning and giving children more room to explain their thinking.

Attendance can be built around full days, mornings or afternoons. That choice comes with minimum booking commitments, so the practical fit depends on both the session and the weekly pattern.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room, for four months to two years, centres on sensory exploration, relationships with a key person, repeated language at circle time, creative activities and movement in the garden. For the youngest children, this connects physical exploration with familiar adults and simple opportunities to communicate.

In The Toddler Room, for two to three years, shared play, speech and language groups, stories and indoor and outdoor exercise sit alongside independence and potty-training support. Repeated routines give children a recognisable shape to the day, while communication with parents connects progress at nursery with what happens at home.

The Pre-School Room, for three to five years, combines pencil and scissor use, early mathematics, computer skills and group games with dressing and table-setting tasks. School preparation therefore reaches beyond letters and numbers: managing personal needs and dealing with other children's opinions are part of the work too.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the common early-years framework: its prime areas cover communication, movement, relationships and emotional development. At Bloomers, the practical examples include counting cups for a table, making marks and talking during group play. Ordinary routines become opportunities to practise new skills.

In January 2025, babies used push-along toys as they practised walking, and older children built with blocks and gave their constructions names. Skittles supplied another learning opportunity: children counted them before rolling a ball towards the row. These examples show how movement, construction and games were used to bring learning into play rather than keeping it confined to an adult-directed task.

Language deserves close attention here. In January 2025, staff used signs and words from children's home languages, as well as instruments and props during songs and stories. However, some questions restricted children to brief answers; adult-led activities also needed stronger connections with real situations, including the post office and shopping. The distinction matters: taking part in an activity is only the starting point, and children need opportunities to develop and explain what they understand.

Outdoor and Community Life

Babies have garden play, preschool children have outdoor physical play, and toddlers have daily exercise both outside and indoors. An annual sports day adds a shared physical activity event to the toddler programme. It gives families a concrete example of how movement extends beyond individual play.

In January 2025, the garden was used daily for running, tricycles and ball games. That supplied space for children to practise movement and coordination. Preschool graduation takes place at the end of term, marking the move towards school with a celebration for children who are leaving nursery.

Relationships and Communication

The baby provision uses a key-person approach and works closely with parents and carers. This makes the relationship with a familiar practitioner part of the care arrangement, alongside sensory activities and early language work. For a baby, the adult relationship matters as much as the activity itself.

Potty training receives explicit attention in the toddler provision, with staff and parents communicating about the child's progress. This is a useful point of continuity between home and nursery. Rather than treating independence as a distant school-readiness goal, the daily programme includes manageable personal-care steps.

In January 2025, children practised feeding themselves and drinking from beakers, while toddlers worked on putting on outdoor clothing. Parents knew their child's key person, and family activities included coffee mornings and Christmas lunches. Those were examples of contact beyond a brief exchange about the day's care.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Hackney has a deputy manager who also holds the SENCo role, giving families a defined staff role for special educational needs and disabilities. Speech and language groups are also part of the toddler provision for children needing extra help with learning.

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND made good progress through support involving their parents, speech and language specialists and local authority professionals; staff also used visual prompts to explain the order of daily activities. The practical detail matters: a visual cue can help a child understand what happens next when spoken instructions alone are harder to follow.

In January 2025, the nursery employed 12 staff, nine of whom held childcare qualifications at levels 2 or 3. These are dated staffing details rather than a measure of the size of today's groups. The stronger parent-facing question is how familiar adults support a child's particular stage and needs throughout the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm. Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm, Morning from 8am to 1pm, and Afternoon starts at 1pm. Families must book at least two full days or three half-day sessions, so a single occasional morning does not match the standard minimum pattern.

Fees are calculated across 52 weeks and collected monthly ahead of attendance. Bank holidays are closed days and remain chargeable; the nursery also closes at Christmas. Sickness and holidays do not qualify for a refund, credit or session swap, which makes the ongoing commitment relevant when comparing childcare with a changing work schedule.

Ending the contract or reducing attendance requires two months' written notice. There is a non-refundable registration charge and a refundable nursery deposit. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the Hackney fees page sets out the charge structure.

Getting There

The address is Unit 1-3, 130 Homerton High Street, London E9 6JA. The Hackney contact route is 020 8533 5656 or info@bloomersdaynursery.co.uk, with a separate Hackney enquiry form.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months to five years, subject to eligibility, with 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements. For children attending solely on funding, these run over 38 weeks; when families also buy additional hours at the standard rate, funding is spread across 52 weeks. These are different arrangements, so the funded allocation and the paid attendance need to be considered together.

On privately paid hours, the fee includes meals, snacks and drinks prepared by the nursery chef, plus consumables such as nappies, wipes and sun cream where applicable. Funded attendance has separate contributions for meals and consumables; families using solely funded hours may instead send food from home, subject to the nursery's food and allergy rules.

The additional charge is waived for two-year-olds using the local authority's 15-hour scheme, and a contribution can also be waived where payment would cause financial hardship. Eligible families must reconfirm funding eligibility with HMRC every three months when prompted. These conditions belong alongside the entitlement, rather than being treated as minor details after a booking decision.

• Adult-led learning. The January 2025 priorities were better-developed activities and questions that allow fuller answers. During a visit, ask how a current activity takes children beyond naming or recalling something to explaining their ideas.
• Weekly commitment. The minimum is two full days or three half-day sessions, with two months' written notice for a reduction. Match that commitment to your likely working pattern before signing the contract.
• Funded attendance. Solely funded hours run over 38 weeks, while funding alongside additional paid hours is stretched across 52 weeks. Request a written quotation that separates the attendance pattern, meals, consumables and any applicable waiver.
• Baby care. The Baby Room combines sensory exploration with a key-person approach. On a visit, ask how sleep routines and the number of babies attending together are organised for your child's stage.

Bloomers suits families seeking either full-day attendance or regular morning and afternoon sessions, provided its minimum weekly booking fits their needs. Its clearest appeal is practical independence: potty-training support, dressing, table jobs and early mathematics connect learning with things children can use immediately.

The January 2025 judgement provides a positive quality reference, balanced by specific work to do on adult-led activities and questioning. For families weighing funded and private attendance, the charge structure deserves equal attention: the weeks over which funding runs, separate funded-session contributions and notice terms all affect the fit. This is a nursery to assess through both the child's daily experience and the family's sustained attendance commitment.