Step Start Nurseries Braintree

Opening hours

7am until 7pm, Monday to Friday, for 51 weeks of the year.

Age range

6 weeks old until the September after their fourth birthday

Established

2020

Lauren Faulkner

2 years ago

Our son attended in 2021 when he was 2.5 years old for 4-5 months before attending preschool & our daughter currently attends at the age of 2. Our experience with the nursery has been nothing shy of excellent. We have great relationships with the team members who look after our daughter directly & also other members of staff across the nursery. Through her learning journey at Step Start we have seen so much development in a short space of time and it’s testament to the effort & imagination of the staff in her room. Her days are filled with lots of free play, seasonal activities & structured play/circle time. She has made strong bonds with both staff & peers alike and goes to nursery happy and returns home covered in paint, mud & food - all signs of a fun filled day! Communication between us as parents & staff is at the correct level and we are very happy our daughter has a place at Step Start. Huge appreciation to all the members of the Starting & First Steps rooms.

laimonas matukas

a year ago

We didn't like the Nursery. They start dressing up my boy in a girl clothing while all girls wasn't dressed at all in a classroom.High charges for unhealthy, unbalanced junk food.Most of the stuf were overweight which resulted passive activities. Not happy.Do not recommend !

Remi Desouza

2 years ago

Our son attended Step Start from 2021 to 2023. The last year of his time there my son was continually targeted by two particular children where he was subjected to deep scratch marks which has left a scar on his face, bite marks, pushed out of the play house window, smacked around the face with a shoe. Majority of which were all not seen by the members of staff in the room. Staff members had openly told me they were short staffed and wanted as many parents to complain as possible. I had multiple conversations with staff room members and management staff about the ongoing issues and concerns and had raised by concerns around staffing levels. In the end, we were left with no choice but to pull our son out of nursery due to steps not being put into place and the situation not being taken seriously. My son went from being a very happy, outgoing child who wanted to go to nursery, to a child who would without fail cry every morning because he didn't want to go there and would count down the days where he would be at home. He was anxious about how other children would treat him when out or when attending settle sessions for his big school.. with the first thing him saying is "mummy nobody hurt me today". I would never send any of my future children to step start purely because of the number of incidents which simply were not seen, children clearly are not monitored properly and the sheer fact they have minimal interest in rectifying the problem or putting strict procedures in place to prevent this from regularly recurring.

Kate Smoothy

3 years ago

I would not recommend this nursery for any child with additional needs. For context on what I am detailing below, my son is autistic and mostly non verbal. Our son attended Step Start for over a year and while initially we were very happy with them, we had several instances such as: - His nappy not being changed all day. He was clearly changed in the morning and not since. Staff put a nappy change on their log of 4pm to cover themselves as I discovered the cold, full nappy at 5pm - any parent of a child in nappies knows this wouldn’t be the case. - My son being totally ignored by agency staff as he cried and bled from his face. I was picking him up and saw the entire thing through the window and had to alert staff myself from outside. - Brand new staff members asking my husband and I how to “deal with” our son without consulting his key person or one plan. Management followed up to apologise and explain she did not follow correct procedure but in my opinion she wasn’t told correct procedure, hence her reaching out to us. - His 1-to-1 (funded with inclusion funding) left the setting and we were not told. Several weeks later it was “let slip” to us that she had left. When we pulled him out 4 months later, she had not been replaced. From the time she left he was not given any 1:1 sessions despite Step Start claiming funding from the council for his additional support. - An instance where he was left alone in an enclosed playhouse with other children which resulted in him having his face scratched. The child in question was verbal and because “he told us {your son} hit him first” they felt that was enough to explain the situation. As my child was non verbal he was unable to explain what happened from his point of view but he does not hit at home (including his little brother). - No acknowledgement from staff (apart from accounts, which seems to be a key interest for Step Start) that my son was leaving after over a year with them or that his 1 to 1 support wasn’t replace in adequate time. This was followed up with the new management recently and we were told we’d receive a formal apology, we haven’t. I am sharing this review because Step Start because I know other SEN children attend the setting and I want to highlight the completely inadequate care our son received there. Please, if your child already attends this nursery, keep a very close eye on what is and isn’t happening.

Patricia Real

3 years ago

My little one is so happy there and has had a really development there. They do plenty of activities and they work with Famly App where you can see most updated info about the little and daily pictures. I'm just missing mother's Day gift to mention some "special days presents" or the car park (there's only space for two cars and peak times are a bit messy).