Ladybirds Pre-school (Porchester Road)
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Southampton for children from birth to 5, open 08:45 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £21.00 a session, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in March 2022. Open since 2011, with 26 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
From September 2026 - all children · £21.00 (AM/PM session)
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
2 year funding, 3 & 4 year funding, 30 hours free childcare.
What childcare usually costs in Southampton
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Southampton 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
SO19 2JBWhat 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, 8 March 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are greeted warmly. Staff are friendly, engaging and have deep bonds with children. This helps children feel safe and secure. Staff have high expectations for children. Children play cooperatively with each other. For example, they push cars back and forth between themselves.
Overall, children make good progress. They listen well to staff and have a good understanding of the boundaries. Children are repeatedly read to. They have favourite stories and they retell parts of the story confidently. Children bring their love of stories into their play. For instance, they look for snail shells out in the garden for 'Norman the slug' as they recreate the story. Children replicate their experiences in their play. For example, children set up a 'picnic' and use bean bags as 'crisp packets'. They expertly model the skills they have learned during lunchtimes. On this occasion, children demonstrate how to open the 'crisp packets'
with a pinching movement.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: - strengthen the quality of education even further, with emphasis on developing staff's implementation of strategies in place to support children with SEND.
- 8 March 2022Good
- 24 June 2015Outstanding
- 18 July 2011Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Ladybirds Pre-school (Porchester Road)
- Youngest age taken
- Meals
- Nappies
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 £21.00 a session 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.