St Mary's Playgroup CIO
Ofsted report card Mar 2026Takes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A pre-school in Faversham for from 2 years up to school age, open 09:00 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £19.50 a session, and they take the funded hours. Inspected under Ofsted's new report card in March 2026. Open since 2024, with 26 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Session Rate: £19.50 per 3 hour session. (Reviewed annually)
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
Free Early Education funding for 3 to 4 year olds, entitling them to 15 hours of free childcare per week; Early Learning for 2 years olds funding is available for some 2 year olds; Working Parents Entitlements for children 9+ month is available for eligible working parents, parents you will be able to apply to HMRC for a maximum 30 hours per week for children 9+ months-3 years (From September 2025.
Worth knowing. Early Years Settings are not obliged to transfer Free Early Education Funding, this will be considered on an individual basis at the discretion of the manager and or the committee trustee’s.
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
ME13 8APWhat Ofsted found, area by area
Since November 2025 Ofsted gives a standard in each of seven areas rather than one overall grade. Expected standard means it is doing what it should.
What 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.
- 25 March 2026Report card seven areas graded separately Safeguarding: Met
Still missing for St Mary's Playgroup CIO
- 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Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date.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 £19.50 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.