Vicarage Farm Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 5Open for decades
A day nursery in Wellingborough for from 1 year up to 5 year olds, open 08:30 to 14:30, 5 days a week. £6.00 an hour, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in September 2024. Open since 2004, with 26 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 April 2025.
| Age | Hourly | |
|---|---|---|
| All ages | £6.00Fees £6.20Session fees |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £20.00 Late payment feelate payments
- £20.00 Late feechild collected after 2.30 pm
What a funded hour still costs
Funded hours cover the childcare. These are charged alongside them.
- £1.00 an hour Snack, Consumables and Sustainability Charge/Feefor those in receipt of the NEG excluding those in receipt of EYPP; 15
- £3.00 to £6.00 a session Snacks, non-consumables and additional activities chargefor those in receipt of the NEG; voluntary payment
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
15 or 30 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year.
Worth knowing. Voluntary consumables charge of £6 per 6 hour session and £3 per 3 hour session; opting out requires providing snacks and other items.
What childcare usually costs in North Northamptonshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in North Northamptonshire 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
NN8 5WAWhat 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, 6 September 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children's safety is promoted well. For example, when they play outdoors in hot and sunny weather, staff remind them to wear hats. Staff reinforce phrases, such as 'no hat, no out', helping particularly younger children to understand what is expected of them. Children help staff to carry out safety checks in the garden.
They identify and minimise risks, such as removing litter. This helps children to learn how to provide a safe space for them to play.
Children have opportunities to learn about feelings and emotions. Staff look at books with children that show different facial expressions. Younger children begin to name how the images of monsters are feeling in the book. Older children are supported to talk about what makes them feel a certain way and who to go to for comfort. Older children tell staff that monsters make them sad and they will go to their mummy. Children learn the concept of floating and sinking when they play in water. For instance, staff show them that if they drop a stone into water, it will sink, and if they add pom-poms to the water, they float. Staff take children to shops, such as to buy milk for their peers at snack time. Children learn about people who help them and are keen to tell visitors, on their return, that they asked the shop assistant for a receipt.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support all staff to implement teaching strategies gathered from attending training courses to build on children's speaking skills.
- 6 September 2024Good
- 17 September 2018Good
- 3 July 2015Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Vicarage Farm Pre-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 £6.00 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.