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Honeybear House Day Nursery

Ofsted: Good
(Feb 2023)
·
4.3(6 parent reviews) ·Conrad Road, Witham, CM8 2SD · Essex
Number of places
56 places
Age range
1–4 yrs
Last inspected
Feb 2023
Local authority
Essex

About this day nursery

Honeybear House Day Nursery, located in Witham, North Essex, is a purpose-built facility designed to nurture children from birth to five years old. The nursery features a single-level building for easy access and includes four free-flowing homerooms, a dedicated kitchen, and two expansive outdoor play areas.

Each room is tailored to specific age groups and provides direct access to its own garden space, all equipped with air conditioning and child-height windows. The nursery prides itself on its philosophy of care, aiming to deliver professional childcare within a safe, secure, and stimulating environment, fostering individual development and learning through discovery in a homely atmosphere.

With a high staff-to-child ratio, each child benefits from individual care and attention, supported by a dedicated key person. The nursery operates year-round, from Monday to Friday, between 7:30 am and 6:30 pm.

All meals are freshly prepared on-site using locally sourced produce, accommodating vegetarian and special dietary needs. Its convenient location near Witham main line train station and easy access to the A12 makes it a practical choice for commuting parents.

What it's like

Children are motivated to learn and enjoy a good range of exciting experiences. They develop close relationships with their key person and staff, behaving well and showing good manners. Children are confident and use mature language.

Purpose-built facilityHigh staff-to-child ratioFresh, locally sourced mealsLarge outdoor play areasAccepts various funding schemes

Pricing & funding

The nursery offers full and extended day sessions on a year-round basis. General session fees are not published, but optional daily charges apply to funded hours to cover meals, snacks, and consumables. Fees are reviewed annually in May.

Funding accepted

15 hours — universal (3–4 yrs)30 hours — working parents (3–4 yrs)

Good to know

  • Minimum attendance of 2 days per week is required.
  • Open 52 weeks per year; term-time only sessions are not available.
  • Fee rates are reviewed annually, with any increases implemented in May.
  • Funding is spread equally across the year.
  • Funding does not cover meals, snacks and consumables; optional daily charges apply if funded.
  • Parents can choose to provide meals and consumables themselves to avoid optional charges.

Key facts

Session types

Full day sessions (8:00 – 18:00), Extended day sessions (7:30 – 18:00)

Food

All meals made on site with fresh, locally sourced produce. Vegetarian and special diets catered for.

Opening hours

Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 6:30pm

Age range

3 months to 5 years

Term time / All Year

All Year

Established

2004

Waitlist

Unknown

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Honeybear House Day Nursery

Last inspected 15 February 2023 · Marisa White

Safeguarding effective
Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good

What it's like to attend

Children are motivated to learn and enjoy a good range of exciting experiences. They develop close relationships with their key person and staff, behaving well and showing good manners. Children are confident and use mature language.

Inspector highlights

  • Leadership is strong. The manager has a good overview of the curriculum and knows exactly what she wants children to learn.
  • Staff know their children well. They talk in detail about what children are able to do and how they plan to help them make progress.
  • Staff support children's communication and language skills well. They engage with children in back-and-forth conversations and encourage them to talk about their interests and experiences.
  • Staff take every opportunity for children to develop their early mathematics skills.
  • The manager evaluates the provision and is committed to making improvements to raise the quality of care and learning to the highest level.

Areas to develop

  • 1extend the good communication with parents, to provide information about how they can support and extend their child's learning at home
  • 2review the organisation of group activities to ensure the needs of all children are consistently met.
Inspection #10276584 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

What parents say

Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection

staff are very friendly and know their children well.

their children settle quickly, enjoy spending time at the nursery and make good progress.

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

Outdoor space

The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning.

Parent Reviews of Honeybear House Day Nursery

4.3
(6)
Jessica Salter
5 years ago

My daughter goes to Honeybear House, and she absolutely loves it, it's a struggle to get her to leave due to how much fun she has. My daughter receives the best quality care she can at nursery. The team are excellent, always very responsive with any questions you may have! I feel like I don't have to worry about her whilst she is at nursery as she's in great hands. Overall they are brilliant!

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Strawbelli Jelli
6 years ago

My daughter has been with Honeybear since December and I can honestly say the staff are brilliant. They are loving and caring, you can see they love their job. I suggest you come for a tour and have a look for yourself. I am very pleased with Honeybear and trust them to care for my daughter.

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Nick Hoadley
7 years ago

Ignore the previous one star review as the person who has submitted is obviously an idiot, the manager Jackie has been nothing but nice and we find our daughter often sat on her lap in the office at pick up time as she likes her so much. Daughter has a fantastic time, highly recommend Honeybear House.

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Paulette Luff
3 years ago

My three year old granddaughter has recently started at Honeybear House. The staff have got to know her very quickly and respond to her really well - she loves it and I am impressed!

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Different kettle of Fish
3 years ago

Toilets was a serious hazardous let down hadn’t been cleaned in god knows how long there was brown syrup like urine under the pan… the manager was happy to help my daughter to the loo which was helpful but wasn’t phased about my daughter touching the amount of urine on the toilet seat plus it hadn’t been flushed from previous users so my daughter was about to take a wee over many others .. I was extremely taken back and made to feel sick.. this was in a worse state than a public toilet and I felt sorry and concerned for the health of the children there and the state of the tooth brushes was appalling in the toilet area.. every toilet was the same as I went to use another toilet for my daughter but they was all the same.. so I cleaned the toilet seat with wet tissue and dried it with another batch of clean tissue all in front of the manager .. there was two other staff members so there is no excuses .. all children deserve the right to have a clean toilet ….

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Honeybear House Day Nursery. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Date: March 2011

  • February 2023Good
  • July 2017Good
  • January 2015Good
  • August 2014Inadequate
  • July 2013Good
  • March 2011Outstanding

Frequently asked about Honeybear House Day Nursery

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