Brookside Pre-school
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Ipswich for from 2 years up to school age, open 08:30 to 15:15, 5 days a week. £4.50 an hour, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in June 2022. Open since 1995, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
| Age | Session | Hourly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £6.503.30-4.30pm or After-School Club to 4.30, 1 hrs £7.50After-School Club to 5.00 or 3.30-5pm, 1.5 hrs £12.503.30-6pm or After-School Club to 6.00, 2.5 hrs | £4.00sibling £4.50Summer Holiday Club |
Funded hours
Early years funding for children from the term after they turn 3 and funded 2 year old places for eligible children.
What childcare usually costs in Suffolk
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Suffolk 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
IP2 9LQWhat 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, 21 June 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children benefit from a well-thought-out and varied range of educational opportunities. Staff talk to them about their previous experiences. They encourage children to talk about their trip to the park that they took for Father's Day. Children look forward to an upcoming pre-school summer outing and ask staff questions about going to the beach. Children are creative. They use their imagination and build on their ideas. For example, when children play with crafted flags in their mud castles, another child works out how to attach their flag to the wheeled toy they are riding. Staff support children to behave well by being positive role models and by setting clear expectations and boundaries. This helps children to learn how to play and learn together.
Children benefit from regular and purposeful interactions from staff. Some of the activities that children participate in are planned very well. For example, they enthusiastically join their friends as they role play going on an aeroplane. Children learn new words, such as 'pilot', 'tickets' and 'boarding pass'. Children show that they have learned what plants and bees need while they help to water the plants that they grow together in the outdoor area. They approach adults to share their play and learning and confidently seek staff's help when they need it.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- enhance the strategies to engage and support parents with helping their children to learn, develop and be healthy n find further ways to enhance the curriculum for the less-able children so that they receive more focused teaching that supports them to catch up with their peers more quickly.
- 21 June 2022Good
- 25 January 2022Inadequate
- 18 January 2019Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Brookside Pre-school
- Meals
- 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 £4.50 an hour 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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.