Smile Day Nursery & Out of School Club
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Carnforth for children from birth to 8+, open 07:30 to 18:00, 5 days a week. £41.50 a day for over 2, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2024. Open since 2003, with 68 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
51 weeks a year, price list dated April 2019.
| Age | Full day | Session | Hourly | Weekly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 2birth to 2y | £43.507 hours £46.009 hours | £28.004 1/2 hours, 4.5 hrs | £6.50Early starts or late finishes | £225.00Full Time (5 days @ 9 hours/day) | |
| Over 22y to 5y | £41.507 hours £44.009 hours | £26.004 1/2 hours, 4.5 hrs | £6.00Early starts or late finishes | £215.00Full Time (5 days @ 9 hours/day) | |
| All ages | £25.00Holiday Time £29.00Holiday Time | £12.00Half Day, 1.5 hrs £20.00Holiday Time £26.00Short Day, 4.5 hrs £32.00Daily, 6 hrs | £5.00Holiday Time | £140.00Holiday Time |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £2.25 light tea
- £5.00 Lunches
- £5.00 cooked lunch
- £6.00 per 15 minutes Late CollectionAnytime
Discounts
- 10% sibling discountsiblings in the out of school club or nursery
Funded hours
Government funded hours are now available for 9 months plus, depending on your circumstances. Funding from Westmorland & Furness Council is available for parents/carers wishing to choose Smile as their nursery education provider. This is an entitlement of upto 30 hours of funding per week for 38 weeks of the year. We can be very flexible and can in fact stretch this to cover 51 weeks.
Worth knowing. We offer flexible use of the Government’s free 15 hours for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, which can be spread over 51 weeks of the year.
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
LA6 2NPWhat 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, 28 October 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Friendly and enthusiastic staff welcome children and parents as they arrive. Staff get to know children and their families well and use this knowledge to engage children in conversations. Children quickly form strong bonds with the attentive staff, who welcome children when they come to them for stories or reassuring cuddles. Children show that they feel safe and happy. Staff play alongside children, acting as positive role models. They teach children how to share. For example, staff invite the youngest children to swap resources with each other. As children develop, they learn to ask their peers for a turn. Staff actively promote kindness and gentle hands. The atmosphere is calm, and children demonstrate good behaviour and manners.
The nursery has purposefully organised the environment to encourage children to explore. The provider carefully chooses resources to match the age groups of the children in each room. Staff help children to develop their imaginations, such as challenging them to think how they could use a chosen resource. In addition, staff add in topic-related resources to capture children's curiosity. Children show they are keen to engage in learning through play with staff and their peers. They eagerly join in activities and games. Staff are mindful of inclusion as they support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to join in activities.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- target the arrangements for continuous professional development to help staff to build on their knowledge of child development across the curriculum.
- 28 October 2024Good
- 7 December 2018Outstanding
- 17 February 2014Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Smile Day Nursery & Out of School Club
- 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 £41.50 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.
- 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.