Marlborough Day Nursery

A 3,500-square-foot indoor hall gives Marlborough Day Nursery an unusually substantial setting for physical play: children have a cycle track, balancing equipment and space for den building, alongside a soft play room and quieter spaces for books and sensory exploration. Movement has room to happen here. For a family choosing childcare in Coalville, that combination of energetic play and places to pause is a central part of its appeal.

The nursery cares for children from two months to five years and has 130 places in total. At its July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children were making good progress. There were also clear teaching priorities: activities needed more precise aims for individual children, and new vocabulary needed stronger reinforcement.

Attendance extends beyond one pattern, with full days, morning and afternoon sessions, plus a term-time provision for eligible preschool children. The distinction matters: the youngest children attend across the year, while the preschool offer includes a different rhythm for families seeking term-time care.

Rooms and Ages

Babies, toddlers and preschool children have age-related spaces, with different resources and expectations as they grow. For babies, textured toys, family photographs, mirrors and books support exploration and familiarity; rugs and areas for movement give them opportunities to roll and become mobile. Quiet sleep areas have subdued lighting and music. Rest has its own place within the day.

For toddlers aged two to three, creative play sits alongside opportunities to use sand and water, move indoors and outside, and develop pretend games. Regular quieter periods balance that activity. The emphasis is on trying things, making choices and learning practical skills.

Preschool provision for children aged three to five includes books, mathematical puzzles, computers and spaces for imaginative play. Independence, creativity, movement and social development shape this stage. Foundation Upper serves children aged three and four who claim funded hours, with term-time opening hours that differ from the nursery's wider opening window.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, with experiences covering language, movement, relationships, early literacy, mathematics and understanding their surroundings. It supplies the educational foundation. The nursery's practical additions include languages, dance, cooking and gardening.

French and Spanish lessons begin in the preschool age group. Dance involves an external dance artist and activities exploring how bodies move in response to music. These give children different ways to listen, imitate, communicate and express themselves, alongside their everyday play.

Cookery introduces tastes and textures as well as weighing, counting and measuring. Gardening starts with exploring natural materials for younger children, while older children learn words for plants and seeds. Those activities connect ideas to things children can handle and change: measuring has a purpose in preparing food, and caring for plants becomes a practical task.

The library supports speaking and listening with books, puppets, pictures and instruments. Small groups can use it, and it also provides space for individual communication support and meetings with families and professionals. That gives quieter language work a defined setting alongside the busier play spaces.

In July 2025, children made Martisor bracelets while learning about a Romanian tradition and discussing celebrations at home. Cultural learning drew on children's family experiences. However, some planned activities had aims that were too broad to address each child's next learning step, and conversations did not consistently build and revisit more challenging vocabulary.

Outdoor and Community Life

Two gardens have sunshades and screening from public view, with artificial grass in the outdoor areas. Outdoor play is part of the daily offer. The spaces allow investigation and movement to continue beyond the indoor rooms, while planting vegetables links garden activity with learning about food.

Inside, the hall contains a climbing frame, tunnels, balancing beams and bikes with a cycle track. Weekly PE sessions take place there, with children supported to change into supplied shorts and T-shirts. Physical activity therefore includes practising dressing, as well as developing movement skills.

The soft play room has cushioned equipment for younger children and a padded climbing structure with a ramp and slide for children over two. A sensory room offers a quieter alternative, with areas for interaction or relaxation. These spaces give staff different settings for energetic activity, exploration and a pause from the main nursery rooms.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who becomes the family's main contact, supports settling and keeps track of development. A Learning Journey records achievements, while conversations with parents help connect home routines with nursery care. The arrangement gives families an identifiable person with whom to share changes, preferences and concerns.

Complimentary settling sessions take place before a child's first day. Their timing and number are arranged around individual needs, with extra sessions possible when beneficial. Families can share familiar words, comforters and everyday preferences, so the transition includes details that matter to their particular child.

Famly, the free parent app, carries photographs, observations, meal information, progress reports and invoices, with messaging between staff and parents. Daily conversations, periodic parents' evenings and newsletters provide further contact. Families therefore have both written updates they can revisit and opportunities to discuss the day directly.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that leaders supported children with SEND through developmental assessment, targeted help, cooperation with other agencies and effective use of additional funding. The current library arrangement also provides a place for individual language support and small communication groups, including support for children learning English as an additional language.

Sleep routines are agreed with parents, and babies' daily diaries record feeds and rest. A dedicated milk kitchen supports bottle preparation, including expressed milk, while nursery food can follow the child's stage of weaning. These are practical arrangements for maintaining continuity during the move from home care.

Onsite chefs prepare food using fresh produce and cater for dietary needs; seasonal menus provide variety, and the nursery's allergy policy is to avoid food containing nuts or nut products and identify individual requirements before children join. Meals also provide opportunities to practise feeding themselves and handling cutlery.

In July 2025, 28 childcare staff worked at the nursery, with 21 holding early years qualifications at level three or above, including two with early years teacher status. Current staff training covers safeguarding, paediatric first aid, behaviour and partnership with parents. These details describe the team's preparation; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the relevant assessment of effectiveness.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Marlborough Square, 22 - 24 Jackson Street, Coalville, LE67 3LT. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 6pm, across the year, closing for bank holidays, Easter and Christmas. Full-day, morning and afternoon sessions are offered, with a minimum weekly booking of one full day or two half days throughout the year.

Baby 1, Baby 2, Toddler 1 and Toddler 2 attend on an all-year basis. Term-time attendance in Foundation Lower is discretionary for children taking full or half days. Foundation Upper operates during term time, with opening hours of 8.30am to 2.30pm, for children aged three and four claiming 15 or 30 funded hours.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 01530 814 051. Settling arrangements include meeting the child's key person and sharing information about their individual needs.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded places are offered from nine months, subject to the admissions procedure and eligibility confirmation. The entitlements include working-family funding, universal hours for three- and four-year-olds, and support-based funding for eligible two-year-olds. Funding is stretched across the academic year under the nursery's funding model, rather than simply following the government-funded weeks.

Funded hours carry a Sustainability Fee covering food, consumables and additional activities. Meals and consumables are therefore charged separately during funded hours; privately paid sessions include meals, snacks, drinks and wipes, with baby formula also included in the fee structure. Additional private hours are charged outside the funding allocation.

The Sustainability Fee also covers provision such as PE, cooking and gardening materials, home-learning kits, celebrations and digital communication. Payments are due monthly in advance, and families receive a month's notice of changes to their payment plan. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the charge structure.

• Matching attendance to age. The baby and toddler rooms use an all-year model, while Foundation Upper operates during term time and Foundation Lower's term-time arrangements are discretionary. Discuss which provision fits your child's age and the days you need.
• Teaching next steps. In July 2025, activity planning needed more individual precision and vocabulary needed more reinforcement. At a visit, ask how a recent activity was adapted for one child and how staff revisit unfamiliar words.
• Funded-hour extras. The Sustainability Fee applies to each funded hour and covers meals, consumables and activities. Request an itemised quotation separating funded childcare, additional private hours and that charge.
• Food and settling. Dietary requirements are gathered before joining, and settling sessions can be adapted to the child. Families managing allergies should confirm current food preparation arrangements and discuss how feeding, sleep and comfort routines will be shared.

Marlborough suits families who want full-day or morning and afternoon care with substantial space for movement, plus families whose eligible preschool child fits the term-time Foundation Upper model. The hall, soft play room and gardens give active children several places to play; the library, sensory room and key-person arrangements provide a quieter counterbalance.

The July 2025 priorities deserve attention alongside the Good judgement. This is a nursery with substantial practical resources and clear communication arrangements, where the deciding questions are how teaching follows each child's next steps and which attendance and funding model fits the family.