Sign up free
Skip to main content

Bright Horizons Abbeymore Day Nursery and Preschool

Bright Horizons Abbeymore Day Nursery and Preschool is a day nursery in Reading for children aged 0 to 4, with 88 registered places. Ofsted report card, 10 August 2026: Expected standard in 2 areas, Needs attention in 4 areas; safeguarding standards met.

161 Wokingham Road, Reading, RG6 1LP

Key facts

Type
Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Ages
0 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered places
88 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
22 April 2005 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 10 August 2026

Who runs it

Bright Horizons Abbeymore Day Nursery and Preschool is run by Bright Horizons Family Solutions Limited (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

  • Inclusion: Expected standard
  • Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention
  • Achievement: Needs attention
  • Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention
  • Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
  • Leadership and governance: Needs attention
  • Safeguarding standards met

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 10 August 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

What it's like to be a child at this setting

At times, not all children are effectively supported to explore and engage in activities well, including those who need more support than others to enable them to take part. Some staff do not consistently encourage children to take part in purposeful learning and play or actively interact with children to support their needs. At times, some children wander around without being encouraged by staff to play and learn. This is particularly evident for the younger children. Children typically show that they understand the expectations of the nursery and know the routines. Staff encourage children to understand why they should not be doing something and how to keep themselves safe. However, staff do not always recognise when children need redirection and encouragement to engage in activities to support their learning.

Pre-school children and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to their learning generally receive better interactions and support from staff. At times, younger children engage with staff who support them better, such as enjoying songs sung to them. Babies move to the music and join in with some words and actions at times. However, some staff do not encourage younger children's communication and language skills well enough. Some staff speak rapidly to younger children or repeatedly say the same word to them. This does not promote younger children's language skills effectively.

Children are typically happy and settled. They form suitably positive relationships with staff and other children. This generally helps them to feel safe so that they enjoy their time at nursery. Children routinely build on their independence and self-care skills well. For example, some older children use a mirror to clean their faces after eating. Children develop appropriate physical skills. Babies use equipment to pull themselves into standing positions and learn to manage steps and stairs as they get older. Staff encourage older children to persevere at larger climbing apparatus, and they have fun when completing an obstacle course. Children show pride in their achievements.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff typically know the children well and understand their needs, such as other languages spoken at home. They support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those with other barriers to their learning securely. For example, staff use picture prompts to help children understand what is happening now and next. At times, staff use sign language with children to help support communication with them. Leaders generally demonstrate they understand how to develop inclusion practice further to support and include children's additional needs. They take steps to enhance the inclusion of children, such as those learning English as an additional language, including requesting key words and how to say these in children's home languages from parents.

Leaders and staff work closely with parents and other agencies to support consistency in the support they provide for children. Leaders and staff consider children's needs for support and how to help close any gaps in development. They put in place individual learning plans to focus on areas of children's development that need extra support. These are reviewed regularly to monitor the progress children make. Leaders use additional funding appropriately to help buy resources and equipment to support children's individual needs.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders do not always identify and address weaknesses in staff's teaching and practice well enough. Although some staff provide positive interactions and teaching, other staff, such as bank staff and those with less experience, do not offer consistent or effective support to children to promote their learning and development. Some staff do not demonstrate sufficient understanding of the curriculum and how to implement this. For example, they do not engage consistently with children and at times do not respond to them and just watch them play. These staff do not offer sufficiently purposeful interactions, teaching or support to ensure that children learn and progress. This does not promote children's language and social skills well enough. Although staff generally address unwanted behaviours of children, they do not always seek to engage them in more meaningful play and activities to distract them from repeating the same behaviour.

Nevertheless, staff who provide better quality interactions and teaching engage well with children, such as singing songs with babies and exploring sensory materials with them. Staff who provide secure teaching and interactions encourage toddlers to make marks in soap flakes and promote their physical, social and language skills. Staff who engage effectively develop pre-school children's listening skills, including engaging them through reading stories to them. They help pre-school children to learn to follow instructions well, such as while singing action songs. Staff typically support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to their learning securely and implement approaches and reviews of their learning and development.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children do not always receive interactions to support their understanding, vocabulary and speech securely. At times, children are not always fully engaged in play and activities to help them sustain their interest in learning. Some children do not make the progress they are capable of.

Children with additional needs benefit from staff adapting approaches to help support their individual learning needs. Overall, children build on their awareness of numbers and counting, including through daily routines, such as counting out their snack or spoonfuls of lunch. Children build generally appropriate levels of confidence to explore their environment and activities. Some children develop and build on skills to help prepare them for their next stage of learning, including school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Staff do not always encourage children's engagement in activities and play experiences well enough. Sometimes, children wander around and do not engage purposefully in play or learning or benefit from staff interactions to support their participation. Staff generally manage children's behaviour appropriately with consistent positive reinforcement and praise, and overall, children behave well. There are times when staff do not minimise the repetition of the same behaviours by children as they do not redirect or involve them in other activities. This does not help engage children in more purposeful learning experiences.

Children typically form positive relationships with staff and each other. For example, children seek staff out for support and reassurance when they need to. Key staff members know their key children and their needs well. For instance, staff follow the same sleep routines that babies have at home, which offers familiarity to them. Leaders understand their responsibilities to monitor and encourage children's regular attendance and highlight the importance of establishing routines. This supports children for their future education at school. Leaders have secure procedures to follow up on any children's unexpected absences.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff generally promote children's welfare and wellbeing securely. They gain appropriate information from parents when children first start and maintain ongoing communication to ensure settling-in sessions meet their needs. For example, staff gather information from parents about the toys and activities children enjoy and provide these during settling-in visits, such as singing and books. This helps children to begin to feel secure and at ease in their new environment and promotes positive bonds with staff. Staff help children to begin to understand and recognise their emotions and feelings through activities. For example, they look at books and draw faces to explore if they are happy or sad.

Staff know how to implement food safety procedures, such as checking children's individual dietary requirements on their place cards before giving them food. Leaders ensure staff appropriately supervise children while eating with a dedicated staff member remaining at the table. Leaders typically ensure that across the day children receive appropriate meals and snacks to adequately promote their good health and nutrition. Pre-school children follow expected routines well, including knowing to wash their hands before eating. Children develop their independence. Babies learn to feed themselves, and older children serve their food and pour their drinks.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

There have been some recent changes in leadership at the nursery. The new leadership team is beginning to take steps to review staff's practice, such as through observations, although this is still in its early stages. This has not enabled leaders to identify all areas of staff's practice that need further support, to help them develop staff's skills and knowledge to raise the quality of the overall provision. Leaders manage and support staff's workload and wellbeing well. Staff say they feel supported and that they have opportunities for professional development and training, including completing an induction. However, this does not always have sufficient impact on all staff's practice. Leaders understand their safeguarding responsibilities securely and know how to refer concerns to relevant outside agencies. They regularly check staff's knowledge and understanding of how to recognise and respond to concerns about children's welfare or other staff's behaviours. This helps staff to feel confident to escalate any concerns.

Leaders and staff generally develop positive partnerships with parents and others. They make links with other settings children attend and work with other professionals when required, such as to support children's additional needs. Staff typically provide verbal and written feedback to parents about their children, including activity ideas to try at home. Parents comment that staff are friendly and welcoming and that they receive information about their child's development and progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider must:

  • ensure staff's practice is monitored effectively to identify and address gaps in their work to enable them to support and meet children's needs consistently (by 11 September 2026)
  • ensure staff know and understand how to implement the curriculum to engage children in consistent interactions to promote their learning needs securely (by 11 September 2026)

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 10 August 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history

  • 22 October 2025: Actions after a concern (report)
  • 14 June 2023: Actions after a concern (report)
  • 6 February 2023: Full inspection, Good (report)
  • 7 June 2022: Actions after a concern (report)
  • 24 January 2022: Full inspection, Requires improvement (report)
  • 15 November 2021: Actions after a concern (report)
  • 9 December 2016: Full inspection, Good (report)
  • 24 September 2013: Inspection (report)
  • 9 December 2010: Inspection (report)
  • 29 May 2008: Inspection (report)
  • 22 November 2005: Inspection (report)

Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)

Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.

The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.

Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.

Source: Ofsted reports

Funded childcare hours in England

All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.

Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.

Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.

The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.

Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)

Other nurseries nearby

  • Crescent Under Fives - Pre-school, Reading RG6 1JR, ages 2 to 4, 26 places, 0.3 miles
    Ofsted, 24 June 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Ali's Academy - Pre-school, Reading RG1 5SL, 0.4 miles
  • Park Day Nursery - Day nursery, Reading RG6 1QB, ages 0 to 4, 90 places, 0.5 miles
    Ofsted, 3 April 2023: Outstanding overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Little Learners Nursery - Day nursery, Reading RG6 6EH, ages 0 to 4, 106 places, 0.5 miles
    Ofsted, 23 March 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Stagecoach Reading East - Pre-school, Reading RG6 7HS, 0.7 miles

Schools nearby

Bright Horizons Abbeymore Day Nursery and Preschool on the Ofsted website