First Steps Day Nursery & Pre-School

A willow dome, a garden roadway and a dedicated Sensory Room give First Steps Day Nursery & Pre-School a recognisable character: children have places to investigate, move and take a quieter break. The single-storey setting at Orrell Street in Bury combines separate spaces for different stages with shared resources that extend play beyond the main rooms.

At its 2 July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) received early support and participated alongside their peers. There were also clear points to improve. In July 2025, staff did not consistently extend children's learning, and the organisation of mealtimes and changes between activities sometimes left younger children upset.

First Steps has capacity for 146 children, with an accepted age range of 3 to 60 months. Its strongest practical details are the separate sleeping provision for babies, gradual room moves and a key person system linked to daily parent updates. Full Day, AM/PM Session and School Day bookings give families different attendance patterns.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby room serves children aged 12 weeks to 12 months, with space for early movement, a quiet corner, its own changing facilities and access to a separate private sleeping room and the younger children's outdoor area. Sleep therefore has a dedicated space away from active play. Individual cots and bedding support familiar rest routines, while sound and video monitoring connect the sleeping space with the main room.

Happy Hedgehogs takes children from 12 months to 2 years, combining sand and water play, art easels, construction resources and a quiet book area to support exploration and growing independence. These are practical choices for children beginning to select their own activities: there is room for energetic investigation and somewhere to pause.

Dashing Deers welcomes children from age two, using stories, shared activities and investigative play alongside access to the older children's garden. Fantastic Foxes also serves children from age two, with group play and carefully managed challenges supported by the same outdoor provision. Their garden includes bikes, cars and a larger play frame, giving physical play a substantial place in the day.

Pre-School combines short adult-led gatherings with independent construction, creative play and access to a computer and interactive whiteboard. Children also influence the topics they explore. The balance matters: preparation for more structured learning sits alongside opportunities to make choices and pursue an idea through play.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning and care, covering communication, relationships, physical development and later learning such as early literacy and mathematics. It is the common foundation for early-years provision. Here, planned activities sit alongside play initiated by children, with staff adding language and resources to develop an interest.

Letters and Sounds adds a named phonics resource in Pre-School, building listening and speaking through activities involving rhythm, environmental sounds and the sounds in words. It starts with listening experiences before introducing initial letter sounds. This gives families a concrete picture of reading preparation rather than a general promise of school readiness.

Children take turns on the nursery council, whose monthly meetings with the manager include menu choices, resources, events and managing risks. Regular cooking lessons with the nursery cook bring weighing and measuring into practical activity, using bowls, scales and measuring spoons. Children can therefore encounter mathematics while making something, and experience decision-making through choices that affect nursery life.

In July 2025, books, songs, dough and drawing materials featured in children's play, while older children explored volcanoes through sand-based activity. Staff sometimes missed opportunities to connect play with intended learning or develop what children already understood. The curriculum's everyday delivery deserves attention alongside its attractive resources.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor provision has more than one purpose. The Stage and Music Area includes chimes, drums and a xylophone; the Story area has a large storytelling chair and resources borrowed from the story sack lending library. These spaces take music and shared stories into the garden rather than reserving outdoor time solely for exercise.

Curiosity corner centres on a willow dome containing objects for children to investigate. The Roadway adds traffic lights, signs, cones and a petrol pump to bike and car play, helping older children practise thinking about road safety. A Climbing frame includes a slide and lookout tower, with nearby opportunities to explore materials in trays.

For younger children, a sheltered outdoor space and a soft surface support movement and sensory play. Seasonal gardening also includes planting herbs, bulbs and seeds. The practical appeal is variety within the nursery grounds: children can move between physical challenges, imaginative play and slower exploration.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who becomes the family's main contact and takes responsibility for understanding their care needs. Settling includes at least three free visits of one hour before the start date, giving child, parent and practitioner time to develop familiarity. An all about me form and an initial assessment help turn knowledge from home into day-to-day care.

Communication continues through iConnect, which holds the child's development file and daily information about activities, meals and personal care. Development assessments take place each term. Verbal handovers add another opportunity to discuss the day, and children can bring a familiar comforter or dummy. These arrangements give parents several ways to follow both learning and ordinary care routines.

Moving Rooms is a gradual transition process, with short visits to the next room and discussion involving parents, staff and children. Children move when ready rather than being hurried through the change. That gives a family time to work through how a new space and new relationships will fit their child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The Sensory Room is accessible across the nursery, with tactile objects, lights and sounds that can be adapted as children develop. It offers a quieter alternative to busy play spaces, as well as opportunities to investigate through the senses. For babies, the separate sleeping provision makes rest another planned part of care.

In July 2025, staff worked with outside support agencies and adapted resources when children needed additional help. Extra toilet-training facilities also supported toddlers learning to manage this part of personal care. However, changes between activities and mealtimes were not consistently organised around individual needs, with younger children sometimes becoming distressed while waiting for a response.

Staff attend ongoing training, and the management team works outside the routine room staffing complement. These are useful arrangements for professional development and management attention, rather than a substitute for examining how care works in each room.

A cook prepares food in the nursery's equipped kitchen, with seasonal menus organised around a four-week plan. The nursery's dietary policy is to adapt dishes to children's requirements; meals also involve supported self-serving, giving children practice in everyday independence.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 1 Orrell Street, Bury, BL8 1PB. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, with operation across 52 weeks except bank holidays. That opening window is separate from the booking patterns families purchase.

Full Day and AM/PM Session bookings sit alongside a School Day running from 9am to 4.30pm. Funded attendance can be arranged over term time or stretched across the year. These distinctions matter when comparing a shorter daily pattern with longer care or planning how entitlement fits around work.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0161 764 6752 or by email at info@firststepsnursery.co.uk. Road connections include the A58, M66 and M60. The setting's single-storey layout is another concrete detail to bear in mind when considering its spaces.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including provision from nine months. The term-time offer provides 15 or 30 funded hours per week across 38 weeks; the stretched offer provides 10.96 or 21.92 hours per week across 52 weeks. Eligibility depends on the relevant entitlement and family circumstances. Private additional sessions can also be purchased.

Meals and snacks carry separate charges for the age bands from nine months through four years, including during funded attendance. Additional voluntary services are charged on an ad hoc basis. Families should obtain a current written quotation covering their attendance pattern and selected extras; the fees page explains the funding arrangements.

• Younger children's routines. In July 2025, mealtimes and activity changes sometimes left younger children unsettled. During a visit, ask how staff now organise these moments and respond when several children need help together.
• Learning beyond the resources. The July 2025 improvement priorities included staff understanding of the intended curriculum. Ask for an example of how an interest in garden play or construction becomes the next learning opportunity for your child.
• Your attendance quotation. Full Day, AM/PM Session and School Day bookings have different practical uses, while funded hours can follow term-time or stretched arrangements. Ask for one written breakdown covering your chosen pattern, meals, snacks and how nappies and sun cream are handled.
• Dietary requirements. Dishes are adapted to children's dietary needs, and the menu identifies allergens. Allergy-affected families should confirm current preparation and serving arrangements before agreeing their child's care plan.

First Steps suits families seeking either Full Day care, AM/PM sessions or the shorter School Day pattern, with funded attendance also arranged over term time or across the year. Its garden spaces, baby sleeping arrangements and gradual room transitions provide concrete reasons to consider it.

The Good judgement from July 2025 sits alongside specific concerns about extending learning and responding consistently during daily transitions. The decision turns on those everyday practices as much as the facilities: how adults develop play, organise busy moments and translate knowledge of each child into responsive care.