Mulberry Bush Nursery and Pre-School

A vegetable patch, a pond visited by frogs and children voting for their next story give Mulberry Bush Nursery and Pre-School a clear character. At the Chippenham Road setting in Romford, independence runs through both play and everyday routines. Children help with snacks, make choices about stories and serve their own food. These are practical opportunities to take responsibility, rather than simply follow an adult's instructions.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding at its inspection on 28 February 2025. The nursery has 34 places in total and accepts children aged two to five years. The Acorns room serves children aged three to five, with direct access to outdoor play and spaces for early reading, number work and imaginative activity.

Attendance includes morning and afternoon sessions alongside days ending at either 3.30pm or 6pm. The differences between those arrangements matter, especially for families combining funded education with paid childcare.

Rooms and Ages

Acorns combines an emphasis on children's choices with areas for pretend play, sensory exploration, early literacy and numeracy, and group activities; its outdoor access lets children move between indoor learning and garden play. Voting for a story gives children a small but meaningful say in the shared day. Preparing snacks and serving meals extend that responsibility into routines where the result of their choices is tangible.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, children learn through play, conversation, movement and everyday tasks, with early reading and number experiences woven into the day. Alongside that framework, Acorns has a curriculum built around eight principles, including children's voice, literature, physical activity and wellbeing.

The principle Understand you have a voice has a concrete expression: children choose stories through a vote and take an active part in snack preparation. Reading, storytelling and making marks are daily activities. This puts language into both shared experiences and children's own attempts to express an idea.

Natural objects, reusable materials and open-ended resources let children experiment and decide what to make.

In February 2025, staff developed a dinosaur interest through construction play and questions about what different dinosaurs ate. Conversations introduced vocabulary and encouraged children to think beyond the immediate activity. Action songs, familiar rhymes and discussions about weather also formed part of that inspection-time day.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Acorns garden has several kinds of space: grass around a pond, a hard surface for bikes and running, and bark beneath a climbing frame beside a mud kitchen. The different surfaces and resources allow energetic movement, imaginative play and quieter observation to sit alongside one another. Outdoor access is part of the room's routine, rather than confined to a single organised activity.

A purpose-built vegetable patch gives children a continuing task. They plant, water, harvest and taste what they have grown, connecting care for plants with food they recognise. In February 2025, children also practised balance through obstacle activities and learnt to ride bicycles; produce grown with the children was used in food prepared by staff.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person before starting, responsible for settling, a personalised care and learning plan agreed with parents, and developmental records. A buddy covers absences, including home link book communication and personal care.

Settling is gradual and agreed with the family. Parents or another close carer stay during the first sessions, then spend longer away as the child becomes comfortable. The policy rejects leaving a distressed child to cry as a way of accelerating separation. Families need time for this process, rather than treating the first booked day as an immediate handover.

At its February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, children emotionally secure and induction carefully organised, with information from parents helping staff identify learning needs and arrange support.

Parents have access to a Learning Journal containing photographs and examples of play, while a Home Link book carries information between home and nursery. Regular discussions with the key person cover development and next steps. Home Learning Packs provide activities to share at home, giving families another way to participate in their child's learning.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SEND support follows an assess, plan, do, review cycle. The key person, SENDCo and parents agree outcomes, support and a review date, then adapt the plan to the child's progress. Specialist advice can be sought with parental agreement.

Toilet training is approached with parents, and children can attend while still using nappies. Personal changing schedules can be adjusted when a child needs more frequent care. That avoids making toilet readiness a condition of participation.

For longer-term medical needs and allergies, the medicine policy provides for an individual medical plan and parental consent. It distinguishes these arrangements from short-term illness medication, which staff do not administer. Families managing an ongoing condition therefore need the care plan agreed before relying on nursery administration.

School transition includes sharing developmental information with the receiving setting and involving parents in the process. Visits by children to schools and by teachers to the nursery help make that change more familiar. These are preparation arrangements, rather than an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

The setting is at 144 Chippenham Road, Romford, RM3 8HT. It opens throughout the year, Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm, and does not offer term-time-only places. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 07599 290454 or by email at admin@mulberrybush-nursery.com.

Paid day patterns run from 8am to 3.30pm or from 8am to 6pm. Morning sessions run from 8.30am to 11.30am, Monday to Friday, with mixed ages of two, three and four; three-year-olds can use the morning arrangement only when attending a full day. Afternoon sessions run from 11.30am to 2.30pm on those weekdays and are for three- and four-year-olds. Children move to an all-day or afternoon arrangement in the term following their third birthday.

The waiting list follows birth order, with possible consideration of funded-entitlement eligibility, time waiting, proximity, siblings and the ability to meet individual needs.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare covers the two-year-old entitlement for families receiving additional support, the universal entitlement for children aged three to four, and the working-parents entitlement for three- and four-year-olds. Funded hours operate Monday to Friday within the 8am-to-6pm window for 38 weeks each year. Year-round attendance and the funded calendar are therefore separate considerations.

For funded attendance, food is charged separately, as are nappies, wipes, nappy cream, sacks and disposal; the food policy also requires packed lunches, a conflict families should resolve before booking. The food policy asks parents to keep dietary information current and describes precautions against nuts and food sharing, so allergy arrangements require a child-specific discussion.

The funded charge structure also includes Famly profile access for parents and the nursery, Rhythm Time Music Sessions and Wellbeing Sessions. The latter two are separately charged activities. A daily package combines these items with food and changing supplies; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Session arrangements. The day options end at 3.30pm or 6pm, while the shorter morning and afternoon patterns have age conditions and the departure policy gives a different staff finish time. Before booking, agree which session applies to your child and the collection time in writing.
• Food arrangements. Funded attendance includes charges for lunch and a hot dinner, while the food policy requires packed lunches and says cooked meals cannot be supplied. Resolve which arrangement applies to your child's day, including current allergy practice.
• Age and room. Acorns serves three-to-five-year-olds at 144 Chippenham Road; Baby Buds and Little Berries are based at 85-89 Chippenham Road. When visiting, establish which address and room would take your child, especially if they are two.
• Settling time. A parent or close carer is expected to remain during the first sessions, with separation extended gradually. Discuss the settling plan at a visit and allow enough time away from work to follow it.

Mulberry Bush suits families who value children's choices, practical independence and outdoor learning, with morning or afternoon attendance as well as days ending at 3.30pm or 6pm. Acorns gives that approach physical substance through its garden, vegetable growing and shared decision-making. The February 2025 Outstanding judgement is a strong reason to consider it. The deciding practical step is to agree the applicable session, address and meal arrangement before committing.