Mother Goose Day Nursery

A conservatory extending the main playroom and a garden used for planting give Mother Goose Day Nursery a clear character: play stretches beyond the indoor tables. This Aldershot setting takes children aged two to five and has capacity for 33 children in total. Its age range makes it a choice for families seeking toddler and preschool care.

At its August 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. The practical strengths include a key person for each child, outdoor activities and several ways for parents to follow development. There were also teaching improvements to make, especially in matching group activities to older children's abilities.

Full days and morning or afternoon half days give families different attendance patterns. Those choices sit within a nursery year that includes a Christmas closure and bank holidays.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, with children's interests and development informing planned activities. At Mother Goose, each child's portfolio feeds into that planning. Children can choose whether to join activities, giving them practice in making decisions rather than simply following a timetable.

Pre-writing activities, early reading and number work sit alongside practical tasks and creative play. The main playroom extends into a conservatory, adding indoor space for exploration. This is a shared playroom arrangement rather than an account built around separate, named age rooms.

In August 2025, children used The Very Hungry Caterpillar to connect a familiar story with counting and matching fruit. Staff also sustained conversations during play, asking questions and leaving time for children to answer. These examples show how stories and ordinary exchanges can become learning opportunities.

The limitation was the level of challenge. In August 2025, some group activities did not build sufficiently on older children's existing knowledge and abilities, and their attention sometimes drifted. For a child approaching school age, the important distinction is between joining an activity and being stretched by it.

Outdoor and Community Life

A climbing frame and ride-on toys offer physical play, while the outdoor hard standing play area and artificial grass garden provide different settings for activities. Children plant flowers and grow vegetables. Walks to local points of interest add experiences beyond the nursery itself.

Outdoor exploration was concrete in August 2025: children searched beneath logs for insects, then examined their discoveries in magnifying containers. Riding cars involved judging space, while digging and pouring sand exercised hands and coordination. These were active experiences with learning built into the task.

Children also help prepare snacks and take turns distributing them. That gives independence a practical expression: contributing to a shared routine, handling a task and thinking about other children. It complements the nursery's emphasis on children making choices during play.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person. A completed registration form helps that practitioner learn about the child before becoming the family's first contact for discussions about development. Settling sessions happen before attendance begins, with the parent or carer staying for no more than an hour at the first session.

An online portal carries observations and assessments, while ey-man weekly diaries provide another communication route. Development observations may arrive weekly or fortnightly rather than after each attendance. The practical expectation is a continuing picture of progress, with staff time also devoted to interacting with children.

Parents' evenings take place two to three times a year. Alongside those longer conversations, daily exchanges with key people were part of nursery life in August 2025. Parents could explain changing needs, and staff could adjust their approach accordingly.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that practitioners understood their key children's development, recognised delays and supported progress. During that period, staff also responded to children who needed reassurance and encouraged everyday independence, including handwashing and managing their own noses.

Training includes food hygiene and first aid. The teaching development point in August 2025 concerned how supervision was used: meetings happened, but they did not consistently identify gaps in staff knowledge and connect them to targeted training. That matters because individual attention depends on practitioners knowing how to adapt an activity, as well as knowing the child.

Homemade meals are offered alongside fruit, vegetables, milk and water; the meals policy provides for dietary requests and allergy-related adjustments. Families are asked to disclose allergies so that staff can put an individual plan in place.

Collection arrangements include identifying an alternative collector in advance, with a password used where staff have not previously met that person. Accidents are recorded through eylog and acknowledged by parents, providing a separate channel for information about incidents.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 108A St. Michaels Road, Aldershot, GU12 4JW. Telephone and contact-form enquiries are supported.

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Full-day bookings run from 8am to 6pm; the two half-day options are 8am to 1pm and 1pm to 6pm. Additional hours can also be booked, but session boundaries are fixed and extra time attracts a charge.

The nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing for public holidays and a working week at Christmas. Fees are calculated across a 52-week year, and bank holidays do not bring a fee reduction. Families therefore need to distinguish the attendance calendar from the billing calendar.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid hours are offered for this setting's age range. Funding can follow a term-time pattern of 15 or 30 hours over 38 weeks, or a stretched pattern of 11 or 22 hours over 51 weeks. Eligibility applies, and nursery terms may differ from school terms.

There is an important qualification for funded-only stretched attendance: the offer uses 10 or 20 hours each week, leaving part of the annual entitlement unused. This deserves attention when deciding how childcare will fit across the year.

Meals and non-food consumables are charged separately, including during funded attendance. These charges are non-mandatory, with alternatives discussed where payment presents difficulties; additional non-mandatory activity charges may also arise and are discussed beforehand. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

A non-refundable administration charge and a refundable deposit apply when securing a privately paid place. Funded-only sessions have no registration charge, although a holding deposit may apply and is returned a month after the child starts. Leaving requires a full calendar month's written notice by the first of the month, with departure on that month's last day. Reducing attendance also requires a full calendar month's written notice, with reductions beginning at the start of a month.

• Challenge for older children. In August 2025, some group activities did not extend older children's existing knowledge. During a visit, ask how the same activity is adapted for children at different stages and how staff training supports that work.
• Funding across the year. Funded-only stretched attendance uses fewer weekly hours than the wider stretched offer. Compare the proposed attendance pattern, separate charges and unused entitlement before agreeing the arrangement.
• Calendar and notice commitments. Christmas and bank-holiday closures sit alongside billing across a full year, and session reductions require calendar-month notice. Those terms matter if work patterns or childcare needs change.
• Settling and individual care. The first settling session includes a limited period with a parent, and dietary adjustments use an individual plan. The settling sequence matters for children adjusting to time away from their parents; allergy-affected families should confirm current food-handling practice.

Mother Goose suits families with children aged two to five who want either full-day attendance or morning and afternoon half-day options. The shared playroom, conservatory and garden give its offer substance, while key-person contact and several communication channels help connect nursery life with home.

The August 2025 Good judgement comes with a useful qualification: older children's learning needed more consistent challenge, and staff supervision needed a clearer training purpose. Those teaching limitations temper the appeal of its outdoor activities and flexible attendance options.