Humpty Dumpty Pre-School (Colchester)
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Colchester for children from birth to 5, open 09:00 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £35.00 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in July 2022. Open since 2010, with 26 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
| Age | Full day | Session | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £35.00 | £5.00Lunch Club £15.00Morning or Afternoon |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £5.00 a term Snacks (0-5 sessions)
- £10.00 a term Snacks (6-10 sessions)
Funded hours
15 hour and 30 hour funded sessions.
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
CO4 9GFWhat 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.
- 10 March 2022 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 11 July 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children enjoy their time at pre-school. They are keen to see their friends and play imaginatively together during the session. For example, children create aeroplanes from construction toys that they 'fly' around the room, pretending to be fighter pilots. Children are confident communicators. They use their good speech and language skills to talk to staff and each other. Older children who are due to start school enjoy practising their mathematical skills. They independently write down simple sums, such as one plus five equals six. They chat between themselves, encouraging each other to add higher numbers together. Children develop a love of books. They ask staff to sit with them in the book area. Children cuddle up to staff to listen to their favourite stories.
Children behave well. They remember to use their 'indoor voices' and 'walking feet'. Children learn good social skills. They wait for their friends to take turns at the snack table before sitting down for their fruit and a drink. Children manipulate play dough to create shapes, such as a cocoon for a caterpillar to sleep in. They proudly share their models with staff. Children explain that the caterpillar will go to sleep and wake up as a butterfly. They constantly receive lots of praise from staff.
This helps to raise children's self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- make greater use of opportunities, especially in role play, to encourage children to recreate their experiences and home lives in their play n build further on children's interest in mark making to enable them to learn to write independently for a purpose and support their early literacy skills.
- 11 July 2022Good
- 4 February 2022Inadequate
- 18 April 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Humpty Dumpty Pre-School (Colchester)
- 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
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.
- Is £35.00 a day still the rate? 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.
- 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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.