Ratios, licence and inspection. Before anything else.
Because the things that matter most in childcare are the ones you cannot see on a tour, and every setting looks lovely for an hour on a Tuesday morning.
- Licence
- EY-448210
- Last inspection
- Outstanding
- Inspected
- March 2026
- Capacity
- 48 places
Our ratios, next to the legal minimum.
Most settings quote the legal figure and let you assume it is theirs. Both are printed here, and in preschool the gap is substantial.
Nest
3–18 monthsOurs
1:3
Legal minimum
1:3
Keyworker assigned before the first session and kept. A written daily log covering sleep, bottles, nappies and mood goes home every day.
Burrow
18 months–3 yearsOurs
1:4
Legal minimum
1:4
The day is built around outdoor access in nearly all weather. Waterproofs and boots are provided rather than something else to remember.
Meadow
3–5 yearsOurs
1:8
Legal minimum
1:13
School readiness woven into play rather than taught at tables. We run well below the legal ratio here because this is where it matters most.
What happens at eleven in the morning.
This is the question every parent has and almost no nursery answers. So here is the entire day, in order, including the bits that are just free play.
Doors open, free play
Quiet start. Breakfast available until nine for anyone who needs it.
Welcome circle
Register, weather, what is happening today. Five minutes, not twenty.
Outdoors
Every room, every day, unless it is genuinely unsafe. Not cancelled for drizzle.
Focused activity
Small groups. Messy play, construction, early phonics in Meadow.
Lunch
Cooked on site, eaten together at tables, staff sitting with the children.
Sleep or quiet time
Those who sleep, sleep. Those who do not get books and a dim room rather than being made to lie down.
Outdoors again
Second session. This is when the garden is busiest and the best photographs happen.
Tea
A proper meal rather than a snack, so nobody goes home ravenous.
Free play, staggered pickup
Calm end. Your keyworker hands over in person and tells you about the day.
And what is inside them.
Full day
$6807:30–18:00. All meals and snacks included.
Morning session
$4207:30–13:00, including lunch.
Afternoon session
$3813:00–18:00, including tea.
Holiday day
$74For term-time families, subject to ratio space.
Included
- All meals, snacks and milk
- Waterproofs, boots and sun hats
- Sun cream, applied and logged
- Messy-play clothing
- Outings within walking distance
- Photographs and daily updates
Not included
- Nappies
- Formula milk
What everybody is actually anxious about.
Not the curriculum, not the garden. The first morning you walk away. Three settling sessions come before any full day, all free of charge, and you are present for the first.
If more are needed, more happen. Some children want six, which is normal, and nobody will make it feel like a problem or add it to your bill.
A visit with you, one hour
You stay the whole time. Nothing is expected of your child except being in the room.
A short session without you
Usually ninety minutes. You go and have a coffee somewhere, and we ring if it is not working.
A half day
Including a meal, which is often the thing that decides whether a child is comfortable somewhere.
Then the first real day
And if any of the above needs repeating, it gets repeated, at no charge. Some children need six sessions and that is entirely normal.
Cooked here, recorded properly.
Cooked here, every day
A real kitchen and a cook, not reheated deliveries. The four-week menu is on the noticeboard and emailed each term.
Allergies in writing
Recorded on enrolment, on the kitchen wall, and on a card at the child's place. Not held in somebody's memory.
Nut free throughout
The whole setting, including anything brought in for birthdays. It is simpler and safer than managing exceptions.
They eat what they eat
Encouraged, never forced, never made an issue of at the table. What was eaten is reported honestly rather than optimistically.
Qualified, checked, and they stay.
Length of service is the number nobody publishes and the one that tells you most. Children form attachments to people, not to buildings.
Level 3 qualified or above
82%
Paediatric first aid
Every member of staff
Background checked
Every member of staff
Average length of service
5.4 years
Two are about patience.
“The ratios are on the front page. Every other nursery made me ask, and two of them did not know off the top of their head.”
A. Sørensen
Parent, Burrow
“It took our daughter five settling sessions. Nobody sighed, nobody charged us, nobody suggested she was the problem.”
M. Okafor
Parent, Nest
“Same keyworker for eighteen months. She knew things about him I had not noticed myself.”
J. Petrosyan
Parent, Meadow
Asked at every visit.
What are your ratios, actually?+
One to three under eighteen months, one to four for toddlers, one to eight in preschool. The preschool figure is well below the legal minimum of one to thirteen, and it is where the difference is felt most. All three are printed at the top of this page rather than buried in a policy document.
What happens in the first week?+
Three settling sessions before the first full day, all free, with you present for the first. If more are needed, more happen — some children need six and nobody will make that feel like a problem.
What is not included in the fee?+
Nappies and formula. Everything else — all meals, snacks and milk, waterproofs, boots, sun cream, messy-play clothes and local outings — is in the fee rather than added later.
How will I know what my child did today?+
Your keyworker hands over in person at pickup and tells you properly. Under-twos also get a written log covering sleep, food and nappies. Photographs go out the same day rather than being saved for a newsletter.
Can I visit unannounced?+
Yes, during opening hours, and you never need a reason. A setting that requires notice before you can see it is telling you something.
Book a visit, or just turn up.
You never need an appointment and you never need a reason. A setting that requires notice before you can see it is telling you something.