St Johns Green Playgroup
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Long established
A pre-school in Colchester for children from birth to 5, open 09:00 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £61.75 a day for 2 Years Old, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in January 2024. Open since 2016, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
£61.75 – All-day session
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for eligible 2-, 3-, and 4-year-olds, providing 15-hour and 30-hour places. All children are eligible for 15 hours of Free Early Education funding the term after their 3rd birthday.
Worth knowing. Parents are entitled to use their full allocation of funded hours without any additional session fees. Any hours beyond your funded entitlement will be charged at the standard rates listed above. Snack fees of 60p per half-day or £1.20 per full day are voluntary.
What childcare usually costs in Essex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Essex 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
CO2 7HEWhat 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, 9 January 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff create a warm, welcoming and nurturing environment for children. They are kind, caring and attentive to children's needs. These positive relationships help children to approach their learning and play with confidence and enthusiasm.
Children enjoy playing outdoors in the fresh air. They use their imagination and pretend to make dinner from the mud, leaves and sticks. Staff consider children's interests to promote their continued learning. For example, staff observe children enjoying playing with toy cars. They help the children predict what might happen when they push the cars down the slope in the garden. Children excitedly guess which car will travel the furthest.
Staff support children to engage in meaningful play. For instance, when children notice that the toy animals are dirty, staff help the children to bath the toys.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to continue to develop their knowledge and implementation of the curriculum, including their teaching skills
- support staff to strengthen their questioning techniques to give children time to think about and respond with their answers.
- 9 January 2024Good
- 10 July 2023Inadequate
- 21 March 2019Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for St Johns Green Playgroup
- Youngest age taken
- 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 £61.75 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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.