Meadows Mere Nursery School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.9 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Eastbourne for babies from 9 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 They do not publish prices, so ask.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 May 2023. Open since 1998, with 60 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
15 funded hours per week : The ‘universal entitlement’ for all children available from the term after they turned 3 years old and Available for Families with children aged 2 years receiving some form of assistance. 30 funded hours per week - Working Parents’ entitlement : Available for children from 9 months old meeting Working Parents’ eligibility criteria.
Worth knowing. The funded hours are available from the term after the child’s relevant birthday. These are for 38 weeks per academic year (‘Term Time attendance’), alternatively the hours can be stretched with reduced weekly funded hours across all full weeks of our operating year (‘Stretched or Full Year attendance’).
What childcare usually costs in East Sussex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in East Sussex 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
BN23 6TAWhat 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, 9 May 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children display good manners and behaviour. They are happy, enjoy each other's company and play well together. Overall, they are learning to manage their own behaviour well and can successfully resolve some issues without adult support.
Staff encourage children to talk about their emotions and help them to understand the impact of their behaviour on others. Furthermore, children enjoy doing things for themselves. For example, younger children wash their own plates and cups after snack and older children hang up their own coats. Staff support children's independence right from the outset, which helps to prepare them well for their next stage in learning.
Children successfully develop their communication and language skills. Staff use a range of ways, such as picture cards and visual timetables, to help children understand what is coming next. This supports children who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- improve group activities to ensure they meet the needs of all children and build on their listening and attention skills n review strategies for transition times to ensure children do not wait for too long between activities.
- 9 May 2023Good
- 14 September 2017Good
- 17 March 2015Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Meadows Mere Nursery School
- What it costs
- 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.
- 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.