St. Mary's Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Horsham for babies from 3 months up to school age, open 08:30 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £9.50 an hour for children aged 2, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in September 2024. Open since 2009, with 32 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Children aged 2: £9.50
One published rate, dated September 2026. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
All children aged 3 & 4 are eligible for 15 hours funded entitlement. Your child may also be eligible for Local Authority 2yr funding or working families funding from the age of 9 months.
Worth knowing. It is possible to opt out of this fee - Please speak to us about this. NB. We no longer exclude lunch club from the funded entitlement. If you are entitled to any funding, this hour will now be included along with your morning and afternoon sessions up to the limit of your entitlement.
What childcare usually costs in West Sussex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in West Sussex 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
RH12 1JFWhat 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, 16 September 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children come into the pre-school excited to learn. Staff support those who are younger and less confident to settle, as they understand children's unique personalities and care needs. Children benefit from the kind and caring staff, who offer them the reassurance they need. Children quickly develop strong bonds with their key person, to help them become confident in the routines of pre-school. This supports children to have good levels of emotional well-being. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. As a result, children behave well and respect their peers. Children love to play together. They listen to and respect each other's ideas. For instance, as children race cars down a track, they guess which friend's car will be faster.
Staff create a curriculum that interests and motivates children to learn.
Opportunities for children to be physically active are supported well throughout the curriculum. For instance, when children play outdoors, staff teach them how to sit on bicycles. Children begin to push themselves around, gaining confidence in their new physical skills. Leaders ensure that any additional funding the pre-school receives is used effectively to meet individual needs and improve outcomes for children. For instance, where children need one-to-one support, this is provided.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- enhance staff understanding of the link between activities and the next steps for individual children's learning to help them focus teaching more precisely n enhance partnerships with parents to improve the two-way flow of information regarding children's learning and development and to support parents to continue their child's learning at home.
- 16 September 2024Good
- 24 September 2018Good
- 14 April 2015Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for St. Mary's Pre-School
- Meals
- 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 £9.50 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.