Milkyway Preschool Playgroup
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Manchester for from 1 year 6 months up to school age, open 09:00 to 16:00, 5 days a week. £49.00 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in July 2025. Open since 2012, with 30 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
All day (9-00am - 4.00pm) Plus Own Pack Lunch £49.00
One published rate. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
18Mths-3 Years Old Free Funding - 15 Hours and 30 Hours Available Subject to Eligibility; Milky Way Pre-school offers fully funded places up to 15 hours per week for children that are 2-5yrs old in between 9am to 4pm.
Worth knowing. Subject to Eligibility; For 15hours free funding and 30 hours funding criteria and procedures please ask the Manager or the office for detailed information.
What childcare usually costs in Manchester
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Manchester 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
M13 0NWWhat 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, 3 July 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are warmly greeted into this bright and stimulating environment. They are supported wholeheartedly by the caring and dedicated staff. Children follow routines and respond well to instructions and directions. They are taught techniques to regulate their feelings and emotions to ensure they are ready for learning. Children's emotional security is of high priority.
The curriculum is designed to give children meaningful experiences to teach them about the world and equip them with skills and knowledge. This is successfully done through carefully planned activities and experiences alongside the children's own interests. The outdoor area promotes opportunities to enhance gross motor skills with different wheeled toys, balls and hoops and areas to run and exercise. As a result, children are happy and engaged, freely expressing their love for the outdoors.
Leaders work hard to embed a school readiness programme. This is carefully planned to support pre-school transitions by developing skills, meeting new teachers and preparing children for change. This robust process ensures children are equipped with the skills needed to enter future learning. Parents commend staff for their commitment and devotion. They say their children develop well, learn new skills and acquire English as an additional language.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- organise group times, to fully support the engagement and learning of all children n share children's next steps of development with parents, in order to consistently support home learning.
- 3 July 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 13 September 2019Good
- 12 October 2018Needs improvement
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Milkyway Preschool Playgroup
- 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.
- Is £49.00 a day still the rate? 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.