The Marmalade Cat Day Nursery
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Open for decades
A day nursery in Tring for babies from 3 months up to 5 year olds, open 07:30 to 18:30, 5 days a week. £55.00 a day for babies, Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in December 2022. Open since 2011, with 40 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Minimum 2 days a week.
| Age | Full day | Session | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babies, Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers | £55.009-3 day £73.00Daily | £45.00Half day | £620.502 days per week £930.753 days per week £1241.004 days per week £1476.884 days + 9-3 day per week |
Before you start
One-off charges to take a place.
- £100.00 Registration fee
What a funded hour still costs
Funded hours cover the childcare. These are charged alongside them.
- £7.70 a day Total meal charges per dayfunded hours
Discounts
- 5% Sibling discountsiblings
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
2 year funding offered / 9 month funding subject to availability, EYPP funding.
Worth knowing. If your child recieves funded childcare hours for working families, you will be required to pay meal charges additionally for the hours that they use.
What childcare usually costs in Hertfordshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Hertfordshire 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
HP23 4JHWhat 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.
- 15 April 2024 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 20 December 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff provide a calm and friendly, home-from-home setting, where children demonstrate that they feel happy and relaxed. Staff support children who are new to the nursery to settle quickly. They conduct home visits as part of their tailored settling-in process. As a result, children form secure and affectionate bonds with staff.
Children are confident to explore. Babies smile and babble as they explore sensory objects in their surroundings. They check in regularly with their familiar adult when needed. Staff sing with toddlers, and they eagerly await the selection of the next song from a song bag. Pre-school children play gleefully with a pretend post office, talking about posting Christmas cards and counting pretend coins.
Children use their senses as they scoop and pour scented oats. They examine winter resources carefully, such as pine branches and pinecones, as they learn about the seasons. Children practise using their small-muscle skills as they manipulate oats with their fingers. In the garden, children play with rubber balls and guttering tubes. Children calculate which ones will fit in the tube and will travel down. They shout, 'whee,' as they place balls in the guttering, then laugh in delight as the ball travels quickly down and out of the bottom into a tray of water.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- encourage and support children to try and complete more tasks for themselves and develop their independence skills even further.
- 20 December 2022Good
- 10 March 2017Good
- 20 November 2013Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for The Marmalade Cat Day Nursery
- 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 £55.00 a day 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.