Play Days Academy
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.7 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Leicester for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 07:15 to 18:00, 5 days a week. £40.00 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2024. Open since 2016, with 80 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
51 weeks a year.
| Age | Full day | Session | Weekly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £40.00Holiday Play Scheme – full day £72.00 | £20.00Holiday Play Scheme – Morning or afternoon, 4 hrs £50.00Morning or Afternoon, 5 hrs | £311.00Full time place |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £8.00 an hour Holiday Play Scheme – Extended hour
What a funded hour still costs
Funded hours cover the childcare. These are charged alongside them.
- £9.00 a session 15 hours – Enhanced provision charge
- £9.00 a session Stretched funded sessions – 570 hours (15 hours) Enhanced11.18 hours per week over 51 weeks
- £18.00 a session Stretched funded sessions – 1,140 hours (30 hours) Enhanced22.35 hours per week over 51 weeks
- £18.00 a session 30 hours – Enhanced provision charge
Funded hours
15 and 30 hours, stretched across 51 weeks; funded entitlement offer for children from 9 months.
Worth knowing. Enhanced Provision Charge (EPC) applies alongside funded places: £18 per session for 30 hours, £9 per session for 15 hours. Meals, consumables, and additional hours are charged for separately. Booked sessions remain chargeable during periods of absence.
What childcare usually costs in Leicestershire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Leicestershire 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
LE2 9TLWhat 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, 30 October 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children help staff to carry out risk assessments in the garden. They identify potential risks, passing pieces of paper to staff when they find these on the ground. This helps children to take responsibility for maintaining a safe environment to play in. Children receive praise from staff for their achievements, helping to raise their self-esteem. For instance, staff give children in the toddler room a 'high five' when they remember familiar stories. Children who speak English as an additional language are supported with their language development and understanding. For example, staff use key words in their home language, and images that support children to follow daily routines. Children watch as staff use gestures to support their understanding of what is being said. This includes staff giving children a thumbs up to praise them for sharing play dough with their peers.
Children have opportunities to develop a love of books. In the baby room, when staff read to children, they let them turn the pages of the book, helping to maintain children's interest. In the toddler room, children are asked to remember familiar characters in stories and to talk about what they are wearing, such as a gingerbread character wearing buttons. Pre-school children use soft toys and act out favourite stories in their play. They remember and say key phrases from stories.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to encourage all older children to join in during group times, to help build on their confidence and learning n help staff to support older children to learn about what to do, and how, if they encounter potential hazards when they use the internet at home.
- 30 October 2024Good
- 21 November 2023Needs improvement
- 19 April 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Play Days Academy
- 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 £40.00 a day 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.