Castor and Ailsworth Preschool
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Peterborough for from 2 years up to 5 year olds, open 08:30 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £39.00 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in November 2021. Open since 1996, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
FULL DAY (9.00–3.30) £39.00
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
All children that attend our setting are entitled to use their 15 hours per week funded childcare from the term following their 3rd birthday. For eligible working families children starting the setting from 2 years old can also receive 15hrs of funding. . This means many eligible working parents will get 30 hours a week funding.
What childcare usually costs in Peterborough
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Peterborough 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
PE5 7AXWhat 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.
- 3 March 2025 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
- 6 October 2023 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 23 November 2021 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children arrive and separate from their parents or carers confidently. Children show a strong sense of belonging. For example, they independently find their name which shows them where to hang their coat, and put their lunchboxes on the trolley. The children wash their hands on arrival and are very familiar with these new routines since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children develop secure friendships with others. They smile warmly to greet their friends when they arrive and chat happily to them during the very social snack and mealtimes. Children readily demonstrate what they know. They talk about the pictures they have created and offer solutions about how to cool down their pretend soup.
Children behave well and have kind regard for their friends and the adults caring for them. Children confidently use number language in their play. For example, they talk about the amount of time they need to park their ride-on bike for and how much this costs. Children enjoy being physically active and create elaborate obstacle courses, making sure there are items to balance on, jump off and climb up. They take turns and show perseverance and determination as they move from one end of the course to the other.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to develop consistency when modelling language, to help young children to hear and use the correct pronunciation of words n promote all children's ability to make a wider range of choices about their selfchosen play, in particular when resources are stored out of sight.
- 23 November 2021Good
- 16 July 2013Outstanding
- 14 July 2010Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Castor and Ailsworth Preschool
- 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 £39.00 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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.