Cedars Day Nursery & Pre-School

A renovated village school building gives Cedars its character; regular music and movement and outdoor exploration give its days their shape. On Church Road in Aldermaston, this nursery accepts children from 3 months to 5 years. The building retains an educational purpose, now centred on younger children’s play, care and development.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Cedars Good and found safeguarding effective. The everyday examples were useful ones: children contributing ideas to a shared story, babies joining songs with instruments, and older children practising tasks such as serving food. These give families something more concrete to weigh than a grade alone.

Attendance options include Standard Day and Full Day bookings, shorter term-time sessions, and separately charged early starts or late finishes. The differences matter: a family organising care around school hours has a different starting point from one needing the full opening window.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care: activities support their next steps through play, conversation and exploration. Alongside it, the group uses Development Matters to guide activity planning. This is the educational foundation, while the experiences added to it give the day its texture.

Boogie Mites, a group-wide programme, brings regular music and movement activities. Outdoor learning is also part of the group’s approach, with examples including looking for bugs, measuring trees and building tents. These offer different ways to participate: listening and moving during music, then investigating and making things outdoors. Neither is presented as a substitute for the EYFS.

In March 2024, babies explored instruments during songs and rhymes, while preschool children helped invent a story together. Staff also brought counting and mathematical vocabulary into activities. The examples connect learning to something children were already doing, rather than treating conversation, number and imagination as separate lessons.

Language teaching had room to develop. In March 2024, staff used gestures with words for younger children and allowed older children thinking time, but did not consistently take children’s responses further. The improvement requested was more purposeful discussion that extends communication. A second priority was fuller explanations of safety, helping children understand why an action protects themselves or someone else.

Outdoor and Community Life

The renovated school building is the strongest physical feature here. Within the group’s learning approach, resources are positioned at children’s height indoors and outside, making choice part of the arrangement rather than something dependent on an adult handing everything out.

In March 2024, older children contributed their ideas to group decisions and helped put toys away. Those modest responsibilities matter. They give children practice in expressing a preference, listening to others and taking a share in the daily routine.

Relationships and Communication

Settling began with knowledge of the child in March 2024: parents shared home routines, preferred activities and favourite songs, and settling sessions took place both with parents and separately. For a baby, familiar routines give staff a practical starting point for care; for an older child, an interest or song can provide a useful connection.

Famly, the group’s online communication system, carries observations alongside details such as meals and sleep. Regular progress conversations complement those entries, and families receive an electronic Learning Journey with photographs and observations when their child leaves for primary school. The combination separates immediate care updates from the longer account of development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that staff understood children’s individual support needs and used additional funding effectively, with the manager acting as special educational needs coordinator and working with other professionals. That is a dated judgement about how support operated, rather than a promise that the same arrangement will meet every child’s needs.

In March 2024, children explored emotions by drawing faces, and older children practised managing clothing, putting belongings away and pouring drinks. These are small, repeatable opportunities to become more independent. They also make care and learning closely connected.

Cooks prepare meals and snacks at the nursery each day, with menus introducing different tastes and textures. The group’s dietary policy allows adaptations for most allergies and dietary requirements, so an individual child’s arrangements deserve careful discussion.

Sessions and Attendance

Cedars is at Church Road, Aldermaston, RG7 4LR, and opens Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm. It operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas.

Standard Day runs from 8am to 4pm; Full Day runs from 8am to 5.30pm. Both have a choice of three, four or five days each week. Early Start begins at 7.30am and Late Finish extends care to 6pm, with additional charges for those extensions. The core booking choice therefore starts at three days a week, rather than occasional attendance.

Term-time session options run from 9am to 3pm, 9am to 1pm, or 1pm to 4pm, for 38 weeks. Hours beyond a child’s funded entitlement are paid wrap-around care. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0118 971 4251 or by email at cedars@completechildcare.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Cedars offers funded childcare, with arrangements for eligible children receiving 15 hours or 30 hours. Funding applies for up to 38 weeks, with a maximum of six funded hours a day; the funding window is 9am to 3pm. For the 15-hour entitlement, the daily allocation is between three and six hours, subject to the child’s entitlement.

Paid wrap-around hours include catering, consumables and activities in their charge. Funded entitlement itself carries no charge, while lunch and snacks have a separate voluntary contribution. Full session charges apply during non-funded weeks. Families should obtain a current written quotation covering their chosen attendance pattern and funding allocation.

A monthly payment plan averages annual charges across the remaining months of the year. Invoices retain the actual monthly charges, and differences are reconciled when the plan ends or a child leaves early. There is no administration fee; the deposit wording promises no large financial deposit, which should not be read as a promise of no deposit at all.

• The afternoon funding window. The term-time afternoon session runs from 1pm to 4pm, while the funding terms place funded hours between 9am and 3pm. These timings do not fully align. Ask how the final hour is treated in a quotation for that session.
• Conversation and safety explanations. March 2024 improvement priorities concerned extending children’s language and explaining how to keep themselves and others safe. During a visit, ask for examples of how staff now develop a child’s answer and explain everyday risks.
• Dietary adaptations. Meals are cooked on site, and the dietary policy accommodates most requirements. Allergy-affected families should confirm current preparation and individual arrangements before agreeing attendance.

Cedars suits families considering a Standard Day or Full Day across the year, as well as those seeking shorter term-time sessions. Its renovated village school building, regular Boogie Mites activities and Famly updates give the offer a recognisable shape. The March 2024 examples of shared storytelling, musical play and self-care provide substance behind the Good judgement. The decision should also take account of the language and safety-explanation priorities, and the precise funded-hours allocation for the chosen session.