The Lighthouse Nursery School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Wallingford for from 1 year up to school age, open 08:00 to 17:30, 5 days a week. £78.00 a session for 2yr, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in November 2023. Open since 2016, with 70 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
1yr SD £70 1yr LD £80 2yr SD £69 2yr LD £78 3yr SD £68.25 3yr LD £74.5
One published rate, dated April 2025. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
12 hours funding available for 2 days a week; 15 hours funding; 18 hours funding available for 3 days a week; 24 hours funding available for 4 days a week; 30 hours funding 5 days a week.
Worth knowing. There are no mandatory charges for parents in relation to the funded hours. Fully funded places can be accessed between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday. For non funded places or differing hours of funding costs please ask.
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
OX10 7ANWhat 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, 14 November 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff welcome families and children in a warm and cheerful manner. They ask about children's mornings and engage in conversation with parents. This supports and develops children's sense of belonging and confidence. Children are quick to put their belongings away, ready to join their friends. They are eager to play and explore the range of activities available to them. Staff join children in their chosen activity, offering support where needed. Children know that they can ask for help and they develop resilience to setbacks.
Staff provide a range of learning experiences that build on what children know and can do. They engage in conversation and play, following the children's lead.
Through this, they know and understand the ways in which individual children learn. Staff build on children's next steps. For example, children become increasingly proficient in their fine motor skills. They learn to use one-handed tools to create art and serve themselves lunch.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- improve opportunities for the youngest children to develop their personal independence skills.
- 14 November 2023Good
- 19 April 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 2 graded inspections.
Still missing for The Lighthouse Nursery School
- Meals
- 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 £78.00 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.