Clever Cloggs Day Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.7 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Little Canfield, Takeley for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 07:00 to 19:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2024. Open since 2022, with 126 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
The Nursery offer funding sessions for eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
Worth knowing. All funded hours are stretched over 51 weeks, as we close for one week over Christmas and New Year.
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
CM6 1FFWhat 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, 15 October 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children form secure and loving bonds with staff and they settle exceptionally well.
Staff show the children that they enjoy their company. They excitedly play with them and make them laugh. Staff provide an excellently well-resourced learning environment. Children get to experience a range of sensory resources that allow them to explore different textures and smells. Staff skilfully build on children's language skills in play. They routinely add new words into their vocabulary and explain their meaning, such as 'sphere'. Staff provide a range of activities to develop children's fine motor skills ready for early writing. Younger children concentrate as they press 'googly' eyes, feathers and sticks into play dough to create owls. Staff skilfully use this opportunity to extend children's knowledge in other areas, such as naming body parts and counting.
Staff provide a range of activities that help children understand their own and others' feelings. Children learn to express themselves and regulate their emotions.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- build on the already good teaching, supporting staff to provide further opportunities for children to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- 15 October 2024Good
Still missing for Clever Cloggs Day Nursery
- What it costs
- 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.
- 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.