Penrith Pre-School Nursery
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Open for decades
A day nursery in Penrith for from 1 year 4 months up to 5 year olds, open 08:30 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £4.00 an hour for 16 months to 3 years, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in November 2022. Open since 1960, with 48 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
They are held each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning from 9.30am to 11.30am and cost £4 per hour.
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
Up to 30 hours of free nursery care per week; funded two year olds entitled to 570 hours annually.
What childcare usually costs in Westmorland and Furness
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Westmorland and Furness 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
CA11 7TRWhat 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, 24 November 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are safe at this nurturing pre-school, which follows an ethos of celebrating the individual. They develop strong bonds with staff, who welcome and encourage them throughout the day. Children talk excitedly about seeing their friends and play happily together. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They help children to take turns and think about what makes their peers happy or sad.
This helps to provide a calm atmosphere for children to play and learn. Children are busy explorers. Younger children experiment with rolling pinecones as staff talk to them about texture. Older children strengthen small muscles in their hands as they cut fresh herbs and slice lemons. Children enjoy these sensory activities and begin to build focus as they concentrate for longer periods of time.
Children respond quickly to staff when it is time to gather for snack or stories. They listen carefully to what staff say, helping to choose which book or song they would like. They learn new words as they sing and identify vegetables in a favourite book.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- further extend the modelling of thinking skills to help children begin to verbally reason for themselves.
- 24 November 2022Good
- 3 March 2017Good
- 17 June 2013Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Penrith Pre-School Nursery
- 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 £4.00 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.