Footprints Learning for Life

Free settling visits, SENCO-trained staff and a nursery transport service give Footprints Learning for Life a practical identity beyond its Tees Street address. This Hartlepool nursery takes children from birth to five and has 116 places in total. Its offer combines support for family routines with an emphasis on children learning to manage more for themselves.

At its October 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that staff worked productively with outside agencies to support children with SEND. There were also two clear educational priorities: deepen early mathematics and give the most able children more demanding conversations and activities. Those points matter alongside the positive judgement.

Morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside term-time places and flexible sessions where possible.

Rooms and Ages

The age groups make the progression through nursery straightforward. In the 0-2 rooms, activities are matched to children's stage of development; the 2-3 rooms place emphasis on relationships with families and responding to individual interests; in the 3-5 rooms, children explore activities, discuss their discoveries and contribute their own ideas. For preschool children, that last emphasis gives conversation a place alongside doing.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the required framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, learning and care belong together: conversation, play and growing independence all contribute to the child's development. It is the shared foundation for early years provision, rather than a special Footprints programme.

In October 2024, children experimented with paint colours while decorating pumpkins, investigated magnets through a game and persisted with threading and hoop throwing. These examples show different kinds of engagement: trying an idea, noticing what happens and keeping going when a task takes effort. Staff also helped children practise dressing and personal care, connecting nursery learning with skills used beyond an activity table.

Books supplied another route into conversation in October 2024. Children connected stories with earlier experiences, including a police visit, and brought vocabulary from that encounter into their discussion.

Early mathematics needed greater depth in October 2024. Conversations covered shapes, quantities and numbers, but estimating and ideas about weight and measurement were less consistently developed. The most able children also sometimes needed more searching exchanges, including during construction activities. For families whose children already enjoy complex questions, the challenge within an activity matters as much as the activity itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

In October 2024, the nursery had a sensory room and a craft room containing a beach area. These offered different spaces for sensory experiences and imaginative activity. Outdoor play also formed part of the day, with staff explaining safety and reinforcing expectations for behaviour.

Community involvement has a named connection: Footprints works with and raises funds for the PFC Trust, which supports community projects. It gives the nursery's community work a concrete partner and purpose.

Relationships and Communication

Settling can be extended to fit the child. New starters receive up to three free play visits, with further visits possible when needed, and parents gradually practise short separations during that process. The flexibility is useful for a child who needs more time to become comfortable with a new routine.

In October 2024, key-person arrangements connected staff with children's family circumstances, and parents received ideas for continuing learning at home. A regular monthly newsletter provides another channel for keeping families informed. These serve different purposes: the key person supports the individual relationship, while the newsletter carries shared nursery news.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SENCO-trained staff provide a specific point of contact for discussions about additional needs. Policies are accessible to families, and the nursery's induction covers the child's requirements before attendance begins. This gives parents a mechanism for discussing support, rather than a broad promise that every need will be met in the same way.

Health routines have practical boundaries. Staff administer only medicine prescribed for the child, with signed parental permission; following sickness or diarrhoea, children must be clear of symptoms for 48 hours before returning. Accidents are documented and parents are told about the circumstances and treatment. These procedures affect both preparation for nursery and the arrangements a family needs if a child becomes unwell.

Food is cooked on the premises using fresh ingredients, with local produce where possible, and menus change on a three-month seasonal cycle. The nursery works with dietitians and other professionals on meal plans for allergies, dietary requirements and selective eating, and holds the Golden Apple Award for healthy eating.

Physical security includes fingerprint access, a camera and telephone entry system, and CCTV covering rooms and outdoor areas. These are specific arrangements for controlling access and monitoring the premises; they sit alongside the dated safeguarding judgement rather than replacing it.

Sessions and Attendance

Footprints operates at Tees Street, Hartlepool, TS24 8HA. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; the morning session runs from 7am to 1pm and the afternoon session from 1pm to 6pm. These are separate booking patterns, so a family considering a shorter nursery day has an alternative to the whole opening window.

Term-time-only places are offered, and flexible sessions can be arranged where possible. Saturday or evening provision depends on demand. Bank-holiday opening excludes Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, a useful distinction for parents whose working calendar includes public holidays.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01429 261122 or through the nursery enquiry form. That provides a direct route for arranging attendance and discussing the child's needs.

Getting There

A pick-up and drop-off service can transport children between nursery and home, school, a club or a relative's home. Vehicles have a nursery staff escort as well as a driver, making transport a practical part of the childcare offer for families coordinating different locations.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded places are offered for children aged two, three and four. The named options include the two-year-old grant, the three-year-old universal grant and 30 hours of free childcare for three- and four-year-olds; college, social-services and other organisation-funded places are also offered. Participation does not itself establish a particular family's eligibility.

Consumables are covered within private fees or funded hours. Meals are included for private sessions; for fully funded sessions, breakfast and snacks are free while lunch and tea carry separate charges, and funded attendance is possible without paying for meals. That distinction is important when comparing the total cost of different attendance arrangements.

A deposit is credited against fees when the contract ends, and an administration charge applies when the contract is signed. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and fees information explains how these categories fit together.

• Notification finding. Following a regulatory visit on 4 November 2025, Ofsted recorded that the nursery had failed to notify it about a significant event. Families should discuss the response to this finding and the notification arrangements now in place.
• Challenge within activities. In October 2024, early mathematics and extending the most able children's thinking were improvement priorities. Ask for examples of how staff now develop estimating, measurement and more demanding discussion during play.
• Your child's first room. Settling visits can extend beyond the initial three. Use a visit to discuss the usual group size in your child's age band and how the key-person relationship will be established.
• Food and funded attendance. Fully funded sessions distinguish free breakfast and snacks from charged lunch and tea. Families managing an allergy should confirm the current meal plan and handling arrangements, while those choosing attendance without paid meals should discuss how that works for their child.

Footprints suits families seeking morning or afternoon nursery sessions, as well as those considering term-time attendance or flexible sessions where possible. Free, extendable settling visits and a staffed transport service are useful practical strengths. SENCO-trained staff give discussions about additional needs a clear starting point.

The educational balance is also clear: engaging practical experiences sit alongside the October 2024 priorities for deeper mathematics and stronger challenge. The November 2025 notification finding belongs in the decision too. Families should weigh the fit of the care arrangements alongside the nursery's response to those specific points.