Marsh Bears Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.5 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Luton for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 09:00 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £21.00 a session, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in September 2023. Open since 2016, with 45 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
For private pay, the rate is £7.00 per hour per child , or £21.00 per full session .
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
15 Hours Free Childcare (eligible 2-year-olds, all 3 and 4-year-olds); 30 Hours Free Childcare (eligible families); Free Childcare for Working Parents – 30 Hours for children aged 9 months to 4 years.
What childcare usually costs in Luton
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Luton 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
LU3 3QBWhat 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.
Ofsted inspector, 15 September 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are happy and confident. They settle well into the welcoming nursery with the support of the friendly staff team. On the rare occasions when children struggle to leave their parents as they arrive, staff quickly engage them in an enjoyable activity, and this helps them to calm down and focus.
Staff help children to develop a love of stories. They read to children during group times, and children listen well. Children enjoy acting out stories with the staff enthusiastically. For instance, they all join in with the actions for a familiar story.
Children learn that their opinions and choices are important. For example, staff offer children choices during song time. Staff respond enthusiastically to children's decisions about which song to sing before encouraging all children to join in with the chosen song.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to consistently build on children's understanding of English and present them with the correct information to help them communicate clearly and effectively n provide children with opportunities to become even more deeply engaged in their learning outdoors.
- 15 September 2023Good
- 15 May 2018Good
- 4 January 2018Inadequate
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Marsh Bears Nursery
- Meals
- 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.
- Is £21.00 a session still the rate? 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.