Woodlands Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A pre-school in Hemel Hempstead for from 2 years up to school age, open 08:30 to 15:30, 5 days a week. £46.00 a day for 2-3 year olds, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in September 2025. Open since 2022, with 55 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.
| Age | Full day | Session | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-3 year olds2y to 3y | £46.00 | £5.50Charged for pick-ups after session ends. £24.00Morning or Afternoon, 3 hrs £32.00Morning + Lunch Club, 4 hrs | |
| 3-5 year olds3y to 5y | £42.00 | £5.00Charged for pick-ups after session ends. £21.00Afternoon or Morning, 2.5 hrs £28.00Morning + Lunch Club, 4 hrs |
Before you start
One-off charges to take a place.
- £25.00 Depositrefundable
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
15 and 30 free hours for eligible families, plus 2-year-old funding.
Worth knowing. Our session prices apply to privately paid places and are separate from funded childcare entitlement sessions.
What childcare usually costs in Hertfordshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Hertfordshire 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
HP1 1RZWhat 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.
- 23 May 2025 — Concern: actions taken what Ofsted published
Ofsted inspector, 12 September 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are eager to arrive and explore the wealth of exciting learning opportunities in this vibrant pre-school. Leaders and staff make the most of this exciting and unique environment, when supporting children's development.
Children have continuous access to outdoor play opportunities. They confidently dress themselves in their warm coats and boots and rush to explore the wooded area, creating dens, navigating natural equipment and creating delicious 'meals' in their outdoor kitchen area.
Children develop a love of books because staff create exciting play opportunities around their favourite story of 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Children paint pictures of bears and develop fine motor skills cutting out shapes of the characters. They create an exciting obstacle course, where they recall the story exploring language and developing physical skills. For example, they 'stumble' and 'trip' over various stepping stones and 'squelch' their way through the mud they have created out of blankets.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- evaluate the effectiveness of the current key-person system to better consider the individual needs of children, specifically during periods of staff absence n consider ways to better deploy staff throughout the day, enabling staff to provide consistently high-quality interactions at all times.
- 12 September 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 5 December 2024Needs improvement Safeguarding: Yes
Rated Good or Outstanding at 1 of the last 2 graded inspections.
Still missing for Woodlands 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 £46.00 a day 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.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.