Boys & Girls Nursery Watford

Seven months separated two inspections here, and the second rewrote the verdict. Ofsted judged Boys & Girls Nursery Watford Good on 28 September 2023, with Good in each of the four areas assessed, safeguarding effective, and significant improvements since the previous visit. In March 2023 the judgement had been Requires Improvement.

The nursery opened in 2007 in a purpose-built building at Central Hall on Loates Lane, two minutes' walk from Watford Junction. It takes children from three months to five years across three base rooms and has 62 places in total.

What the fee covers is unusually specific: weekly phonics with Robot Reg, sport with Sprog Sports, music and sensory classes from Tiny Mites, meals cooked on the premises. The year runs to 52 weeks, not term dates.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room, for three to 24 months, is divided into areas so babies move between different, closely supervised activities, with their own cot and sheets changed daily and a quiet area for rest. Staffing runs at 1:3.

The Toddler Room, for two to three-year-olds, keeps a set rhythm of breakfast, circle time, child-led and staff-led activities, lunch and rest, with en-suite child-sized toilets and a changing area in the same space. Staffing is 1:4 rather than the statutory 1:5 for two-year-olds, a real margin on the band where the law is most generous.

Pre-School, for three to five-year-olds, is closer to the shape of a school day and set up so children reach things themselves: a mark making table, an art and craft trolley, maths and science areas, a water fountain and a corner for early phonics, at a staff to child ratio of 1:8. Room ages are indicative; a move up follows the child and the cohort.

Learning and Named Experiences

The statutory Early Years Foundation Stage sets the frame, a government framework covering development and learning from birth to five. In practice the day is organised around the areas of learning, from communication and physical development to literacy and mathematics, with staff watching what a child can already do and planning the next step.

Three named additions sit on top of that floor, weekly and for everyone: Robot Reg delivers the phonics, Sprog Sports the sport, Tiny Mites the music and sensory classes. The SchoolReady programme is fully embedded in the Pre-School rooms, and the nursery works with local schools on school-readiness.

Outdoor and Community Life

Gardens at the front and back are in constant use, local walks are a fixture, and community visitors come in for educational sessions: the Fire Brigade, animal charities, local dentists. In September 2023 toddlers were hunting minibeasts hidden in mud with trowels and magnifying glasses while staff pressed them to describe what they saw.

The garden costs the toddlers something, though: it is reached through their room. In September 2023 children and staff from elsewhere were crossing the Toddler Room to get outside, negotiating tables and equipment, and the traffic was interrupting toddler play. Managers had spotted it without yet finding a fix. It is one of two improvement points left open.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person, and the daily account runs through the Ovivio app: activities, sleep times, nappy changes and lunches, plus the observations and milestones that build a learning record. An annual Parents Evening goes deeper, and Learning Together sessions run monthly.

In September 2023 parents praised how their children had settled and rated the key person system, saying dietary requirements were handled well. The same visit left the second improvement point: the Toddler Room kept a relatively fixed routine, and children were sometimes moved on before they had seen the current activity through.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In September 2023 the SEND coordinator was working closely with parents, staff and other professionals to assess each child's needs and help children with SEND meet their potential. The adaptations were practical: a child who disliked the feel of paint on their hands was given a transparent film laid over it to swirl without touching.

In September 2023, safeguarding arrangements were effective, and leaders, managers and staff all knew how to identify the signs of abuse and neglect and which routes to use. Meals are cooked on the premises, and the nursery publishes a strict allergy policy under which no food may be brought in from home.

Sessions and Attendance

Three patterns are published with their times: a full day from 8am to 6pm, a morning session from 8am to 1pm and an afternoon session from 1pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and they can be combined. The floor is 20 hours a week, which the nursery ties to children settling and taking part in its curriculum. The building is open 7am to 7pm across 52 weeks a year, closing on bank holidays and at 1pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, with a 7.5% discount on five-day attendance to offset those closures. A 7am drop-off and a 7pm collection are sold as an extra session.

Getting There

The address is Central Hall, Loates Lane, Watford WD17 2PA, and there is a storage area for pushchairs and car seats. Entry runs through a secure entry phone system, and every room is monitored by CCTV, which parents can watch from reception.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded hours are stretched rather than run to term dates: the government's 38 funded weeks are spread across the nursery's 52 open weeks and divided equally over 12 months. Three entitlements apply: up to 30 hours a week for eligible working parents from the term after a child turns nine months, and up to 15 hours a week both from the term after a child turns three and for eligible two-year-olds.

Meals and snacks are prepared on the premises by the nursery's own chef and, on privately paid hours, included in the fees: a two-course hot lunch the team eat with the children, and a two-course tea at 3.30pm.

On funded hours the arithmetic changes. A private contract alongside the funding carries a voluntary additional services and consumables charge covering food, extra-curricular classes and enhanced care, from nappy waste disposal and suncream to the higher toddler staffing; it is pro-rated and cannot be part-declined. The alternative is a funded-only place carrying no such charge, running afternoons from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, offered first come, first served in priority order, and never in the morning or over mealtimes because food cannot be brought in.

Consumables are charged separately on those hours rather than bundled in. A refundable deposit holds a place and is deducted from the last invoice when the correct notice period is given, and a non-refundable registration fee is payable. Current nursery-specific prices are supplied in the nursery's written quotation.

• The toddler room's traffic problem. In September 2023 the route to the garden ran through the Toddler Room, the crossings were interrupting toddler play, and managers knew without having solved it. Ask what has changed, and watch a garden transition.
• Funded hours are not a free ride. A private contract alongside the funding brings a voluntary additional services and consumables charge, pro-rated and not part-declinable; the no-charge route is an afternoon-only funded place, 12.30pm to 3.30pm, outside mealtimes.
• Twenty hours a week is the floor. One short day, or a single morning, is not sold here. Where a nursery cannot offer the days a family wants, the usual outcome is a part-week place or days that were not first choice, and in busy areas families register long before a start date.

Two things separate this setting from the Watford field. The first is what the fee already covers: phonics with Robot Reg, sport with Sprog Sports, music with Tiny Mites, and meals cooked on site and eaten with the team. The second is the direction of travel, from a March 2023 judgement of Requires Improvement to Good six months later.

It suits families who need a genuine long day beside Watford Junction, and equally the parent booking mornings only or a run of afternoons, so long as the week reaches 20 hours. It suits less well the family wanting one day a week, the family that wants a single all-in price whatever the funding, and anyone who wants the garden route settled first.