Padbury Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 5Long established
A pre-school in Buckingham for children from birth to 5, open 08:45 to 15:00, 5 days a week. £7.50 an hour, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2023. Open since 2013, with 19 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
| Age | Session | Hourly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £15.00Afternoon £22.50A morning | £7.50Our hourly |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £2.00 a session Early starter session
- £3.75 a session Morning Club
What a funded hour still costs
Funded hours cover the childcare. These are charged alongside them.
- £3.00 a day Voluntary Consumable Charge
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
2 and 3 year old 15 & 30 hours funding.
Worth knowing. Parents can access funded hours from 8:30-5:30 Monday to Thursday and from 8:30-5 on a Friday according to their entitlement of 15 or 30 hours. Anything above this is charged at the rates shown.
What childcare usually costs in Buckinghamshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Buckinghamshire 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
MK18 2APWhat 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, 31 October 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are happy and at ease within this nurturing pre-school. They are warmly greeted by staff, who know the children and their families well. Children enter the setting with confidence. They behave well and demonstrate that they feel safe. On the day of inspection, children and staff arrive dressed up to join in with their planned Halloween celebrations.
Overall, children settle well to choose activities that support their learning.
Children's mathematical development is supported well by staff. For instance, they encourage children to count objects as they play and point out different sizes and shapes in the environment. Outside, children enjoy the range of activities on offer, including exploring water to investigate if items sink or float. Children count securely and have a good understanding of shape and size. Children enjoy listening to stories. They develop a love of books as they recall rhyming sentences from well-known stories and short poems. Staff and children benefit from recent training that has focused on the importance of rich language opportunities.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- strengthen the monitoring of staff's practice so that all staff receive support to continually raise teaching skills
- review and improve the noise levels in the main room to help children with SEND
to feel settled and to support older children's abilities to enhance their listening and concentration skills.
- 31 October 2023Good
- 6 February 2018Good
- 17 September 2014Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Padbury Pre-School
- 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 £7.50 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.
- 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.