Nurture Nursery and Pre-School

A garden with a separate space for babies, a family’s own Nurturer and daily updates through Parent Zone give Nurture Nursery and Pre-School a clear practical character. Outdoor play, continuity with home and communication about everyday care are central to the offer in Marple. These are useful details for parents choosing care for a baby as well as those thinking ahead to school.

At its July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, while identifying inconsistent support for language and independence. Later safeguarding action matters to that assessment: repeated concerns led to further intervention, with the latest actions recorded as met in March 2026.

At 62 Station Road, Marple, Stockport, SK6 6AL, the nursery has capacity for 90 children aged from 3 months to 60 months. Flexible hours are offered, with opening across 50 weeks of the year.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes the educational offer: children build relationships, develop movement and self-care skills, and practise listening and speaking through play. Literacy, mathematical understanding, creativity and learning about the world extend that foundation. The practical emphasis is on exploring, trying unfamiliar tasks and choosing how to approach an activity, rather than simply completing something directed by an adult.

In July 2023, pretend breakfast-making gave younger children opportunities to use their imagination, while older children constructed towers together and practised sharing. An outdoor book area brought stories into the garden. Staff also acted out stories with children, using recall as part of their participation. These examples show how play could combine language, cooperation and enjoyment.

Physical activity had concrete tools behind it in July 2023: balance bicycles, bat-and-ball games and water-filled squirty bottles used in pretend firefighting. Counting also entered ordinary routines when children gathered cups after eating. Learning was woven into practical tasks, giving children reasons to use movement and number skills beyond a separate group activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large garden includes outdoor provision specifically for babies. That distinction matters for families with younger children: their outdoor experience has its own space within the wider nursery grounds.

In July 2023, babies went to a park and older children visited nearby food shops. These outings connected words and experiences with real places beyond nursery. They were opportunities to talk about the world children were encountering, rather than an abstract theme confined to indoor activities.

Relationships and Communication

Each family has a Nurturer, a designated practitioner who acts as their continuing contact for advice and support. Staff work with parents to reflect routines from home, including children’s preferences and individual requirements. For a baby, this makes feeding and sleep habits part of the conversation about settling, rather than treating nursery life as separate from home.

Parent Zone is the password-protected learning journal used for observations and progress tracking, alongside updates about sleep, feeding and nappy changes. Parents can also contribute their own observations to development records and discuss achievements at formal opportunities during the year. Communication therefore covers both the immediate care day and the child’s longer learning journey.

In July 2023, families received a welcome pack when their child moved rooms, helping them talk together about what would happen next. Staff also helped children prepare emotionally for school. The useful thread is preparation: changes were introduced through information and discussion, rather than left until the move itself.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Practitioners hold full paediatric first aid training, renewed every 3 years. Meals are cooked on site each day, with fresh baby purées, and special dietary requirements are accommodated through consultation with parents. A separate dining space gives eating its own setting, with adults encouraged to share mealtimes and support children’s use of cutlery.

Safeguarding history requires a fuller reading than the Good grade alone. Following action in April 2024, procedures for handling and recording investigations were addressed; further safeguarding policy action was recorded as met in April 2025. In February 2026, Ofsted issued a welfare requirements notice concerning leaders’ safeguarding knowledge and timely referrals to appropriate agencies, and subsequently recorded the actions as met following the nursery’s response on 10 March 2026. These repeated interventions are material for families, even though their recorded outcomes confirm the required actions were completed.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, across 50 weeks of the year. Flexible hours offer a way to arrange attendance around family needs. The opening window provides the outer limits of the nursery day; the flexible arrangement is the attendance option.

The nursery is on Station Road in central Marple. Enquiries can be made through its contact form or by telephone, and tours can be booked to discuss a child’s needs with staff.

Funding and Paid Extras

In July 2023, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. Fees are reviewed annually, with six weeks’ notice before changes, giving families advance warning when their childcare costs are revised.

• Repeated safeguarding action. Actions relating to safeguarding were recorded as met in April 2024, April 2025 and March 2026. At a visit, ask how leaders now maintain safeguarding knowledge and make timely referrals, the subjects of the February 2026 notice.
• Language and independence. In July 2023, staff did not consistently use questions to stretch children’s thinking or demonstrate correct pronunciation when speaking, and adults sometimes helped with coats and shoes when children could manage themselves. Look for how practitioners now encourage children to explain ideas and tackle self-care tasks.
• Flexible attendance and costs. Flexible hours sit within a 7.30am to 6.30pm opening day. Ask for a written attendance proposal covering funded hours, additional care, food and consumables so the arrangement and total costs are clear together.
• Baby routines and dietary needs. A Nurturer, home-routine discussions and fresh baby purées support continuity of care. Use the tour to discuss sleep and weaning routines, and confirm current practice for any allergy or dietary requirement.

Nurture suits families seeking flexible attendance, a continuing practitioner contact and regular information about everyday care. The baby outdoor space, Parent Zone and attention to home routines make the practical offer especially relevant to parents starting childcare with a young baby.

The July 2023 assessment provides a positive educational reference point, but repeated later safeguarding intervention deserves equal weight in the decision. A visit should test how the nursery now puts its procedures into daily practice, alongside how staff extend children’s language and independence.