The Early Years Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Kidlington for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 07:30 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in September 2023. Open since 2016, with 50 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
Government funding for children 9 months and above can be used at the nursery. Many parents can qualify for 30 hours of working family funding for children over 9 months old. All 3-4 year old children are entitled to 15 hours of Universal funded early years education the term after their third birthday. Other funding is available for 2 years olds in certain circumstances.
Worth knowing. Funding is only paid for 38 weeks of the year, and is paid in termly assessments. We operate the ‘stretch funding scheme’ so this is spread out evenly across the 51 weeks per year that we are open. Therefore 15 or 30 hours becomes 11.17 or 22.35 hours per week over 51 weeks.
What childcare usually costs in Oxfordshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Oxfordshire 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
OX5 1QTWhat 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, 27 September 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff know the children well and provide strong levels of support for children's needs, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They offer children uninterrupted experiences at nursery, where they make decisions about their play and lead their own learning. Older children show high levels of motivation and enthusiasm, as they take manageable risks outdoors or solve problems with their friends. They show an eagerness to explore and share their discoveries. For example, children marvel at the collection of insects they find under a tree stump. They excitedly compare the length of the worms and calculate the number of legs on the beetles they see. Babies show equal motivation in their physical play and exploration. They show high levels of perseverance as they work out how to manoeuvre around an obstacle and through trial and error assure their own success.
Across the nursery, staff place high priority on supporting children's emotional wellbeing. Nurturing staff foster children's sense of self-worth and establish trusting relationships. They place a strong focus on supporting children to regulate their emotions, empowering children to work through their feelings in a way that is meaningful to them. Children play well together in small friendship groups, developing firm connections. They cooperate on tasks, such as scooping buckets of sand to create a giant chocolate cake. Children show they feel happy and settled.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- improve staff's support for children's developing communication and language skills so that children who show a delay in speaking and younger children gain confidence in using new language in their play n strengthen the delivery of the curriculum so that staff provide children with a wider range of opportunities to challenge their thinking and encourage them to solve problems.
- 27 September 2023Good
- 18 March 2022Outstanding
- 3 October 2017Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for The Early Years Nursery
- What it costs
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.
- What does it cost, all in? 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.