Pangbourne Valley Pre-School
Good★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Reading for children from birth to 8+, open 07:30 to 15:15, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in March 2023. Open since 1992, with 30 places.
What you might pay
This setting does not publish its fees, and no national dataset holds them. This is what childcare costs across the council, as a starting point for the call.
What childcare usually costs in West Berkshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in West Berkshire 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
RG8 7LBWhat 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, 1 March 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this warm and welcoming pre-school. The kind and caring staff provide a nurturing environment, where children feel safe and secure. Children form friendships with ease and play well together. For example, they pretend to be a member of staff reading a story. They sit on a chair, expertly face the book to their friends and describe what they see on each page. In this way, children copy staff teaching to support their own learning.
Children generally behave well. Staff sensitively guide children to use effective systems if minor disagreements do occur. For instance, when children want the same toy, a sand timer is used to encourage them to wait patiently for their turn.
Children show increasing independence when managing their self-care needs. For example, children wash their hands correctly at appropriate times in the day. They are reminded to wash away the germs before they eat. This helps children understand the importance of maintaining good health routines.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to plan more precisely for individual children's learning needs when children of mixed ages and abilities are grouped together n review the daily routines to give children more time to become fully engaged in their self-chosen play.
- 1 March 2023Good
- 23 June 2017Good
- 5 October 2016Needs improvement
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Pangbourne Valley Pre-School
- What it costs
- Funded hours
- 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
None of this is in any national dataset and this setting has not published it, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- Can I use my funded hours here? 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.