Choosing to send your child to nursery is a big step and can be an emotional decision. Nursery can play a huge and exciting part in your child’s development but picking the right one for your little one can feel like an overwhelming decision, particularly for new parents.

The right nursery will be child focussed and provide a safe, clean a fun environment for your little one to thrive. Nursery is great for social skills and relationship building as well as providing that essential care for working parents.

When thinking about nurseries these are some key considerations you might want to think about

• Location, how close is it to home and work?
• Opening times, will they fit with your work schedule?
• Setting, some children will suit a smaller setting while others will be fine in larger environments, how many children are in each group?
• Outside space, how much and what toys are there?
• Resources, are there a variety of toys to play with and do the children look happy and cared for.

We are so lucky in Reading to have a huge range of choice with nurseries, we have pulled together a summary of some of the best local childcare settings to help with choosing which ones to go and look at for your child.

The Acorn Centre at St Joseph's College
Address: St Joseph’s College, Upper Redlands Road, Reading, RG1 5JT
Opening Hours: 7.45 - 6pm
Total Places: 26
Website https://www.sjcr.org.uk/the-acorn-centre/
The Acorn Centre, for children in their Pre-Reception year, provides a nurturing environment where they can be happy, independent, creative and confident. The day is structured around the way young children learn best, which includes uninterrupted time to direct their own play and make friends.

Lower Earley Nursery & Pre-School
Address: Chalfont Pavillion, Chalfont Way, Lower Earley, RG6 5HQ
Opening Hours: 7:30 – 6pm
Total Place: 80
Website: https://www.completechildcare.co.uk/lower-earley-day-nursery
Lower Earley Day Nursery was established in 1996, at its site on Chalfont Way. Conveniently situated near to the Asda supermarket, this nursery has provided excellent childcare for hundreds of families in Lower Earley and the surrounding area. It benefits from a large car park, is close to bus routes to Reading, and has a great outdoor space for the children.

Bees knees Day Nursery & Pre-School 
Address: 97 Connaught Road, Reading, RG30 2UE
Opening Hours: 7:30 – 6:30pm
Total Place: 57
Website: https://www.completechildcare.co.uk/bees-knees-day-nursery
Bees Knees Day Nursery is set in a large family house nestled in amongst central Reading, giving children the familiarity of homely features. Parents and visitors comment about the home from home feel and love that in the centre of the house is the well-equipped kitchen where all the children’s meals are freshly prepared and cooked every day.

Northumberland Nursery & Pre-School 
Address: 14 Northumberland Ave, Reading, RG2 7PW
Opening Hours: 7:30 – 6pm
Total Place: 
Website: https://www.completechildcare.co.uk/northumberland-day-nursery 

Bees Knees Day Nursery is set in a large family house nestled in amongst central Reading, giving children the familiarity of homely features. Parents and visitors comment about the home from home feel and love that in the centre of the house is the well-equipped kitchen where all the children’s meals are freshly prepared and cooked every day.

Cedars @ Boot Farm Day Nursery & Pre-School 
Address: Back Ln, Brimpton, RG7 4RG
Opening Hours: 8 – 6pm
Website: https://www.completechildcare.co.uk/bootfarm

We are delighted to introduce you to Cedars @ Boot Farm Day Nursery and Pre-School!

Previously known as Boot Farm Kindergarten, this charming setting has been part of the Brimpton countryside for many years and is well loved by its children and parents.

Its rural location in West Berks lends itself wonderfully to an array of fantastic outdoor activities for the children whilst indoors you will find a suite of rooms appropriately arranged and resourced for the relevant age groups.

Cedars Day Nursery & Pre-School
Address: Church Road, Aldermaston, RG7 4LR
Opening Hours: 7:30 – 6pm
Places: 50
Website: https://www.completechildcare.co.uk/CedarsDayNursery

It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a nursery to complete the village.

We are delighted to introduce you to Cedars Day Nursery and Pre-School! 

Housed in a beautifully renovated village school building, we are keeping the village school ethos throughout our nursery.  It is current practice to separate children by age, but at Cedars we spend time together in more social family groups where younger children learn from older children, and the older children develop social skills across the full age range of the setting.   

Busy Bees
Located on the outer edge of Reading International Business Park, our Busy Bees Reading nursery offers a bright and spacious environment in which children learn, play, and thrive.
Website:  https://www.busybeeschildcare.co.uk/nursery/readingint

Forbury Gardens Day Nursery
Forbury Gardens Day Nursery is a privately run, high quality, professional childcare service, catering in the main for working parents in the Reading and surrounding areas. We care for children from 3 months to 5 years of age.
Website: https://forburygardensdaynursery.co.uk/

The Wigwam Day Nursery
Our wonderful environment reflects a calm, homely space filled with authentic treasure to find and natural resources to explore. All of this promotes our vision of enabling children to have a love of learning, supporting their transitions through their developmental stages and their move to school.
Website: https://www.thewigwamnursery.co.uk/

Park Day Nursery & Pre School
Park Day Nursery is situated in a large Victorian house close to central Reading and Earley. The nursery stretches across four storey’s enabling us to have a dedicated pre-school classroom, Badgers, dedicated sleep room (for our under 2’s), Dormice , and art and physical development rooms Hedgehogs and Foxes for our children to play, explore and express themselves in.
Website: https://park-day-nursery.co.uk/

Wise Owl Childcare
Farm View Day Nursery provides a calm and natural learning environment for all children to thrive. A place where your child is celebrated and recognised for their uniqueness. A safe space to play, explore and grow. A place where they laugh out loud every day.
Website: https://www.wiseowlschildcare.co.uk/location/reading 

Fennies Nurseries
For almost 30 years Fennies has been a leader in educational excellence for early years, focusing on each child’s individual learning and development journey, well-being, and nutrition. This enables Fennies children to flourish academically, culturally, and socially and confidently take their next steps into education.  
Website: https://fennies.com/our-nurseries/reading/

Goldilocks Day Nursery
We aim to offer a home from home experience to all the children that attend Goldilocks. Quality care and education is at the heart of all we do day to day to ensure all the children feel loved and supported throughout their day.
Website: https://goldilocksnursery.co.uk/about.php

Little Pioneers Nursery & Pre-School
Our nursery is set in a beautiful, charismatic listed church building with four spacious rooms, one for each age group and we are right in the heart of Reading within walking distance of the train station.
Website: https://www.littlepioneers.coop/find-your-nursery/reading_nursery/

N Reading
We’re committed to offering you a nursery experience like no other; and with N Reading, we’ve gone all out. A sensitive restoration of an impressive period property, the nursery is filled with character while equally purpose-built to support every element of our early years curriculum. Our large playrooms are filled with natural light. There’s a specialist art and cooking room, while outside, the garden comes complete with a messy play area, adventure playground and slide.
Website: https://nfamilyclub.com/n-reading/

We hope you have found this article useful, and it gives you some ideas on what to look for when visiting nurseries and which ones maybe suitable for your child.
If you are a nursery provider and would like to feature in this article please get in touch, we would love to hear from you!

Head to www.reading-rocks.co.uk to discover brilliant days out, baby and toddler groups, kids parties, and some amazing outdoor spaces too!

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