Little Steps at St Georges School

A Forest School site, separate spaces for play and sleep, and a baby garden give Little Steps at St Georges School a clear physical character. This Dunstable nursery combines child-led exploration with small-group preparation for school, while keeping babies’ routines individual. The outdoor provision is more than somewhere to run around: supervised tool use and growing beds bring practical experiences into the day.

At its January 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, while identifying a need for stronger outdoor learning, more detailed starting-point assessments and greater challenge during activities.

The nursery cares for children from birth to school age and has 60 places in total. It operates independently of the school whose name it carries. Full-day care and attendance for a few sessions each week form part of its offer.

Rooms and Ages

Hedgehogs gives babies two rooms they can move between, their own routines and a separate part of the garden, so indoor exploration and outdoor play sit alongside individual care rather than a single timetable for everyone.

Rabbits has two toddler rooms with different purposes, one for active play and another for sleeping or resting, plus a garden; speech, movement, social interaction and early number and literacy experiences shape the play.

Badgers and Foxes accommodates two- to three-year-olds across ground-floor rooms, with French doors from Badgers to the outdoor space, separate reading and active-play areas, and planning built around children’s interests.

Squirrels, for three- and four-year-olds, combines free-flow outdoor access and a garden and forest area with opportunities to practise independence, manage emotions and join small-group phonics and numeracy activities before Reception.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the foundation: language, physical development, relationships, mathematics, literacy, creative expression and understanding the world are developed through the nursery day. Little Steps adds an in-the-moment planning approach, in which adults respond to what children are doing and help extend the learning within their play. Adult-led themes sit alongside that approach, rather than replacing children’s choices.

Small-group communication sessions support conversation, with phonics and numeracy added for older children. Curriculum ambitions include becoming readers, musicians, explorers and mathematicians.

Each child has a key person who observes development and adjusts the next steps as activities change. Once a term, a focus week brings together observations from home and nursery, followed by a fuller reflection. Parents can contribute observations beyond daily exchanges.

In January 2022, children helped select themes by voting, giving them an experience of making choices together and accepting a shared decision. Adults introduced mathematical ideas into conversations, but questions did not consistently stretch children’s thinking enough. The distinction is important: following an interest should still lead somewhere new.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds nature-based exploration on the nursery grounds, including supervised use of drills, peelers and bow saws. Children take part through different seasons and weather conditions. This is a concrete addition to the EYFS day: outdoor learning includes handling tools and trying unfamiliar practical tasks, rather than only using play equipment.

A mud kitchen and growing beds add other ways to investigate outdoors. Children help with planting, tending and harvesting, connecting their play with the care of living things. The gardens also serve different age groups, including babies’ own outdoor area and the larger spaces used by older children.

In January 2022, outdoor play included riding wheeled toys and balancing on stepping stones. However, the outdoor curriculum needed more deliberate planning to extend learning across the children using it. Families should weigh the activities and teaching within these spaces alongside their size and contents.

Relationships and Communication

Babies’ care begins with a plan discussed with parents, and each child follows an individual routine. That makes information about sleep, feeding and familiar habits part of the care arrangement. Hedgehogs also uses daily home books, while Tapestry, the online learning journal, shares observations and children’s learning with families.

Tapestry also carries a daily care diary. Parents can speak with their child’s key person, room leader or management team, attend a termly progress meeting and receive monthly updates about themes and dates.

In January 2022, moves between groups were prepared through discussions between key persons and short visits accompanied by the child’s existing key person. That allowed familiarity to carry into the new room before the final move. The same visit found that initial information gathering covered home routines and interests more fully than children’s existing skills, leaving starting-point assessment less precise than it needed to be.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with SEND well supported through individual care and learning plans, with visual prompts helping children understand routines and manage behaviour. These are dated judgements, rather than a substitute for understanding how support works for a child joining now.

A SENCO role works with practitioners, children and parents to identify and support additional needs. For school transition, Squirrels staff communicate with Reception teachers, invite them into nursery, arrange classroom taster sessions and prepare transition reports. That is preparation and information sharing, not an admissions advantage.

Food is prepared on the premises, with cooked lunch supplied by the Nursery Catering Company; breakfast, snacks and tea also form part of the food offer. Dietary wishes and needs are considered in meal arrangements.

Later regulatory findings qualify that dietary position. In April 2022, action required better staff supervision and stronger arrangements for allergies, intolerances and food preferences. A further dietary incident led to a welfare requirements notice in September 2022 covering training, safe food procedures, accurate information for parents and protection from risks; a monitoring visit on 29 September 2022 confirmed that those notice actions had been met. This repeated history makes the practical handling of an individual child’s diet a material consideration.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 28-30 Priory Road, Dunstable, LU5 4HR. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, with year-round operation apart from bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

Full-day care or a few sessions each week are offered. Applications use a nursery application form; enquiries and visit bookings can be made through the contact form or on 01582 661471.

Funding and Paid Extras

In January 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. Families should distinguish that dated participation from the funding and charge arrangements for a new booking. Current prices belong in the nursery’s written quotation, alongside the attendance pattern being purchased.

Preparation for Reception includes phonics, numeracy, independence and communication with receiving teachers. Despite the nursery’s name and school-building connections, nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families seeking an independent-school place still use that school’s own admissions process.

• Learning outdoors. January 2022 findings called for better outdoor planning and more demanding questions during play. During a visit, ask how a current garden activity develops children’s thinking beyond the activity itself.
• Starting with your child. Initial assessments needed more detail in January 2022, while the current curriculum includes a termly focus week with parents. Discuss how the key person will establish what your child already understands before planning their first learning steps.
• Dietary safeguards and supervision. April 2022 action covered staff supervision and special diets, and dietary problems recurred later that year. The September notice actions were met on 29 September 2022. Allergy-affected families should confirm current meal checks and discuss the response to the April supervision action; its stated deadline was 27 May 2022.
• The complete booking cost. Full-day care and a few sessions each week offer different attendance choices. What would your chosen pattern cost in writing, including any funded hours, meals and non-food consumables?

Little Steps suits families considering either full-day attendance or a few nursery sessions each week, especially those who value outdoor exploration and a gradual introduction to school routines. Separate toddler rest space, individual baby care plans and the practical Forest School offer give that choice substance.

The balance is less straightforward around teaching challenge and dietary practice. The January 2022 improvement points and repeated dietary action deserve attention alongside the Good grade. Its strongest appeal lies in the combination of age-specific spaces, responsive play and structured contact with parents.