Kingfisher Kindergarten
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A pre-school in Reading for from 2 years up to school age, open 08:30 to 16:00, 5 days a week. £8.50 an hour for 2-3 years, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in January 2025. Open since 2017.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Term time only, 38 weeks a year.
| Age | Hourly | |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 years2y to 3y | £8.50 | |
| 3 and above3y to 5y | £8.00attend over their funded 15 hours |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £5.00 a session Breakfast ClubGovernment funded hours cannot be used towards these sessions.
- £10.00 a session After School ClubGovernment funded hours cannot be used towards these sessions.
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
15 hours universal for 3 & 4 year olds, 15 hours for eligible 2 year olds, 30 hours for working parents of 2, 3 & 4 year olds.
Worth knowing. Funded hours are valid from 9am-3pm, Monday - Friday. Government funded hours cannot be used towards Breakfast Club or After School Club sessions.
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
RG4 9LNWhat 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, 16 January 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are happy and settled and develop secure bonds with the kind and caring staff. Prior to starting, staff visit children in their own homes and invite them into the setting for prestart visits. This helps staff to find out about children's interests and care needs, and begin to develop relationships with them. Children demonstrate that they feel safe by moving independently around the setting and choosing what they want to play with.
Children have a positive attitude to learning and make good progress from their starting points. They benefit from staff's high expectations for what they can achieve. Assessment strategies are used well to track children's development and identify gaps in their learning. Leaders and staff work closely with families to help support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They make timely referrals to other agencies to ensure that children get the support they need.
Children behave well and have fun as they learn. Staff provide them with a good range of opportunities to take appropriate risks and provide them with challenges during their play. For example, as children ride balance bikes over a ramp, staff encourage them to explore ways of doing this safely. Children demonstrate high levels of resilience and use their critical thinking skills as they explore different ways of doing this. After a number of attempts, children conclude that they need to lean backwards when going up, and forwards when going down.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to have a clear understanding of the curriculum intent so that their teaching is consistently focused on what they want children to learn n strengthen the consistency of staff interactions to ensure that all children, particularly those less confident, engage fully in all activities.
- 16 January 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 3 April 2019Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 2 graded inspections.
Still missing for Kingfisher Kindergarten
- 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 £8.50 an hour 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.
- 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.