Caterpillars Pre-School (Sussex) Limited
GoodTakes funded hours★ 3.5 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Crawley for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 08:00 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £48.00 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in March 2022. Open since 2016, with 52 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Term time only, 38 weeks a year.
| Age | Full day | Session | Hourly | Weekly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £48.00 | £24.00AM SESSION or PM SESSION | £8.00term time sessions | £240.00FULL WEEK |
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
15 hours universal funding for 3/4 year olds, 2 year old funding, 9 months+ funding, and up to 15 hours extended free entitlement.
Worth knowing. Funding can be used over 38 weeks @ 15 hours per week; a total of 15 hours can be taken using AM, PM or All day sessions.
What childcare usually costs in West Sussex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in West Sussex 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
RH11 8QLWhat 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 March 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children enjoy their time at the pre-school and become completely engrossed in their pretend play. They show great delight and enthusiasm in engaging staff in their chosen imaginative play experiences, such as making potions. Staff are skilled at weaving in what children need to learn next in these interactions, such as extending their communication and language skills. Children relish outdoor play and choose to spend most of their time in the garden. They become fully involved in developing their car wash, which staff support to great effect. Children confidently explain what they are doing and freely express their enjoyment.
Mealtimes are social events where all children and staff sit together. This helps the youngest children to develop good social skills. Children talk with staff during these times about healthy eating.
The manager has clear ambitions for the care and learning of all children and shares these readily with staff. This enables them to work together in their goals for the curriculum and provide good-quality outcomes for children. Older children thoroughly enjoy their story sessions, where they pretend to go on a dragon hunt.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- increase staff's understanding of how to embrace children's cultural backgrounds and how to plan more effectively for this n explore different ways to enable children to learn more about managing turn taking independently.
- 21 March 2022Good
- 18 October 2021Inadequate
- 2 March 2017Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Caterpillars Pre-School (Sussex) Limited
- 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.
- Is £48.00 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.