About Us
Early Steps Nursery School has been established since October 2018. Many of the team worked together at the highly successful Early Years Nursery School in Didsbury, which closed its doors for the final time at the end of August 2018. Rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, the long-established, independent nursery built up a fantastic reputation, and had been open for over 27 years, with minimal staff turnover. Following its closure, sisters Lucy and Sophie Thropp who both worked as key workers as part of the Early Years' team opened their own independent Early Steps Nursery School in the centre of Heaton Mersey village - close to the East Didsbury and Parrswood borders.
Early Steps has grown with an experienced and successful team, and endeavours to deliver the same unique ethos so valued by parents over the years. Visit our testimonials page to hear what parents have to say about the staff team. The nursery offers a range of enriching extra curricular activities available to all children, including dance, music and mini-tennis. We also have a fantastic chef who makes delicious, freshly prepared pescatarian meals daily, catering for individual dietary requirements if necessary.
Key workers are responsible for monitoring and recording the developmental milestones of each of the children in our key groups, and produce your child's two-year progress check as well as bi-annual summaries. Parents also receive daily verbal feedback from staff about their child's development and well-being.
Early Steps has an open plan layout with an additional room for naps, group-time, or extra-curricular activities. Age groups are not segregated and are mixed within the nursery, providing a family atmosphere, enabling children to flourish developmentally and socially, and helping to build their self-confidence. At this impressionable stage of their lives children learn so much; younger children learn from observing and witnessing the ways in which older children play and interact, and they are stimulated by the play ideas and more developed vocabulary of older children. The older children in turn often take up a caring, protective role toward younger children and provide role-models for more complex play skills; they enjoy the responsibility and value praise when they help others - an important developmental stage in their readiness for school. In line with the increasing globalisation of the world we live in, Early Steps celebrates the rich diversity of cultures around the world and in our cosmopolitan community.
Our external learning space overlooks the wooded Heaton Mersey 'Bowl', providing further opportunities for children to develop their social, physical, and communication skills. The locality of so much green space offers children the freedom to explore the natural environment through our forest school classes, which are carried out under the close supervision of our enthusiastic teachers. (Any trips out have a ratio of 1:2, with parental permission sought in advance). In caring for and teaching the future generation we also introduce children to looking after their environment. The nursery has its own recycling unit, and compost. We aim to reduce the use of single-use-plastic and hope in time to have solar panels installed on the roof to minimise our carbon footprint.
The nursery is close to three primary schools. There is on-street parking close by, and it is a very short walk from the bus stop on Didsbury Road, and only a 10 minute (0.5 mile) walk from the East Didsbury Metrolink tram stop.
We also have an Early Steps' community board for parents/carers to advertise their own businesses, news, and events.