Harwell Day Nursery
Good★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Didcot for children from birth to 8+, open 07:30 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 They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask.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 June 2024. Open since 2015, with 92 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 Oxfordshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Oxfordshire 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
OX11 0QQWhat 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.
- 14 September 2026 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 27 June 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff make children feel extremely welcome, safe and secure. Children are greeted warmly at the front door and these positive interactions continue throughout the day. Leaders understand how important it is to children's sense of security to be cared for by staff they recognise and know well. Staff are deployed extremely well to ensure this is the case. Children respond by showing high levels of well-being.
Children of all ages are confident to move around the environment and approach and engage with staff. They know they will be helped to join in with all the exciting activities on offer. In turn, this effective practice helps build positive attitudes towards learning. Children behave well for their age, because staff are clear and consistent about expectations and gently support children to learn to share and consider the needs of each other.
Leaders are highly ambitious for all children. They have designed a detailed programme of learning that provides children with opportunities to develop a broad set of important skills in preparation for their future learning. Over their time at nursery staff build on children's skills. For example, staff clearly build on children's self-help skills as the move from the baby room, to the toddler room, to pre-school.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- strengthen some staff's understanding of the curriculum intent, to enable them to more precisely deliver teaching that focuses clearly on what children will most benefit from learning next.
- 27 June 2024Good
- 13 September 2018Good
- 9 October 2017Needs improvement
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Harwell 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.