Smiles
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Billingham for babies from a few weeks old up to school age, open 07:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in December 2023. Open since 2016, with 65 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
15 or 30 hours of funding.
Worth knowing. We've never charged top-up fees for funded hours; funded sessions are booked on set days; no charge if child isn't booked in (e.g. holiday).
What childcare usually costs in Stockton-on-Tees
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Stockton-on-Tees 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
TS23 4AAWhat 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, 5 December 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children benefit from an interesting curriculum and show enjoyment in their learning. Staff listen to children and plan experiences based on their interests as well as their stages of development. This helps them to stay engaged and excited to learn for long periods of time. Babies thoroughly enjoy sensory play with ice and foam. Staff support them to touch the different textures and offer praise when they participate. Toddlers show good levels of concentration as they use tweezers to put the 'baubles' on their tree. Older children are keen to use small brushes to paint over the snowflake patterns and demonstrate good fine motor skills.
The manager and staff team provide a warm, nurturing environment for children and their families. Children develop strong bonds with staff and show they feel secure in the nursery. They seek reassurance from their key person and sit close to them during activities. A key strength of the nursery is the way staff help children to become aware of their own community and the wider world. Since the COVID-19
pandemic, the manager has identified gaps in some children's language, and personal, social and emotional skills. Overall, staff focus their teaching in these areas of children's learning.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- help all staff to focus their teaching on developing children's communication and language skills, so this is consistently embedded in the nursery - enhance the curriculum outdoors so children who prefer to learn here are consistently challenged.
- 5 December 2023Good
- 18 April 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 2 graded inspections.
Still missing for Smiles
- What it costs
- 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.
- What does it cost, all in? 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.