Crescent Under Fives
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Reading for from 2 years 6 months up to school age, open sessions in term time, often mornings. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in June 2024. Open since 2001, with 26 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
2½ year old FUNDED sessions - where eligible; 3 or 4 year old 15 hours FUNDED sessions - these are available from the term AFTER your child's 3rd birthday; 3 or 4 year old extended 30 hours FUNDED - were eligible.
Worth knowing. There is no funding for the Lunch club and the Lunch club cannot form part of the Funded Hours.
What childcare usually costs in Reading
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Reading 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
RG6 1JRWhat 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.
- 6 February 2026 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 24 June 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children arrive happy and show much affection for the caring staff team. They form strong emotional bonds with staff and demonstrate a sense of belonging in the safe environment. Staff know their key children well and have clear intentions for what they want children to learn next. Children are eager to play and motivated to learn.
They play cooperatively with their friends and clearly enjoy their time they spend at the pre-school. Staff sequence children's learning well to support their progress over time. As a result, all children make good progress.
Staff are very sensitive in supporting children who initially struggle to settle into the setting. They work closely with parents to ease the transition from home. Staff plan a broad and inclusive curriculum around the children's interests. Children busily play in a calm environment where they can explore various resources. They thoroughly enjoy being physically active outside, where they climb, paint, care for the plants and develop small muscle movements as they use pegs to hang socks on the line. Children squeal with excitement as they observe and compare how far they can roll toy cars, when launched down a tube.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- review the organisation between routine tasks and activities, so that children have more time to develop their emerging interests n continue to monitor and focus on strengthening staff practice to raise the quality of teaching practice to even higher levels.
- 24 June 2024Good
- 3 December 2018Outstanding
- 5 June 2014Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Crescent Under Fives
- What it costs
- Meals
- Nappies
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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.