Nacton & Bucklesham Under 5s
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Ipswich for from 2 years up to school age, open 08:45 to 15:15, 5 days a week. £8.00 an hour, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in February 2025. Open since 1992, with 24 places.
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 | Session | Hourly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £24.00fees, 3 hrs | £8.00Our hourly |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £1.00 a session Snackoptional; parents may supply their own snack at no cost instead
- £4.00 a session Early Drop Offnot eligible for government funding
Funded hours
Fully funded places (15 or 30 hours per week) for all eligible 2-, 3-, and 4-year-olds.
Worth knowing. No registration fees, top-up fees, or other mandatory charges; core funded hours operate during term time (38 weeks); currently offer up to 29.5 funded hours each week; any remaining hours may be used at another setting if you qualify for the full 30-hour entitlement.
What childcare usually costs in Suffolk
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Suffolk 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
IP10 0EUWhat 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, 3 February 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children enthusiastically enter the pre-school with high levels of confidence when welcomed by the staff, who are extremely caring and nurturing. Staff provide flexible, settling-in procedures which help children settle smoothly. Children immediately start playing and exploring, showing their excitement for the choice of activities available to them.
Children appreciate the continuous access to outdoor play. Regular trips in the community, such as woodland walks and visits to the local farm and beekeeper, foster children's sense of belonging and wonderment about the world they live in.
Children use the attractive outdoor resources to practise climbing, balancing and pedalling. Children have access to lots of resources that encourage them to develop their small-muscle strength in preparation for later writing.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- help staff to plan activities with a sharp focus on children's next steps in learning to consistently challenge and extend their learning through the opportunities provided n build on existing performance management systems to monitor staff's practice and help them raise the quality of teaching to an even higher level.
- 3 February 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 20 March 2019Good
- 4 February 2016Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Nacton & Bucklesham Under 5s
- 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 £8.00 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.