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Walmgate Day Nursery

Ofsted: Good
(Feb 2024)
·
5.0(13 parent reviews)
·Walmgate Day Nursery, 34 Walmgate, YORK, YO1 9TJ · York
Number of places
42 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Feb 2024
Local authority
York

About this day nursery

Walmgate Day Nursery is a family-owned childcare facility situated in the centre of York, offering a nurturing and stimulating environment for children aged three months to five years. The nursery is divided into three age-specific rooms: Diddies (0-2 years), Explorers (2-3 years), and Adventurers (3-5 years), in addition to an activity room and a small outdoor play area.

Emphasising individual learning styles, the nursery provides a wealth of open-ended resources to encourage discovery and exploration. Beyond the indoor setting, Walmgate Day Nursery capitalises on its central location by regularly taking children on educational excursions around York, visiting cultural and historical landmarks like York Minster and the National Railway Museum, effectively extending the classroom into the vibrant city.

The dedicated team of qualified professionals, all trained in paediatric first aid, are committed to providing personalised care and fostering each child's development. The nursery welcomes government-funded places, ensuring high-quality childcare is accessible without additional costs for meals, activities, or resources.

Our ethos

The nursery's pedagogical approach is centred on discovery and exploration, using open-ended resources to cater to individual learning styles. They emphasise extending the learning environment beyond the nursery walls through regular educational excursions to local landmarks, making their central location a pedagogical asset. The team is committed to personalised care and fostering each child's development.

What it's like

Managers have effectively addressed past weaknesses, ensuring staff understand early childhood learning and tailor it to individual needs, helping children make good progress. Staff clearly communicate routines and expectations, supporting children in understanding boundaries and smooth transitions between activities.

Family-ownedCity-centre location in YorkEducational trips around YorkGovernment funding accepted

Pricing & funding

Funding accepted

15 hours — universal (3–4 yrs)Tax-Free Childcare15 hours — eligible 2-year-olds15 hours — working parents (9 months–2 yrs)30 hours — working parents (3–4 yrs)
Pricing on request

This nursery doesn't publish its fees online. Contact them directly for an up-to-date price list and availability.

Key facts

Opening hours

08:00 - 18:00

Age range

3 months - 5 years

Term time / All Year

All Year

Session types

Half Day, Full Day

Staff

3 (management team)

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Walmgate Day Nursery

Last inspected 7 February 2024

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

Managers have effectively addressed past weaknesses, ensuring staff understand early childhood learning and tailor it to individual needs, helping children make good progress. Staff clearly communicate routines and expectations, supporting children in understanding boundaries and smooth transitions between activities.

Inspector highlights

  • Managers have focused on addressing the weaknesses found in the last inspection.
  • The key-person system is effective. Staff know the children that they care for well.
  • Children learn about their bodies and what their body parts do.
  • Staff read familiar stories to children. They repeat stories so that children learn them.
  • Staff and managers consider how funding can be used to meet individual children's needs.

Areas to develop

  • 1support staff to engage in more in-depth conversations with children to further develop their conversational skills
  • 2provide further support for staff to develop their teaching skills so that there is consistency of the quality of teaching across all staff.
Inspection #10313526 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Staff and managers consider how funding can be used to meet individual children's needs. They purchase resources that help children to practise taking turns. They provide experiences, such as music sessions, to help develop children's confidence and self-esteem.

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 Walmgate Day Nursery

5.0
(13)
Madelaine Cliff
6 months ago

My daughter started nursery here 2 months ago and I couldn't have asked for a better team of staff to nurture her and help her grow into the little person she is. They do so much activities with the children so they're always engaged, but also teach fundamental skills such as teeth brushing, manners and motor skills. Her relationship with the staff and her excitement when shes getting ready to go, speaks volumes about the way they love and care for these children as if they were their own. The only nursery I will recommend ❤️

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Charleigh Bundy
9 months ago

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Nursery Experience We’ve had a wonderful experience with this nursery. The staff are incredibly caring, patient, and professional. They create a warm and welcoming environment where children feel safe, supported, and happy. The activities are well-planned, engaging, and help promote both learning and creativity. We’ve seen noticeable progress in our child’s communication, confidence, and social skills since joining. The facilities are clean, well-maintained, and child-friendly. We also appreciate the regular updates and open communication from the team — it really gives us peace of mind. Highly recommend this nursery to any parent looking for a nurturing and stimulating early learning environment!

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Kristina Thrower
a year ago

My son loves attending Walmgate nursery. He has taken to all the staff and made amazing progress since starting his journey with them. The nursery manager, Lucy and all the staff have worked hard in supporting me and my son improve his speech which is greatly appreciated. I always get a detailed brief about his day at pick up which is great! Thank you Lucy and team for all your support so far :)

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Michelle Smith
a year ago

We used Walmgate Day Nursery when we were looking for somewhere our son could go to for a few hours while we attended a funeral. We are not local and didn’t have anyone else that could have him. They are so flexible and accommodating, and the staff were really friendly. He loved it there! It’s so nice to know that this service is provided, and will definitely consider sending him here again in the future should we need someone to have him.

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Emily Alexander
2 years ago

Both my children attend Walmgate nursery. From day one both have absolutely loved it there and it’s easy to see why. It’s an incredibly warm and inviting space. From our first look around you could see the thought and care that has gone into making each room exciting and age appropriate. I think it’s the perfect size-small enough that every member of staff knows all the children really well, whilst big enough for the children to benefit from playing with and learning from lots of children their own age. It’s so heartwarming to see the bonds my children have made with the lovely, enthusiastic, and thoughtful team. I was recommended this nursery by a former staff member so felt I had a unique opportunity to learn the truth beforehand about how it is really run beyond what can be presented on websites and at open days, and was excited by what I was told. It is run incredibly well with both the Manager and the owner being clearly present and they also themselves quickly understood and valued my little ones and their uniqueness, as did the whole team. The highlight of my day is picking up my excited (and exhausted!) children and hearing all about their stimulating day. I see at pick up and drop off that it’s not just my own children who love this nursery, on the rare occasions I’ve seen tears at drop off (would be weird if this never happened!) you couldn’t want more from the team’s clearly experienced and kind response to both children and parents. I’ve also been really impressed by the team’s knowledge and dedication to the specific needs of the children, eg my lockdown toddler is needing a bit of extra support with communication and I know that she is in excellent hands. In summary, I couldn’t ask for more and am SO glad they had space for us!

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Walmgate Day Nursery. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Date: January 2023

  • March 2024Good
  • February 2024Good
  • October 2023Inadequate
  • August 2023Inadequate
  • August 2023Inadequate
  • May 2023Inadequate
  • February 2023Requires improvement
  • January 2023Requires improvement

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