The Ducklings Day Nursery
OutstandingTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Leigh for babies from 9 months up to school age, open 8am to 6pm. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Outstanding by Ofsted in October 2023. Open since 2008, with 72 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
All children aged 3 & 4 and most over 9 months old are entitled to free Government Funding, allowing you to receive up to 30 hours of Free Childcare for 38 weeks of the year.
Worth knowing. Funded Only: term-time only, up to six 5-hour sessions per week. Stretched Offer: 51 weeks of the year, funding spread over 12 months. Meals charged at £2.50 per session. Option to send a packed lunch.
What childcare usually costs in Wigan
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Wigan 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
WN7 3XFWhat 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, 25 October 2023 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children thrive in this exceptional setting. Staff put relationships with children at the heart of everything they do. The setting has an ethos of 'love and care', which is seen throughout staff's interactions with children. Children receive the utmost care and attention from staff. Interactions are sensitive and nurturing. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in the nursery. Children become engrossed in ambitious activities, exploring and investigating. Staff place a strong focus on children's well-being and sense of self-worth. Children form extremely close bonds with staff.
Highly qualified management and leaders excellently plan and implement a broad, ambitious curriculum. Staff provide children with exceptional early learning experiences. Highly attentive staff share the children's enthusiasm for what they see and imagine. Children focus well because staff use their excellent teaching style to excite children and keep them engaged. Older children plan their own play and learn how to manage and assess risk as 'risk rangers'. They problem solve how to pump water from the bucket, which is too heavy to lift, down the guttering pipe.
They use piping and work together, sharing ideas to support each other. Children beam with delight as they master the use of the pump. They also harmoniously take turns with their friends. They have clear aims and negotiate and solve problems as they play together. Children are highly empathetic.
- 25 October 2023Outstanding
- 20 February 2018Outstanding
- 15 July 2014Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for The Ducklings Day Nursery
- What it costs
- 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.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.