Small Wonders Nursery
GoodTakes funded hours★ 3.7 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A day nursery in Manchester for children from birth to 5, open 07:30 to 18:00, 5 days a week. £71.00 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in March 2024. Open since 2004, with 80 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Full Day 07:30 - 18:00 £71.00
One published rate, dated w/c Monday 30th March 2026. What you pay depends on the days you need and the funded hours you can claim.
Funded hours
Government funded early education entitlements.
Worth knowing. Consumable fee of £1.00 per funded hour.
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
M19 3BHWhat 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, 13 March 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are happy. Staff are proactive to support children's emotional security and well-being. This is the cornerstone for staff interactions in this setting. Staff are incredibly caring, kind and gentle. To illustrate, babies quickly fall asleep when they receive cuddles and affectionate reassurance. They are comforted by friendly, nurturing and sensitive interactions from staff. Equally, older children are frequently heard laughing and giggling as they play, illustrating their intense enjoyment in the setting. Staff help children to regulate their feelings well. They talk to children calmly and clearly to help to resolve any conflicts. Children learn right from wrong and are encouraged to share and be polite. For instance, children are delighted to explain who has been awarded 'star of the week'. Praise and positive reinforcement works well to develop children's good behaviour.
Children are eager and excited to get involved in the range of exciting and fun activities offered. Staff try their hardest to make learning fun and exciting. They invest significant time and effort preparing impressive games, which are imaginative and inspiring. For instance, children enjoy exploring sensory dough.
They use intricate tools to cut the dough, practising their coordination and concentration. Older children enjoy small responsibilities. For instance, 'handwash helpers' and 'lunchtime helpers' put cups on the table and encourage peers to wash their hands. Taking on small responsibilities helps to build children's self-confidence and independence. Children enjoy books, they choose stories, look at images and talk about the illustrations on the pages. Children turn pages with excitement, enthused about what will happen next in the story. Some children use magnifying glasses to carefully look at the print, tracing the letters with their fingers. Children show a love for literacy from an early age. This is a busy and fun nursery, where children are settled, happy and enjoy their learning.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to develop their interactions with children and extend children's good communication skills even further n strengthen teaching to include all children, particularly less confident children in group activities.
- 13 March 2024Good
- 29 May 2018Good
- 15 January 2015Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Small Wonders Nursery
- Youngest age taken
- 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.
- Is £71.00 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.
- Is there a place for my child's age? 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.