Nursery Advice
Claim Your Nursery

Rocking Horse Childcare

Ofsted: Good
(May 2025)
·
4.7(13 parent reviews) ·24 Chancellor Road, SOUTHEND-ON-SEA, SS1 2AS · Southend on Sea
Number of places
40 places
Age range
0–5 yrs
Last inspected
May 2025
Local authority
Southend on Sea

About this day nursery

Rocking Horse Childcare is a family-operated nursery in Southend, established by a mother and daughter duo with over 40 years of combined experience in early years education. They offer a nurturing environment for children, focusing on health and well-being.

The nursery provides engaging activities such as beach schools, yoga, and dance sessions, alongside nutritious home-cooked meals prepared by an in-house chef. They embrace a child-centred approach, integrating Froebelian principles to foster a love for learning and creativity.

The dedicated team focuses on creating enabling environments and building positive relationships through a key-person approach, ensuring individualised support for each child. They also work closely with families and external agencies to offer comprehensive support and cater to diverse needs, including those with special educational needs or allergies.

The nursery is committed to continuous staff development and an eco-friendly approach, all while prioritising play and exploration.

Our ethos

Our vision is to provide a safe, stimulating and nurturing environment through high quality care, where all children thrive. Our setting works closely with our community, local agencies and families to ensure children are supported, cared for and grow into happy, successful individuals. We follow a child-centred approach with a curriculum closely linked to Froebelian principles, where we aim to instil a love of learning and creativity, whilst ensuring that the children's well-being is central to everything we do. We value the importance of play with an ethos of interaction, not interfering, providing opportunities for intense interaction.

What it's like

Children are happy, settled and confident in this welcoming setting. They receive a friendly and warm welcome from staff, with whom they have formed secure bonds. Children benefit from a well-thought-out and ambitious curriculum that builds on what they already know and can do.

Family-runHealthy Early Years SettingChild-centred approachFroebelian principlesBeach schools

Pricing & funding

Funding accepted

15 hours — universal (3–4 yrs)30 hours — working parents (3–4 yrs)Tax-Free Childcare
Pricing on request

This nursery doesn't publish its fees online. Contact them directly for an up-to-date price list and availability.

Request pricing →

Key facts

Opening hours

Monday to Friday, between 07:30 and 18:00.

Term time / All Year

All Year

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Rocking Horse Childcare

Last inspected 7 May 2025

Safeguarding effective
Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good

What it's like to attend

Children are happy, settled and confident in this welcoming setting. They receive a friendly and warm welcome from staff, with whom they have formed secure bonds. Children benefit from a well-thought-out and ambitious curriculum that builds on what they already know and can do.

Inspector highlights

  • The leadership team is committed to providing high-quality care and education, continually evaluating and adapting the provision.
  • Staff effectively support children's emerging communication skills, introducing new vocabulary.
  • Children are eager to participate in a wide range of activities and experiences, developing positive attitudes to learning.
  • The leadership team focuses on building strong partnerships with parents.
  • Staff are offered support, coaching, and training, contributing to their well-being and motivation.

Areas to develop

  • 1enhance the organisation of transition times to ensure that children are fully engaged at these times
  • 2consistently support children's understanding of why there are rules in place so that they can learn to self-regulate their behaviour.
Inspection #10401679 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

What parents say

Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection

their children are happy and settled and that their individual needs are met

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Personalised strategies are in place to support children who require additional support. Staff are effective in engaging with other professionals when required. This ensures all children make progress from their starting points.

Outdoor space

Children are provided with experiences to broaden their knowledge about the world around them. For example, they take part in beach school sessions. This provides them with an opportunity to broaden their knowledge and learn how to keep themselves safe when outside the setting.

Parent Reviews of Rocking Horse Childcare

4.7
(13)
Alice Cross
5 months ago

My son has been attending Rocking Horse Childcare in Southend since he was 4 months old. He is now 2 years, 8 months. It is a second home for him, he loves everything about nursery, the staff, the toys, his friends and the ample amount of love they give each and every child. My son has medical needs as well as additional needs and each staff know him so well and excellently meet all of his needs, despite these forever changing. They are all skilled with their own wealth of experience and it shows in the care they provide. Seeing him so happy, excited to go to nursery and talking about all the fun he has at nursery says it all. From someone who worked in Early Years for 8+ years, they really are the best around. I can't wait for his little brother to join the family at Rocking Horse Childcare!

Read on Google
Gemma Henesy
a year ago

Rocking Horse Nursery is brilliant! My son has been going for the last year and a half and I can't recommend them more highly. Their level of understanding of children's needs at each stage is outstanding and they communicate this with parents brilliantly. ALL staff are fantastic, transitioning to different rooms feels very holistic and all the staff are so engaging, friendly, open and encouraging. My daughter went to a different nursery and I feel so lucky that I found and got a place for my son here as I can really see the difference in care and especially parent communication.

Read on Google
Reshma Kurian
6 months ago

My son is 8 months old and he is currently enjoying his nursery days. We never had an previous experience before in any childminder or nursery , but Rocking horse child care is absolutely fantastic and we are damn sure he will be safe and well there👍👍

Read on Google
Allison Summers
a year ago

My son has been attending Rocking Horse since 2023, and I cannot rate them highly enough. Every day, he goes in happy and leaves smiling. All the staff are amazing, nurturing, and truly care about the children. My son has multiple allergies, and their chef personally caters to his needs with home-cooked meals. Lisa and Amy have done a fantastic job creating a nursery that maintains such a personal touch.

Read on Google
Georgina Osman
2 years ago

Both of our children go here and we can honestly say you will find no childcare better. Rocking Horse Childcare treat the children as your own, it feels like a family. They have the most fantastic app that allows us to see what they have eaten, what they are doing and the wonderful photo updates of their achievements and daily activities. We would 100% recommend, as this truly is a perfect setting with the exceptional knowledge from the staff to the healthy cooked meals you will find no better! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do for our children.

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Rocking Horse Childcare. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Date: May 2025

  • June 2025Good
  • May 2025Good

Frequently asked about Rocking Horse Childcare

About the setting

Rocking Horse Childcare Ltd registered in 2023 and is based in Southend on Sea. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, all year round, from 7.30am to 6pm. The nursery employs 18 members of childcare staff, 14 of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and above.

URN
2732475
Registered person
Rocking Horse Childcare Ltd
Day care type
Full day care
Register
Early Years Register
Establishment type
Childcare on non-domestic premises

Nearby day nurseries in SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

Other Ofsted-registered day nurseries close to Rocking Horse Childcare.

Are you the owner of this nursery? Claim this listing to manage photos, hours and contact details.

Claim listing

Share this nursery

Send to a partner, friend or family member.

This listing has been compiled from official Ofsted records, the nursery's own website, details provided directly by the nursery where available, and other trusted public sources. We regularly review and update listings to keep the information as accurate as possible. Learn more