Merry Poppets Nursery Ltd
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.6 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Bedford for babies from 3 months up to school age, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2021. Open since 2011, with 83 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
Up to 30 hours* free childcare and funded childcare sessions.
Worth knowing. *Qualifying criteria.
What childcare usually costs in Central Bedfordshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Central Bedfordshire 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
MK45 5AAWhat 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, 27 October 2021 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are happy and enjoy the company of their friends. They have access to a good range of age-appropriate resources. Children develop the skills and knowledge they need for the next stage of their development, including their eventual move to school. From a young age, children are encouraged to develop a love of songs, rhymes and stories. Younger children enjoy looking at the illustrations in books. Older children attentively listen to stories. They enthusiastically repeat familiar phrases and predict what will happen next. Older children count with growing confidence, and younger children are introduced to mathematical concepts, such as big and small, as they learn to compare the sizes of autumn leaves.
Younger children explore leaves, pine cones, sand and water. They place their hands in shaving foam and reach out to pop bubbles. Older children play in the mud kitchen, plant and harvest tomatoes, grow pumpkins and search for minibeasts under the logs. This effectively supports children to learn about nature, planting and growth. Children learn to take responsibility and to become independent. They help to tidy away the resources and dress themselves for outdoor play. Younger children carefully thread cereal hoops onto dry spaghetti and stack building blocks on top of one another. They receive praise for their efforts and achievements, which develops their self-esteem and motivates them to continue to persevere at the task.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- make more effective use of spontaneous opportunities to extend and challenge children's learning n review and improve the organisation of planned routines to support children to develop and complete the activities they are enjoying.
- 27 October 2021Good
- 7 March 2016Good
- 31 October 2013Needs improvement
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Merry Poppets Nursery Ltd
- What it costs
- 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.
- 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.