Clapham Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Bedford for from 1 year 6 months up to school age, open 08:30 to 16:00, 5 days a week. £7.00 an hour, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in January 2025. Open since 1992, with 59 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
£7.00 per hour
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
15 and 30 hours funded sessions per week to 3 & 4 year olds.
Worth knowing. All hours attended over funding (15 hours or 30 hours) received will be billed monthly using the hourly rate above.
What childcare usually costs in Bedford
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Bedford 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
MK41 6BPWhat 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, 16 January 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Management and staff warmly greet children on their arrival at the pre-school.
Staff offer children daily opportunities to practise the skills and knowledge they have been learning and to recall previous experiences. For example, older children eagerly recall a visit from the emergency services. They talk about how the emergency services help them and when to call '999'. Children enthusiastically make the sound of the emergency vehicle's siren. They demonstrate that they are happy, display confidence and show a positive attitude to their learning. Children behave well and enjoy the company of their friends.
Staff provide a good range of opportunities for children to practise their smallmuscle skills and hand-eye coordination. For example, children concentrate as they connect construction resources together and use their hands to manipulate dough.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- use every opportunity to extend children's learning during planned and spontaneous activities n review the organisation of group activities, including transitions, to better meet children's individual needs and learning outcomes.
- 16 January 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 12 June 2019Good
- 6 September 2018Needs improvement
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Clapham Pre-School
- 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 £7.00 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.