Deerlands Day Nursery
GoodBirth to 5Open for decades
A day nursery in Chelmsford for children from birth to 5, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in March 2025. Open since 2002, with 50 places.
What you might pay
This setting does not publish its fees, and no national dataset holds them. This is what childcare costs across the council, as a starting point for the call.
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
CM3 6LSWhat 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 August 2024 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 7 March 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children feel safe and secure, as they skip confidently into the nursery that they are incredibly proud of attending. Children's well-being is promoted with tailored settling-in processes. A robust key-person system is in place, ensuring children build strong and nurturing attachments with staff from the start. Because staff know them so well, they ensure children have access to their favourite resources to help them settle seamlessly as they transition through the nursery.
Staff create environments that are inviting and stimulating and support all areas of learning. Children enjoy trips in the local community and forest school that is on site, as well as daily play outside in the nursery garden. Staff have good knowledge of how children learn. They embed a curriculum that supports sequenced learning effectively through interesting activities and experiences that they plan for children.
For example, toddlers have fun manipulating dough and using tools to make pretend pancakes. This helps to strengthen their fingers and small muscles in their hands to support their early writing skills.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to develop their already good teaching and interactions so that children consistently receive higher levels of challenge in their learning n help staff develop the use of questioning to support children's thinking skills and help them to recall and use new vocabulary meaningfully.
- 7 March 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 17 April 2019Good
- 27 August 2015Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Deerlands Day Nursery
- What it costs
- Funded hours
- Youngest age taken
- 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
None of this is in any national dataset and this setting has not published it, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- Can I use my funded hours here? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? 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.