Rainbow Childcare Centre

A baby area, a place to sleep and fields beyond the nursery give Rainbow Childcare Centre a clear rural character. Set within the grounds of Exton & Greetham Primary School, this Exton setting has capacity for 21 children, with a current age range of seven months to five years. Its small overall capacity is useful context for families, though it does not tell you how many children share an activity or space.

At its September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Rainbow Good overall, found effective safeguarding arrangements and judged support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to be good. The practical strengths were easy to identify: children practising independence, staff building relationships around familiar routines and opportunities to take books home.

Two points deserve equal attention. In September 2025, information about learning topics sometimes reached parents too late to help them join in at home, while some group activities needed more challenge for older children. These are useful questions for families weighing the preschool experience, rather than reasons to overlook the everyday care.

Rooms and Ages

Younger children have a designated baby area and a sleep area. That gives play and rest identifiable places within the setting, without implying a separate room or a particular group size.

In September 2025, babies practised standing with support from low furniture, while family photographs were positioned where children could see and discuss them. Older children put away their belongings and helped themselves to fruit and milk. These were practical opportunities to try manageable tasks, with adults encouraging children to keep going rather than taking over.

Learning and Activities

Rainbow follows the Early Years Foundation Stage, the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, communication and everyday routines all contribute to learning. Its own emphasis is learning through play, with creativity, imagination and children's individual interests shaping activities. The curriculum page explains this approach alongside the key-person arrangement.

In September 2025, a ladybird hunt became a conversation about spots, wings and size. Making scented dough gave children choices about ingredients and cutters. The value lay in the adult interaction around the activity: new vocabulary and questions could turn an ordinary moment into something children explored more closely.

Books also had a practical connection with home. During September 2025, children could borrow from the lending library, babies explored textured pictures and staff read with small groups. Borrowing a book made it possible for families to continue a familiar interest beyond nursery. The limitation was in some group teaching: adults occasionally supplied answers before older children had time to work things out themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

Fields form part of Rainbow's surroundings. In September 2025, children used a nearby enclosed field for energetic running, alongside football and climbing on large equipment. Close adult supervision supported opportunities to practise physical skills and judge manageable risks.

That outdoor account is more useful than a general promise of fresh air. It describes room to move vigorously as well as equipment to climb, giving families a concrete picture of the physical experiences children had at that time.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is allocated after several sessions, once staff can see which adult a child is forming a bond with. The relationship therefore informs the allocation. Hourly settling sessions can continue for as long as a child needs reassurance, and the same staff work during those sessions to provide continuity.

The All About Me booklet supports settling. Parents are also asked about favourite toys and resources so staff can have these ready for settling sessions. Parents can contribute details that help staff make the early sessions more familiar. This is a useful combination for a child who needs time: gradual sessions, consistent adults and information from home.

Famly supports communication with parents alongside verbal exchanges. In September 2025, daily conversations covered routines, and parents' evenings provided progress updates. The weakness concerned timing rather than an absence of contact: some learning topics were shared only after activities had finished, reducing opportunities for families to discuss them while they were happening.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In September 2025, staff gathered information about children's preferences, abilities and routines at the outset. Activities during play were adapted so children could participate, and staff worked with other professionals when needed. Communication with the settings children would move to, including schools, supported continuity of information.

At that time, the team comprised five childcare staff, all with early-years qualifications at level 3 or above, including one with a level 6 qualification. These are dated staffing details, rather than a statement about today's deployment or the number of adults in any particular area.

Children do not need to be potty trained to attend. For meals, families can send a healthy packed lunch, or use the hot-lunch arrangement through the school; breakfast and snacky tea are charged separately.

Sessions and Attendance

Rainbow's address is Exton and Greetham Primary School, Garden Road, Exton, Oakham, LE15 8AY. During term time, opening hours are 7.45am to 5.15pm from Monday to Friday. Holiday operation is on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so the holiday week serves a different pattern from the term-time week.

Enquiries can be submitted through Famly or the contact form, and the nursery telephone number is 01572 813141. Admission follows a first-come-first-served waiting-list arrangement, with priority for children whose sibling already attends, Social Services referrals and emergency cases involving family illness or other problems. These priorities qualify the general order of admission.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded places are offered from nine months to four years. Funded hours can be used between 9am and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday; hours outside that window are charged. The funding window is separate from the nursery's opening hours and holiday operating days, so it should not be read as a five-day holiday offer.

Breakfast and snacky tea carry separate charges. A monthly consumables charge also applies, while parents supply nappies and wet wipes, so consumables involve both a nursery charge and items brought from home. A registration charge applies to children who are not funded. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding page sets out the charge structure.

Sharing school grounds does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to apply through the local authority admissions process.

• Holiday working patterns. Term-time opening covers Monday to Friday, while holiday operation covers Monday to Wednesday. Families needing Thursday and Friday childcare throughout the year should weigh that difference carefully.
• Challenge and information sharing. In September 2025, older children needed more demanding group activities, and parents needed earlier information about learning topics. At a visit, ask how children now get time to solve problems and how families hear about learning while it is underway.
• Settling continuity. Hourly settling sessions, consistent staff and the All About Me booklet shape the introduction to nursery. Discuss how those arrangements would work with your child's routines and support needs.

Rainbow suits families looking for a small setting in school grounds, with a defined baby and sleep area and a gradual approach to settling. Its term-time weekday opening and Monday-to-Wednesday holiday operation will fit some working patterns better than others.

The September 2025 picture combines practical independence, books shared with home and active outdoor experiences with two clear priorities: greater challenge for older children and more timely learning information for parents. For families whose attendance needs match its operating week, those are the most useful points to test alongside the personal settling arrangements.