The Stables Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.9 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Chelmsford for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in May 2023. Open since 2000, with 120 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
30 hour funded places for those eligible, the working parents funding entitlement from 9 months.
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
CM2 8TSWhat 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, 3 May 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children and their families are warmly welcomed into the nursery. Overall, children benefit from meaningful teaching. Children demonstrate a positive attitude to their learning and show an interest in the resources and activities provided. Younger children are shown how to use a spade to fill their bucket with sand. This supports them to develop their physical strength and hand-to-eye coordination. Babies are encouraged to feel the texture of the sand with their fingers. Staff encourage young children to roll their cars down a raised plastic tube. They introduce language, such as 'ready, steady, go', and support the children to differentiate between the fast and slow cars. Younger children explore frozen ice. They eagerly use their hammers to break the ice to reveal the hidden toy fish.
Older children use magnifying glasses to search for bugs and use the outdoor tap to fill watering cans to make 'mud pies' and 'potions'. They play happily alongside each other, sharing ideas and taking turns. Staff provide children with opportunities to recall past experiences that strengthen their memory. They engage in critical thinking and speculate about what might happen next. For example, staff and children chat excitedly about what would happen if they added more water and possible flavours to the mud pies.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff further to have a clear understanding of the curriculum intent, so that their teaching consistently focuses on what they want children to learn n strengthen training and coaching opportunities for staff to identify further training needs.
- 3 May 2023Good
- 8 November 2022Inadequate
- 16 November 2016Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for The Stables Nursery
- What it costs
- 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.
- 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.