Second Steps Day Nursery Hanningfield

A caravan used for stories, woodland play and walks to see alpacas give Second Steps Day Nursery Hanningfield a recognisable countryside character. In November 2024, these were part of children's nursery experience, alongside growing herbs and vegetables. Children explored the wooded area and used natural materials to create games.

Ofsted judged the nursery Good on 18 November 2024 and found safeguarding effective, with an improvement needed in how staff paced group learning and everyday routines. That balance matters: the setting earned a positive overall judgement, but children sometimes had to stop their chosen play too quickly.

The nursery serves children aged 2 to 60 months at Lodge Farmhouse in East Hanningfield. Its current opening window is 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, giving families a substantial span within which to arrange care.

Rooms and Ages

Owls covers ages 0 to 2 years, while Poppies covers 1 to 2 years; Hedgehogs is for 2 to 3 years and Squirels for 3 to 4 years. These are the nursery's room age bands, separate from its overall accepted age range. The overlap between the youngest rooms makes the actual room allocation an important part of a family's decision.

Play is the organising principle across the rooms. Activities are intended to support children's development. For parents, the useful distinction is between an age band and the experience their child will have within it: the room names describe stages, while children's interests helped shape the activities in November 2024.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, this means play and daily experiences have an educational purpose, alongside meeting children's care needs.

In November 2024, staff planned resources and activities around what interested the children. Children could pursue their own play as well as join activities led by adults. Counting, sorting colours and shapes, and exploring simple calculations brought early mathematics into ordinary play, making numbers something children used rather than encountered only in a separate lesson.

Stories and songs supplied opportunities for communication. In November 2024, children used visual prompts to indicate which songs they wanted, while adults spoke clearly and used questions to develop conversations. Children could express their preferences and help choose the singing activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

In November 2024, the wooded space gave children natural objects to turn into games. The reading library occupied an old caravan, offering a smaller setting for books and storytelling. These contrasting spaces supported different kinds of activity: imaginative outdoor play in one, listening and looking at books in the other.

Walks in the surrounding area were regular experiences in November 2024, with goats and alpacas among the animals children saw. Herbs and vegetables were grown in plots, giving children practical involvement in tending plants. Children and staff had also delivered flowers to neighbours, connecting the nursery day with people living nearby. The appeal is concrete: nature and community were things children encountered directly.

In November 2024, babies received cuddles when they needed comfort and help with dressing for outdoor play. Across the setting, staff encouraged independence in ways appropriate to children's development. That combination allowed practical skills to grow while keeping adult help close at hand.

Relationships extended beyond the nursery rooms. In November 2024, Ofsted found that staff worked effectively with parents and other professionals, and that supervision and coaching supported staff development. For families, this is useful inspection evidence about how adults shared responsibility for children's care, rather than a promise about an individual member of staff.

Everyday routines also offered opportunities to practise doing things independently. In November 2024, children put resources away after using them, cleared their plates and replenished their water bottles. Adults supported these tasks as part of the day. Small responsibilities gave children a practical role in looking after themselves and their surroundings.

Meals in November 2024 were cooked fresh by the nursery chef, and children ate with staff, talking about food and experiences from home. The shared table made mealtimes a social part of the day as well as a care routine.

Outdoor accidents prompted a review of what had happened in November 2024, including the equipment involved, with risk assessments adjusted where necessary. This describes a response to incidents at that time; it sits alongside the dated safeguarding judgement rather than replacing it.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day care runs from 7am to 7pm on weekdays. The nursery operates throughout the year. The current closing time gives families a later endpoint than the nursery day described in November 2024, so the present hours are the useful ones for planning attendance.

Getting There

The address is Lodge Farmhouse, Old Church Road, East Hanningfield, Chelmsford, CM3 8BH. Hanningfield enquiries use 01245 914847, and families can select Hanningfield in the nursery visit booking form.

Funding and Paid Extras

In November 2024, the nursery provided government-funded early education for eligible children. For a family weighing funded care against privately paid attendance, eligibility and the nursery's arrangements are separate parts of the decision. Current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation.

• The pace of the day. In November 2024, some children were hurried away from play to the next routine, and the improvement action covered both group activities and routine transitions. During a visit, ask how staff now protect time for children to finish an activity.
• Choosing the youngest room. Owls and Poppies have overlapping age bands. Ask how the nursery decides which room a younger child joins and how a move between rooms is handled.
• Funded attendance. Government-funded provision was part of the nursery's offer in November 2024. Before agreeing a booking, ask for a written explanation of the funded arrangement and the treatment of meals, non-food consumables and additional paid hours.

Hanningfield suits families drawn to the interest-led play and countryside experiences described in November 2024. Its November 2024 day included animal walks, planting, woodland games and storytelling in a caravan, rather than relying solely on indoor activities.

The Good judgement provides a dated assessment of quality, while the concern about hurried transitions gives parents a specific issue to explore. Weekday opening from 7am to 7pm adds practical reach. The strongest reason to consider this nursery is the combination of its outdoor character and the ordinary, hands-on experiences described in November 2024.