Stepping Stones Day Nursery

Sensory play for babies, school preparation for older children and Jungle Club for school holidays give Stepping Stones Day Nursery in Maryport a remit beyond preschool care. Jungle Club combines outings, creative activities, cooking and outdoor play for school-aged children. For families with children at different stages, that adds a holiday option alongside the nursery rooms.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 24 May 2022. There are 65 places in total. Separate Baby Room, Toddler Room and Pre-school Room provision gives the nursery day a clear age-based structure. Flexible hours and no minimum hours requirement offer families scope to choose their attendance pattern.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room combines a calm, sensory-rich space with gentle play, familiar routines and relationship-building, putting comfort alongside exploration. Toddler Room turns towards hands-on discovery, with stories, music and messy activities supporting independence and friendships. Pre-school Room brings early number work, letters and sounds together with creative play and stories, giving school preparation a practical shape.

These are different emphases rather than interchangeable room descriptions. For a baby, the central question is how routines and bonding work together; for an older child, it is how play gradually incorporates the skills needed for the next stage. Each room has its own purpose.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, play and exploration provide opportunities to practise communication, movement, relationships and early number skills. The room activities make that concrete, from sensory discovery to stories and creative work.

In May 2022, babies explored bubbles through touch, sound and movement. Younger children tackled an obstacle course and practised throwing and catching outside, while older children used musical instruments to explore changes in pace. Those examples connect learning to things children can do and repeat, rather than treating early education as a sequence of seated tasks.

Outdoor and Community Life

In May 2022, older children, including children with SEND, took regular walks to local areas, including the harbour. Outdoor play also involved hoops and balls. The combination brought movement into both nursery play and outings beyond the building; the harbour gave those walks a recognisable Maryport destination.

Jungle Club extends the activity offer into school holidays. Baking, games, crafts and trips give school-aged children a different holiday routine, while younger children have the nursery's age-based rooms.

Relationships are part of the current approach, with daily updates giving parents a continuing connection to their child's nursery day. That is useful beyond a handover: communication can help families understand what their child is enjoying and how their interests are changing.

In May 2022, settling involved photographs shared before children started and family books to maintain a connection with home. Settling arrangements were adapted to individual children. These were concrete ways of making an unfamiliar setting more recognisable, rather than expecting every child to separate from family in the same way.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described SEND support that brought advice from families and health professionals into individual plans, with key-person interactions helping children sustain attention. These are dated findings, rather than a promise about every child's experience today.

In May 2022, parents were invited to specialist training linked to children's care and learning. Staff also used puppets to explore emotions with older children. Recognising feelings and talking about them gave children a practical way to understand their own reactions and those of their friends.

In May 2022, younger children shared toys during water play and responded to staff's guidance. Songs also gave children a chance to express their preferences, including their favourite fruits. Older children could describe feeling happy, surprised or frightened and recognised that a hug could comfort someone else. These small exchanges put social learning into everyday play, linking sharing and expressing preferences with an awareness of how other children feel.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is on Wood Street, Maryport, CA15 6LD. Opening hours are 7.30am to 5pm on weekdays, with year-round operation apart from bank holidays and the Christmas period. Flexible hours are offered, and there is no minimum hours requirement. That makes the amount of booked care an important part of choosing a workable routine.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15 hours for all three- and four-year-olds, 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds, and 30 hours for eligible working parents from nine months to school age. Funding remains subject to eligibility and terms. Paid childcare is also offered; current prices are available directly from the nursery in its current fees schedule. The fees and funding page sets out the entitlement categories.

• Early language teaching. In May 2022, staff did not consistently model pronunciation precisely or develop conversations children started during stories. Ask how language teaching is now supported across the rooms.
• Care shared with another setting. In May 2022, information-sharing with other settings children attended needed strengthening. Families using more than one provider should discuss how learning information will be exchanged.
• Your attendance plan. Flexible hours and no minimum hours requirement are useful starting points. On a visit, discuss a proposed weekly pattern and request a written quotation showing how funded hours, meals and consumables would be treated.

Stepping Stones suits families seeking flexible nursery attendance and those interested in a school-holiday option for older children. Its strongest practical features are the different room emphases, daily parent updates and freedom from a minimum hours booking requirement. The May 2022 language-teaching and cross-setting communication concerns deserve a direct conversation before joining. The useful test is how the nursery's approach would work for your child's routines and stage of development.