Opening hours
Mon - Fri, 7.30am to 6.00pm (excluding bank holidays)
Partou Bumpkins Day Nursery & Pre-School, located in Whaddon near Royston, offers outstanding early years childcare and education in a beautiful rural setting. The nursery operates across two distinct sites, with dedicated facilities for babies and two-year-olds at Bridge Street and a pre-school focusing on school readiness at Meldreth Road, both offering convenient parking for parents.
A standout feature is their award-nominated Forest School, Nature Rangers, providing continuous outdoor learning experiences with amenities like a cabin classroom, sandpit, firepit, and mud kitchen. This outdoor approach is integrated into daily activities, fostering confidence, creativity, and a connection with nature, alongside covering the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
The nursery prides itself on healthy, nutritious meals prepared fresh on-site by an experienced chef, with mealtimes designed to be both enjoyable and educational. Parents consistently report their children settling quickly and making significant developmental progress in speech, confidence, and independence.
Partou Bumpkins is committed to delivering exceptional care and a stimulating environment that caters to the individual needs and interests of each child.
Our ethos
Partou Bumpkins Day Nursery & Forest School integrates the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum with a Forest School approach, fostering confidence, creativity, and a connection with nature through continuous outdoor learning experiences. They are committed to delivering exceptional care and a stimulating environment that caters to the individual needs and interests of each child.
What it's like
Children flourish and succeed in this exceptional nursery. They are remarkably independent and are supported by highly trained and knowledgeable staff who nurture their inquisitiveness and help them build and embed existing knowledge and skills. Staff carefully consider sequential teaching to ensure children continue building on what they know and can do.
Fees are structured into care, meals and snacks, and consumables. The nursery offers weekly, full-day, morning, and afternoon sessions, with an option for early drop-off. Funding covers the care portion only, meaning meals, snacks, and consumables remain chargeable.
Funding accepted
Good to know
Opening hours
Mon - Fri, 7.30am to 6.00pm (excluding bank holidays)
Food
Healthy and delicious meals from our seasonal menu, freshly prepared at the nursery.
Age range
9 months to 4 years
Term time / All Year
All Year
Last inspected 4 July 2023 · Lynn Clements
What it's like to attend
Children flourish and succeed in this exceptional nursery. They are remarkably independent and are supported by highly trained and knowledgeable staff who nurture their inquisitiveness and help them build and embed existing knowledge and skills. Staff carefully consider sequential teaching to ensure children continue building on what they know and can do.
Inspector highlights
Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection
Parents feel very well informed about their children's learning and enjoy the opportunities to share learning that happens at home. Parents are delighted that they can actively share their ideas through the parent forum, which resulted in some recent changes, such as reusable nappy sacks for soiled clothes.
Inclusion & environment
While there are currently no children on roll with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), there is a clear track record of recent support provided for children and families, and well-targeted plans for future admissions. The extremely enthusiastic and experienced special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator works in partnership with parents and specialist outside agencies to ensure children receive the highest standard of teaching adapted to their unique learning needs, resulting in excellent progress.
During outdoor play, children initiate their investigations, such as learning how their bodies can move in different ways. Very young children use various equipment with ever increasing confidence, crawling and pulling themselves onto see-saws and into ride-in cars, learning to move themselves forward and backward with delight.
I love, love, love Bumpkins. We had such a great experience when we had our daughter here. She learnt so much from being there and I cannot thank the staff enough! They cared for our daughter so well and she still mentions them now! Thank you to all the lovely staff at Bumpkins. I have to also add that whilst I feel terrible for the people with the reviews below, and I agree they are in a horrible situation to be in but this has no reflection on the staff and the running of the nursery. This industry (from my own knowledge) is usually more female dominated and in my time alone at Bumpkins they have had many staff go on maternity at the same time. They can’t control or change that!
Read on GoogleWe are extremely disappointed with how Bumpkins handled our son's place at nursery. We booked his place at the nursery 14 months in advance (before he was even born) and everything was confirmed. However, just 2 months prior to the start date, we were informed that his place was being cancelled due to recent staffing issues. We were informed that 17 other parents were also told that they had lost their place due to Bumpkins recently losing 5 or 6 members of staff. Looking at past reviews on here, it looks like this has previously happened, which highlights how poor their staffing planning and management is. Given this is not the first time this has happened to families registered with Partou Bumpkins, it is highly likely to happen again in the future. This is completely unacceptable, families plan their childcare well in advance, and to have this taken away at such short notice is both unprofessional and incredibly stressful for parents. The nursery left us scrambling to find alternative childcare in an already challenging market 2 months before our agreed return to work date. This level of unreliability, poor communication and lack of offering any alternative solutions is shocking. I would strongly advise other parents to think twice before considering this nursery if they’re looking for a dependable and organised childcare provider.
Read on GoogleAVOID if you don't want to be let down at the last minute. 2 months before our child was due to be starting we received a phone call informing us that they we cancelling her place despite booking her in 10 months previously, stating last minute staff shortages and recruitment issues as the reason. But looking further into this they have been having staffing issues for well over 6 months but decided not to inform us, their MD even acknowledged they needs to "improving our communication". I'd say that’s an understatement! We are now left with the almost impossible task of finding an alternative place. As acknowledge by the Pumpkins staff, there is a 12 month waiting list for nursery's in our area. When we asked Bumpkins what they could do to help us, they responded with "Nothing"! It would appear they are happy to take a deposit and booking even when they know they don’t have the capacity to take children on.
Read on GoogleIf you have reserved a place at this nursery I strongly suggest reserving an alternative too. Our son has been registered to start when 1 since before he was born and they’ve just withdrawn our place leaving us less than 3 months to find an alternative. They claim the issues are industry wide, but as far as I’m aware they’re the only nursery in the area that have done this to multiple families (18 families this month alone). We were registered for 5 full days, and were told they could offer us nothing and had no information on when a spot may become available.
Read on GoogleMy daughter joined Bumpkins nursery when she was 7 months and settled from day 1. 18 months later, she still enjoys going to nursery every morning. Her key workers take great care to monitor her progress daily and we have seen the positive impact nursery has had on her development. The staff and management team are very competent, friendly and reliable. I would highly recommend Bumpkins nursery.
Read on GoogleReviews from Google for Partou Bumpkins Day Nursery & Forest School. See all on Google Maps
Date: July 2023
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This listing has been compiled from official Ofsted records, the nursery's own website, details provided directly by the nursery where available, and other trusted public sources. We regularly review and update listings to keep the information as accurate as possible. Learn more