Sunrise Nursery
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Long established
A day nursery in Chelmsford for children from birth to 5, open 8am to 6pm. £23.40 a session, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in May 2024. Open since 2016, with 28 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Term time only, 38 weeks a year, price list dated September 2026 – July 2027.
| Age | Session | |
|---|---|---|
| All ages | £23.40non-funded childcare sessions £31.20non-funded childcare sessions £54.60non-funded childcare sessions |
Before you start
One-off charges to take a place.
- £20.00 registration feeincludes a free book bag
What a funded hour still costs
Funded hours cover the childcare. These are charged alongside them.
- £7.50 a session 3 hour sessiongovernment funded children
- £10.00 a session 4 hour sessiongovernment funded children
- £17.50 a session 7 hour sessionsgovernment funded children
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
All children over the age of 3 are eligible for state funded education for 15 hours per week over 38 weeks. Children of working parents may also qualify for additional extended 15 hours. 2-year-old funding is available for families on financial assistance.
Worth knowing. For government funded children we ask for an additional contribution of: 3 hour session £7.50, 4 hour session £10.00, 7 hour sessions £17.50. There is no additional cost for consumables.
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
CM1 7DNWhat 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, 1 May 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children thoroughly enjoy spending time in this warm, welcoming and stimulating environment. They settle well and display high levels of engagement. Staff are friendly, caring and attentive. Children build strong and trusting relationships with the staff who know them well. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Children have positive attitudes to learning and confidently explore the environment with interest and curiosity. For example, outside, they excitedly tell visitors they have found a slug, explaining 'It's like a snail, but without a shell.' They splash in puddles and then fill them with mud to make 'pies'.
Children are extremely sociable and mature communicators. They are friendly to visitors and confidently introduce themselves and explain what they are doing. For example, they are keen to explain the rules of the card game they are playing and who is winning. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and they are good role models. Children learn to share and take turns. They are kind and polite and ask their friends if they can play with the resources after they have finished playing with them. Children enjoy using a range of craft materials to foster their creativity. Outside, children throw and catch balls, balance across tyres, and pedal themselves around in ride-on cars, helping to support their physical development.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- improve the planning of adult-led activities to focus more precisely on targeted learning intentions, to help children make the best possible progress n strengthen processes for sharing information about children's learning and development with parents to help them support and extend their children's learning at home.
- 1 May 2024Good
- 14 June 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 2 graded inspections.
Still missing for Sunrise Nursery
- 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 £23.40 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.
- 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.