Sonning Common Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Reading for from 2 years up to school age, open 08:30 to 16:00, 5 days a week. £60.90 a day for 2 Year Olds, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in January 2024. Open since 1993, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
| Age | Full day | Session | Hourly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Year Olds2y to 3y | £60.90All day | £30.45Morning or Afternoon | £10.152 Year Olds | |
| 3-4 Year Olds3y to 4y | £58.50All day | £29.25Morning or Afternoon | £9.753-4 Year Olds |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £2.50 Cooked school dinners
- £5.00 Early Drop Off
Funded hours
3 & 4 year old universal entitlement; Working parents of 2, 3 & 4 year olds extended early education funding; 15 hours of early learning for families in England receiving additional forms of support (TYF).
Worth knowing. Funded hours are 9am-3pm. At Sonning Common Pre-School we are able to offer 18 hours extended funding for those parents who are eligible.
What childcare usually costs in Oxfordshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Oxfordshire 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
RG4 9RJWhat 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, 12 January 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff warmly welcome children and their families at this inclusive pre-school.
Children happily enter the setting and are eager to find their friends and choose what they want to play with. For example, children choose to join their friends in decorating dinosaur models. They demonstrate their impressive listening skills as they hear stories being read to them. Staff's interactions with children are nurturing and supportive. They offer children lots of encouragement and praise when they try hard to achieve their best. This helps to support children's self-esteem and confidence.
Staff support children's communication and language skills well. They readily use new words to build on children's increasing vocabulary. For instance, as children help to make play dough, staff introduce descriptive words, such as sticky, floury and squidgy. Children then use these words in their own play. Children show their impressive problem-solving skills as they think of ways to remove the play dough from their hands. Staff provide ideas to some children who struggle to do this. This helps to support children's independence as they play.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- target staff's professional development needs more precisely to support their continuous professional development n review and improve the organisation of the key-person system to fully take account of the specific needs of the key children.
- 12 January 2024Good
- 20 March 2018Good
- 4 December 2014Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Sonning Common Pre-School
- Nappies
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 £60.90 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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.