Rascals Childcare Limited
Good★ 4.1 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Rayleigh for children from birth to 8+, open 07:30 to 18:30, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in August 2023. Open since 2005, 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 Essex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Essex 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
SS6 9HPWhat 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, 17 August 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children thrive in the welcoming and supportive environment. They explore the available resources, chatting confidently to each other and staff. Children behave well and have a positive attitude to learning new skills. They listen to stories quietly, waiting with anticipation to find out what happens next in the book.
Toddlers use paintbrushes and balls to explore and make marks in sensory activities such as sand play. Pre-school children experience interest and fascination when they spot a spider and its web in the sandpit. Staff help children to learn to be gentle with the spider, carefully finding it a new home somewhere more suitable. Lots of related language helps children to consider the way the spider moves and how they build their webs.
Overall, children make good levels of progress from their starting points. Staff have high expectations for children's learning. They continually support and encourage children's achievements and progress. Pre-school children are confident communicators. They respond to staff's questions, using increasingly complex sentences. Children quickly pick up new words from their conversations with staff, that they repeat and use in context. Toddlers join in enthusiastically with nursery rhymes and songs. They follow staff's actions, clapping their hands and rolling their arms to 'Wind the Bobbin Up'.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- implement a broader and more ambitious curriculum, particularly for the younger children, to help them make the best possible progress in their learning n engage more effectively with parents and other settings that children also attend.
- 17 August 2023Good
- 20 February 2023Inadequate
- 27 June 2017Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Rascals Childcare Limited
- 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.