St Andrews Pre-school
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Reading for babies from 9 months up to school age, open sessions in term time, often mornings. £10.00 an hour, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in January 2025. Open since 1993, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Private Pre-school fees are then charged for the hours attended in excess of the funded entitlement at £10 per hour.
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
9 month – 4 years old for eligible working families; 2 year old children if the parent receives additional forms of government support; Universal 3 and 4 year old – available for all families.
Worth knowing. The free entitlement hours are spread across 38 weeks for a maximum of 15 or 18 hours per week based on the scheme you are entitled to. Funding is applied up to a maximum of 4.5 hours per day until the weekly maximum is reached.
What childcare usually costs in Reading
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Reading 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 7AWWhat 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, 30 January 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children enjoy the time they spend at the warm, welcoming and inclusive preschool. The highly effective and well-established key-person system supports children's emotional well-being and helps them to form secure attachments.
Children show a positive attitude to learning and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. They are keen to explore, investigate and take pride in their achievements. For example, when they develop new skills, they call to their key person to show them. Staff compliment children and provide lots of praise. These positive experiences help children develop a sense of achievement and an enthusiasm to learn.
Children make good progress from their starting points. Staff complete regular observations and assess their development effectively. This helps them to identify when children may need additional support. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Detailed meetings with parents and other professionals enable staff to share information about their care and learning needs. This enables them to provide children with the targeted support they need to succeed. Children successfully develop the skills they need for the future. For example, they complete tasks independently, show high levels of imagination, ask for help when needed and play harmoniously alongside their peers.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to help them to recognise when to adapt the activities and the teaching in response to children's interests n focus more on helping children to fully understand the rules and boundaries of the pre-school, particularly those that help children to keep themselves safe.
- 30 January 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 19 June 2019Outstanding
- 21 January 2015Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for St Andrews Pre-school
- 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 £10.00 an hour 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.