Nursery Advice
Claim Your Nursery

The Wantage Nursery & Preschool

Ofsted: Expected standard·
3.9(7 Google reviews) ·6-7 Church Street, Wantage, OX12 8BL · Oxfordshire
Number of places
44 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Jun 2026
Local authority
Oxfordshire

About this early years setting

The Wantage Nursery & Preschool has a long-standing reputation for delivering exceptional childcare and high-quality early years education in Wantage. The nursery prides itself on its warm, caring team and a welcoming learning environment that fosters happiness, support, and a keen sense of exploration in children.

Catering to various age groups, the nursery offers dedicated rooms and specialised support for children at every developmental stage, ensuring individual routines, preferences, and personalities are understood and nurtured. Their Preschool program, for children aged 3 to 5 years, gently introduces more structure to help them develop confidence and independence for a smooth transition to school.

The nursery provides nutritious, home-cooked meals prepared daily by a chef, accommodating dietary needs and sourcing fresh ingredients locally. Learning and development are central, with each child assigned a Key Person who observes their play and plans engaging activities.

The setting is thoughtfully designed with a large, varied, and well-equipped garden, an all-weather indoor play space, and bright, stimulating rooms tailored to each age group, filled with a wide range of toys and learning materials. Children are encouraged to explore, discover, and learn through active, creative play, both indoors and outdoors, every day.

What it's like

Children are happy and settled in this fully inclusive nursery, welcomed by staff with warm smiles. They enjoy targeted activities that support their learning and develop exceptional behaviour, showing politeness and respect. Interactions between children and staff are genuine, responsive, and reciprocal, fostering confident communicators.

Home-cooked mealsExperienced teamPlay-based learningOutdoor play

Pricing & funding

Fees are paid monthly, with privately funded prices including all essentials such as nappies, meals, and snacks. The nursery stretches government funding over 52 weeks. Optional charges apply for care outside funded hours and a daily lunch charge is applicable on funded days if a home-cooked meal is provided.

Funding accepted

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

Good to know

  • Fees are paid monthly.
  • Privately funded prices include nappies, wipes, water, milk, breakfast (before 8.30am), morning and afternoon snacks, and a home-cooked hot lunch.
  • Funding is stretched over 52 weeks (15 hours becomes 11.17 hours, 30 hours becomes 22.35 hours).
  • A daily lunch charge applies on funded days if a home-cooked lunch is desired (£3.37).
  • No other consumables charges for parents during funded sessions.
  • For operational reasons, specific funding hour allocations apply based on days attended.

Key facts

Food

Home-cooked hot lunch, breakfast (before 8.30am), morning and afternoon snacks provided. Parents can provide packed lunch on funded days if they opt out of the lunch charge. Breast milk needs to be brought in by parents.

Age range

Poppets up to age 2, Tweenies up to age 3, Preschool from age 3 to 5 years.

Session types

Full-time (Monday to Friday, 7.30am–6.00pm)

Waitlist

Spaces fill quickly, early enquiry recommended.

Opening hours

Monday – Friday, 7:30 AM - 6:00 PM

Term time / All Year

All_year

Registered with Ofsted

19/08/2024

Ofsted Inspection — new report card

Expected standard

Last inspected Jun 2026

Headline: Expected standard

Grade summary

Exceptional
—
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
—
Urgent improvement
—

Each dot represents one of the six inspection categories. Headline is the average of the six grades, rounded up.

Category grades

AchievementExpected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routinesStrong standard
Children's welfare and wellbeingStrong standard
Curriculum and teachingExpected standard
InclusionStrong standard
Leadership and governanceExpected standard
Age range
0 to 4
Registers
Early Years Register
Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted report for The Wantage Nursery & Preschool

Last inspected 16 June 2026

What it's like to attend

Children are happy and settled in this fully inclusive nursery, welcomed by staff with warm smiles. They enjoy targeted activities that support their learning and develop exceptional behaviour, showing politeness and respect. Interactions between children and staff are genuine, responsive, and reciprocal, fostering confident communicators.

Inspector highlights

  • Safeguarding standards are met, with leaders and staff fostering an open culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.
  • Warm, positive relationships are fostered through the thoughtful matching of key workers' strengths to the individual needs of children, creating positive, secure bonds.
  • Routines are fully embedded, promoting children's independence during transitions and mealtimes.
  • Children consistently show high levels of respect, cooperation and patience, which staff notice and warmly commend.
  • Children's personal, social and emotional development is a priority, reflected in their confidence to share ideas and talk about themselves.
  • Leaders ensure that children's individual needs, including those with SEND, are identified very quickly, and support is implemented immediately.
  • All children achieve well from their varying starting points, with gaps in learning closing over time.
  • Overall, the curriculum is fair, accessible, and taught well by most staff, offering a wide range of opportunities to develop communication and language skills.

Areas to develop

  • 1Leaders should continue to embed the curriculum across all age groups to ensure consistency in children's learning, including the provision for babies' physical development.
  • 2Leaders should enhance professional development opportunities to raise the quality of teaching interactions to the same level across the setting.

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Leaders ensure that children's individual needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are identified very quickly. They act immediately to implement necessary changes and seek support from wider professionals. Staff supporting children at risk of delay in communication or physical development work alongside specialists, and staff continually review and adapt their approach, resulting in considerable progress for children with SEND.

Google Reviews of The Wantage Nursery & Preschool

3.9
(7 Google reviews)
Clare
7 months ago

Our daughter loves it here. She’s been there now almost 2 years. The staff are so kind, and incredibly supportive - especially with potty training. I can’t fault Delia and the team at all. Lovely environment, fantastic outside space, overall a lovely environment.

Read on Google
Ann Nguyen
8 months ago

DO NOT send your children to this nursery, stay clear of them at least until they get rid of the female manager - D (I won't put the full name here but the nursery will know who I'm talking about). Wasn't going to write this review but thought I'd do other parents a favour. My 3 years old was lucky to only spend a couple of months here (2 days a week), she's been to 2 other nurseries prior in Oxford full time and always excited to go each day. We moved to Wantage and needed a temp place during the summer until she starts pre-school so we went with this nursery. She cried every time we dropped her off, but we ignored the red flag and thought maybe she's just adjusting to a new nursery and it's only temporary. She's spent 2 days here and 3 days in a different nursery a week as they didn't have a full time space (thank god). D told me that I have to tell the other nursery to split the funded hours 50/50 with them even though the time split is not. I said no, she gets 30 hours a week so 6 hours each day. She's here 2 days = 12 hours not 15. Anyway, after emailing back and forth for a while, made a fuss etc they decided to accept that. I was paying for the difference anyway because her full day there is 10 hours so literally no idea why they were being ridiculous. And you MUST do the full 10 hours btw (so they get more money). 1st Aug 2024, my husband took her to nursery as usual and got sent home by D because we haven't paid the nursery fee for August (due on 1st). He explained that we did pay the night before through the gov website so it must've not been cleared first thing in the morning (8am) but he can show a proof of it on the gov website right there on his phone. D refused to even see this and told him to take our daughter home until the fund is cleared! My husband felt absolutely disrespected and we were very upset to think this horrible human being is in charge of our daughter's wellbeing. We immediately requested that they refund the fees we paid (which was cleared later that same morning) and removed our child from that environment. I have the full convo via email still if any parents or the nursery's senior management need proof. After this incident, I've been very vocal about my experience with D to other local parents in which they also shared their awful experience there, some actually used to be members of staff who have witnessed even more horrifying stuff and mainly due to the way the nursery is being managed. I'm hoping some other parents whose children have been affected and previous members of staff will report them to the police and spread awareness to others.

Read on Google
Josephine Rowbottom
a year ago

I enrolled my little girl into the Nursery over a month ago into the baby room and I am so happy with the setting. The girls truly care about their job and work with the parents to make sure the children are able to settle and be comfortable. Any concerns I've had the staff have been able to put my mind at ease and make me feel heard. The management are very proactive and welcoming. Highly recommend:)

Read on Google
Franphysiouk
a year ago

I enrolled my daughter in this nursery when she was 1 year and 9 months old. While she seemed okay on the first day, on the second day, she came home with two bite marks—one on her arm and another on her chest. The nursery staff only informed me about the bite on her arm; they failed to mention the one on her chest, which I only discovered at home. This lack of communication and transparency was concerning, and there was no clear explanation of how or where the incidents occurred. I've also heard similar complaints from other parents, which raises further concerns about the quality of care provided. If you can, I would recommend avoiding this nursery.

Read on Google
Jarna Soubieski
a year ago

My son loves the nursery, and his key worker. They always help me with any questions I have, or if I need to do an extra day at last minute. Highly recommend

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for The Wantage Nursery & Preschool. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Most recent inspection

16 June 2026

Expected standard

Only one graded inspection on record — a trend chart will appear here once a second graded report is published.

View full Ofsted report

Frequently asked about The Wantage Nursery & Preschool

Nearby day nurseries in Wantage

Other Ofsted-registered day nurseries close to The Wantage Nursery & Preschool.

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