Little Steps, Higham Ferrers

A rooftop garden for babies, a dedicated sleep room and a listed building with daylight in every room give Little Steps, Higham Ferrers a recognisable character. Its youngest children have spaces for rest and exploration, while older children move through themed play areas towards preschool activities that include writing and problem-solving. The physical arrangements deserve attention as much as the activities.

At its May 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall and judged the quality of education Outstanding, with children deeply absorbed in ambitious, carefully planned play.

Little Steps accepts children from 3 months to 5 years and has capacity for 99 children in total. Blossom Unit, Mulberry Unit and Olive Unit divide provision by age. Full days, mornings, afternoons and a shorter School day provide different attendance options; the detailed timings matter when fitting childcare around work.

Rooms and Ages

Blossom Unit, for children aged 3 months to 2 years, separates younger babies, toddlers and sleeping into different rooms, combines sensory exploration with messy play and gives babies and toddlers their own rooftop garden. This separation makes rest a planned part of the environment rather than an activity sharing the main play space. Within the toddler room, children choose activities in a free-flow arrangement.

Mulberry Unit serves children aged 2 to 3 years, with five themed areas encompassing messy activities, small-world and role play, a dining space with creative provision, a snug for play and naps, and a garden with Astroturf and bark. These different spaces give children opportunities to choose between active, imaginative and quieter experiences. The snug also keeps a place for rest within this older age group's day.

Olive Unit, for ages 3 to 5 years, combines writing and letter formation on an interactive whiteboard with reasoning, problem-solving, ICT resources, free-flow play and its own outdoor area. The emphasis shifts towards preschool learning while retaining opportunities for children to choose their play. Writing sits alongside practical thinking rather than becoming the whole story.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, play includes language, early writing, exploration and problem-solving. It is the shared foundation for nursery education. Olive's interactive whiteboard and writing opportunities are concrete examples of how that framework enters the day.

Sing & Sign adds a named communication programme, with staff trained in an approach intended to encourage speech development. The useful distinction is between that additional programme and the wider framework: one is a specific communication addition, while the other shapes the nursery's educational provision.

In May 2023, planting pansies became an opportunity to connect sounds with words and investigate roots, soil, rainwater and sunlight. Children were encouraged to handle the plants and think about what they needed to grow. That example shows learning developing from something children could touch and examine, with language and scientific ideas introduced together.

Other activities in May 2023 asked children to solve practical problems. Older children worked out how to keep flowers upright in their arrangements, while younger children explored paint through large movements. The contrast matters: activities were adapted to different stages rather than reduced to one task for everyone.

Outdoor and Community Life

In May 2023, outdoor play included moving water, combining mud and investigating bubbles, with a tepee providing a place to share books. These experiences brought reading and experimentation into the outdoor environment. They also gave children different reasons to use it, beyond physical play alone.

Community experiences that month included handling owls, exploring wildlife in local heritage gardens and examining architecture in a church space. Each offered something different to investigate: living creatures, plants and buildings. These are examples from the inspection period, rather than a fixed outings timetable.

Relationships and Communication

In May 2023, staff knew children's interests and development in detail and used that knowledge to plan activities that revisited skills as well as extending them. When children became upset, adults stayed with them, discussed their feelings and offered comfort. Children were also taught to recognise the effect of their behaviour on others and to seek an adult's help.

Communication with families in May 2023 included discussions about curriculum goals and how parents could support learning at home. This went beyond passing on the day's activities: it connected what children were learning with practical parental involvement. Room leaders also met the manager daily to discuss the day and obtain support.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective and found outstanding support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including individual adult support where needed and collaboration with other professionals. Those findings give families a substantial inspection-time account of both protection and inclusion. The current management structure includes a SEND co-ordinator role, and staff have completed first-aid training.

Sleep has a tangible place in Blossom: four solid-wood Shanti-Cots sit beneath a fibre-optic star ceiling in the dedicated sleep room. For parents of younger babies, the separation from play is the more consequential feature. Mulberry's snug provides another place for naps as children grow older.

Lunch and tea are prepared on the premises from locally sourced ingredients, with a four-week menu cycle and alternatives for allergies or other dietary preferences. Suppliers include Hellets Butchers in Kimbolton and Pells farm shop, while bread comes from a Higham Ferrers bakery.

Sessions and Attendance

Full Day runs from 7.45am to 6pm, Morning from 7.45am to noon, and Afternoon from 1pm to 6pm. The School day option runs from 8.45am to 3.45pm; Extended AM and Extended PM are additional booking labels. These patterns serve different needs, from a shorter morning to care spanning the working day.

Funded Hours have their own windows: 8.45am to 11.45am and 12.45pm to 3.45pm. They should be read separately from the longer paid Morning and Afternoon sessions. That distinction matters when matching a funded booking to a parent's working hours.

Opening hours are 7.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with closures on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas. Families therefore need to account for those closures as well as choosing a session pattern.

Getting There

The address is 5-7 College Street, Higham Ferrers, NN10 8DX, on the main route through Higham Ferrers near Rushden. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01933 357 400 or by email at mail@littlesteps-nursery.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including the extended entitlement for qualifying parents of 3- and 4-year-olds, delivered as up to 22 hours 20 mins per week across 51 weeks. This is a stretched arrangement, spreading those hours across the year. Qualification remains a condition of that extended entitlement.

Private childcare is also offered, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Fees are payable monthly in advance; a registration charge includes a bag. Lunch attracts a separate charge when it has not been booked, so the booking condition matters when considering the overall cost.

Absences remain payable in full, and withdrawing a child requires one month's written notice. These terms affect the commitment as well as the advertised attendance pattern.

• Blossom's separate spaces. Babies have a dedicated sleep room and rooftop garden. On a visit, ask how your child's sleep routine, outdoor time and move towards the toddler room would be organised.
• Different funded and paid windows. Funded morning and afternoon hours are shorter than the corresponding paid sessions. Match the actual start and finish times to your working day, and establish the written treatment of meals and consumables for your booking.
• Payment during absences. Missed attendance remains payable in full, and withdrawal requires a month's written notice. Include both terms when deciding how much flexibility your family needs.

Little Steps suits families seeking either full-day childcare or shorter morning, afternoon and School day attendance, with separate environments for babies, two-year-olds and preschool children. The dedicated baby sleep room, rooftop garden and themed Mulberry spaces give the offer substance beyond a list of activities.

The Outstanding May 2023 judgement is a strong reason to consider it, supported by detailed examples of purposeful play and individual care from that period. The practical decision rests on matching the chosen session to family hours and understanding the payment terms, especially funded windows, absences and notice.