St Andrews Playgroup
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.8 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Dartford for from 2 years 6 months up to school age, open 09:30 to 12:30, 5 days a week. £16.00 a session, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in September 2024. Open since 1993, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
The fees are £16 a session payable in advance within the first 2 weeks from the invoice date.
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
15 hours free early education for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
Worth knowing. Each child will be funded to maximum of 15 hrs per week over a minimum of 2 day. No session is to be longer than 10 hrs per day for 38 weeks per yr. For all 2, 3, 4 yr. olds accessing their FEE hrs only, the following pattern is Monday to Friday 9-30 to 12-30. Children attending non-funded sessions in addition to their FEE will be charged at our current rate.
What childcare usually costs in Kent
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Kent 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
DA1 1RFWhat 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, 10 September 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children and parents receive a warm welcome on arrival at this community playgroup. Children self-register by placing their photos onto their key person's flower picture and independently place their belongings onto the trolley. The enthusiastic staff are deployed around the hall. This encourages new children to happily separate from their parents as they seek out their key person. They are excited and eager to explore the activities that have been set up. Children quickly settle into their learning through play.
Staff know their children well. Before they start, staff spend time with children in their own home. This enables them to begin to build effective relationships with their children and families before they transition into the playgroup. They complete
'all about me' forms with parents and discuss the children's routines at home. Staff can then plan an exciting curriculum that is built around children's developmental next steps and current interests before they start. This helps support a smooth transition into playgroup life.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- review and improve processes for sharing information with parents to enable a consistent two-way flow of information.
- 10 September 2024Good
- 28 November 2018Good
- 10 June 2014Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for St Andrews Playgroup
- 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 £16.00 a session 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.