Banana Moon Colchester
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.1 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Colchester for babies from 3 months up to school age, 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 They do not publish prices, so ask.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 September 2023. Open since 2016, with 106 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
15 Funded Hours and 30 Funded Hours.
Worth knowing. 15 Funded Hours sessions run 09:30-14:30; 30 Funded Hours sessions run 09:00-15:00.
What childcare usually costs in Essex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Essex 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
CO1 1TYWhat 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.
- 22 April 2025 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
- 6 June 2024 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 27 September 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children build strong relationships with their key persons, who readily greet them on arrival. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff are caring and nurturing and respond to children's needs. Children seek them out when they need comfort, demonstrating these bonds. Children show kindness to their friends. They share well and play cooperatively with the toys and resources.
Staff have been successful in making changes to their approach to supporting children's behaviour. They have created spaces in the rooms for children to go to, away from busy areas to relax. Staff have developed a range of methods to begin to help children recognise and name their emotions. This has had a positive impact on the children. Staff help children to understand the routines of the day. They provide a timely reminder to children when it is nearly time to move to the next activity. This helps children to bring their play to a satisfactory end and prepares them for what comes next. As a result, children behave well and know what staff expect from them.
Children have daily opportunities to develop their physical skills. Babies learn to walk and move around as they use the low-level furniture to pull themselves up to a standing position. Older children explore the garden, climbing and balancing on tyres with support from staff.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- strengthen the quality of staff's teaching to consistently help build on what individual children know and can do to promote children's learning further n refine the organisation of mealtimes to further support children's independence and personal, social and emotional development.
- 27 September 2023Good
- 12 June 2023Inadequate
- 5 July 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Banana Moon Colchester
- 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.