Ducklings Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 4.8 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Milton Keynes for from 1 year 6 months up to 5 year olds, open 09:00 to 15:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in April 2025. Open since 2004, with 40 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
15 and 30 hours funding.
Worth knowing. Consumables fee is £2 per week (£76 a year)* *The annual consumables fee of £76 (voluntary for children who already receive funded hours).
What childcare usually costs in Milton Keynes
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Milton Keynes from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
MK4 4DBWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 28 April 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children learn to make decisions for themselves, choosing where and who to play with. Staff provide children with the skills to help them become independent. For instance, they encourage children to take off their coats and hang them on namelabelled pegs. Staff encourage them to find their own lunchboxes and to self-serve their own lunches. Children's confidence strengthens through these everyday routine tasks. This helps to support their self-help skills. Children take part in regular discussions and practices to help them understand about personal health and hygiene. Staff talk to them about the importance of handwashing and healthy eating. They use role play effectively to support children's understanding about oral health, acting out the process of cleaning their teeth. They extend this further by providing families with toothbrushes and information about oral hygiene.
Children are very eager and enthusiastic to learn more. They constantly question, show curiosity and inquisitiveness in their play. Staff use very effective questioning to encourage children to think critically and to probe for answers that make sense to them.
Children's home experiences are successfully enhanced through outings to the local community. Children learn about lending books from the library and buying their snacks from the supermarket. They learn about road safety on the way to the park and learn about the care of animals from the pet shop.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- enhance staff's knowledge and understanding of adapting practice to support younger children and meet their specific needs n increase children's respect and responsibility towards their environment and resources within routine tasks and transitional activities.
- 28 April 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 8 July 2019Outstanding
- 8 July 2013Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Ducklings Pre-School
- What it costs
- Meals
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date. The rest is in no dataset anywhere. Either way it is worth ten minutes on the phone.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- How do you apply my funded hours? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Do you have a place for a child of my age now? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.