Day Nursery

The Wolfson College Day Nursery is based within the College grounds in North Oxford. It aims to provide a safe and stimulating educational environment in which children aged 6 weeks to 5 years can develop their knowledge and skills at their own pace. We aspire to produce happy, well-adjusted and confident children by working in close partnership with parents.

Our Aims and Objectives

The Nursery believes in creating a ‘home away from home’ for children and families. We believe that by providing children with an environment where they feel safe, secure and supported they will be confident enough to explore the world around them and learn naturally through this exploration. We acknowledge the critical importance of children, parents and staff as partners in a learning community that promotes the wellbeing, education and development of all children. We encourage family and parent participation and believe this is a key part of running a successful childcare program. Play is an important part of a child’s development. Through play children learn about the world around them and it is, therefore, important to understand how valuable toys and play are in the development of the child.30

Oxfordshire provides a choice of daycare nurseries, but few can offer an environment nestled between Summertown and the city centre, in the heart of a peaceful College environment.

By adopting the key-person system, we ensure consistency of care for the child and a two-way partnership between parents and carer to establish close links between home and nursery.

The day nursery provides:

• a relaxed, safe and stimulating atmosphere;
• an encouraging, consistent and positive attitude towards all children;
• a welcome for children of all abilities and from all social and ethnic backgrounds;
• a recognition that children have individual needs and may therefore develop at different rates;
• freedom from stereotyping of any kind.

The Nursery prides itself on being self-reflective and working alongside educators and parents to create a ‘Continuous Improvement Plan’. This plan is reviewed quarterly and updated where applicable. It allows the nursery practices to stay relevant and developing to coincide with industry developments and any regulation or legislation changes.

The Day Nursery Handbook is available to download here.

Our 2025-26 policies are available for download here.

The Wolfson College Nursery is a registered carer and all staff are required to undergo thorough DBS checks. The Nursery is subject to inspection by OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), a Fire Safety Officer, and by Environmental Health Inspectors. We are proud of the Nursery’s excellent record and good reports resulting from these inspections.

Click here for the results of our most recent OFSTED inspection.

Hours of Operation

The full Nursery day runs from 08.30-17.30. Mornings are from 08.30-13.00 and afternoons from 13.00-17.00.

The Nursery is open for 49 weeks a year excluding all UK Bank Holidays and College Closures; the Nursery has an additional closure for 2 weeks in August (closure dates on request).

Application

The Nursery operates a waiting list; priority is given to members of Wolfson College, although others are welcome. To apply for a place, applicants should complete the application form and return it to the Nursery Manager either by post or email.

On receipt of the application form the child will be placed on the Nursery’s waiting list. At intervals the Nursery will contact you to update your details and to keep you up-to-date with the status of your application – if no response is received the child’s name will be removed from the waiting list.

Successful applicants will be formally offered the Nursery place in writing detailing the type of place offered and the formal start date.

Fees

Fee information is provided in our nursery handbook. A 10% sibling discount is available. The discount will be set against the older child’s fees as long as both children remain in the Nursery; the discount will be shown as a deduction on the fees invoice.

Fees are invoiced in advance and in calendar months. Fees will not be charged for UK Bank Holidays, Nursery and College closures.

Vouchers

The Nursery is happy to consider the various voucher schemes as payment or part-payment of Nursery fees; parents should note that voucher payments will not be shown as a deduction on fees invoices and it remains the responsibility of the parent(s) to ensure that Nursery fees are paid in full by the due dates.

Salary Sacrifice

The scheme is available to parent(s) who are employed at Oxford University. For more details about the scheme visit the Oxford University Salary Sacrifice Scheme website.  The Nursery fees will be calculated from the month that the child joins the Nursery up to the end of the Nursery’s financial year (July) and divided into equal monthly payments.

Early Years Funding

The nursery offers government-funded early education places, giving eligible families 15 or 30 funded hours per week. We stretch this funding over 49 weeks, helping to keep childcare costs consistent throughout the year.

Funding is applied to monthly statements before they are issued. We offer:

• 15‑hour universal funding for children aged 3–4.
• 30‑hour working families funding for eligible children aged 9 months up to the term after their third birthday.

However, we do not offer the 30‑hour funding for children aged 3–4.

A one-off registration fee of £150 applies to privately funded hours only.

For all funded places, continued periods of absence may result in the local authority withdrawing funding from the next half term or new term, whichever occurs sooner. Currently, the council will fund a maximum of four weeks of absence per year, unless there are special circumstances.

We are flexible with attendance day patterns, subject to availability. Due to this flexibility and the stretching of funding, the number of funded hours applied to each child’s monthly invoice may vary, as one funding allocation pattern does not suit all children.

Funded hours entitlement is calculated for the funding year from September to August and spread accordingly across the year. If a child starts nursery after September or leaves before the end of August, their funding entitlement will be calculated on a pro-rata basis. Parents may request an estimate of their child’s expected fees from September to August from the nursery manager. Please note that changes to attendance patterns or the number of days attended during the year may affect funding entitlement and hour allocation. Nursery fees are subject to change with four weeks’ notice.

For fully funded places, our 30‑hour entitlement is delivered as:

• Two full days of 9 hours each, and
• One part‑day of 5 hours 27 minutes.
  Families may choose to purchase the remaining 3 hours 33 minutes at our private hourly rate if they wish to extend this to a full day. If you prefer not to pay for the additional hours, you can collect your child once their funded hours finish.

For the 15‑hour entitlement, we provide:

• One full day of 9 hours, and
• One part‑day of 2 hours 38 minutes.
  Families may choose to purchase the remaining 6 hours 22 minutes at our private hourly rate to extend this to a full day. If you choose not to pay for the additional hours, you can collect your child after the funded session ends.

Please note: Funded hours are allocated on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, as bank holidays fall on Mondays. 

Parents are asked to supply nappies and cream. We provide all meals and snacks.

Full details of the 15-hour universal funding scheme can be obtained from: Free early education for 3 – 4 year olds | Oxfordshire County Council Full details of the 30-hour working families scheme and eligibility criteria can be obtained from: Eligibility for 30 hours childcare – Best Start in Life

Contact us

For more information on Wolfson Day Nursery, please get in touch with the nursery manager:

Email: daynursery@wolfson.ox.ac.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 274085