Banana Moon Day Nursery
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Long established
A day nursery in Bedford for babies from 3 months up to 5 year olds, open 07:30 to 18:30, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2024. Open since 2015, with 70 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
What childcare usually costs in Bedford
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Bedford from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
MK42 8BQWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
- 24 September 2026 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 11 October 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are warmly welcomed into the nursery and readily leave their parents at the door. Children form secure bonds with staff and benefit from cuddles and reassurance when needed, to help them feel safe and secure. New children receive one-to-one interaction with familiar adults to help them settle.
Children benefit from a varied curriculum, both indoors and outdoors, based on their individual learning needs and interests. Staff identify the specific learning needs of each age group. For babies, the focus is on following home routines to help them settle quickly and build strong attachments with staff. For older children, staff promote their independence through daily activities and support their growing vocabulary. For example, children serve their own meals and have independent choices about what they want to play with in the outdoor area. As a result, all children make steady progress, including children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
Children generally behave well. When minor disputes occur, staff talk to children about making good choices, give gentle reminders of the nursery rules and explain how their behaviour could affect others.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- focus staff's teaching during children's play to maximise and fully extend their learning n review the nursery routines to ensure that children do not wait for prolonged periods of time.
- 11 October 2024Good
- 19 October 2022Good
- 13 December 2016Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Banana Moon Day Nursery
- What it costs
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date. The rest is in no dataset anywhere. Either way it is worth ten minutes on the phone.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- How do you apply my funded hours? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Do you have a place for a child of my age now? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.