Dickory Docks Educational Day Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.8 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Reading for babies from 3 months up to school age, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in June 2023. Open since 2014, with 80 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
Up to 30 funded hours for eligible families. Eligible working parents in England may be able to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week from the term after a child turns nine months until they start school, subject to government criteria.
Worth knowing. Government-funded childcare may not cover extras such as meals, consumables, additional hours or optional services. Ask for the current Dickory Docks fee and funding policy.
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
RG30 4EXWhat 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, 26 June 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children settle well in the care of staff. The care of babies is tailored to their individual needs, and staff follow their home routines. Staff support all children with caring and warm interactions. This helps children to feel safe and secure.
Children mostly behave well. Pre-school children learn about their feelings and how to manage them. Children throughout the nursery develop their confidence effectively and gain good social skills.
Staff are keen for children to learn and progress. They have a secure knowledge of children's needs, including their next steps in learning and those who may need extra support. On occasion, not all staff promote the learning intentions of the curriculum fully. Children enjoy interesting and engaging activities across all rooms.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- review arrangements for managing changes in the daily routines, such as mealtimes, to ensure staff provide a calm approach and atmosphere to support and meet children's needs consistently at these times n ensure staff promote children's good health more consistently, including encouraging younger children to drink water at appropriate times, to support their well-being n continue to build on the good monitoring approach in place to identify and support staff's professional development more precisely, to raise the quality of their practice further.
- 26 June 2023Good
- 2 January 2019Good
- 20 August 2015Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Dickory Docks Educational 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.