Positive Steps Childcare Nursery

Welcome to Positive Steps Nursery! Found on-site at East Durham College's Peterlee campus, our nursery makes attendance at college easier by providing fantastic childcare facilities for those students who may have young children. It's also open to members of the public looking for childcare.

The Positive Steps Nursery provides high quality care and education at a competitive cost - for children aged from six weeks to five years old. Some free sessions are available for two, three and four year olds.

Sessions are free for some students of the College (means tested) and funding is also available for those students with children at other nurseries or with childminders.

Ofsted - GOOD

Positive Steps Nursery was inspected in 2022 and was graded good by Ofsted. You can view the report on the Ofsted website >>

Curriculum At Positive Steps Nursery

At Positive Steps, we follow the EYFS curriculum. You can read more information on this curriculum by following this link.

Interior of the Positive Steps Day Nursery play area

Sessions at Positive Steps

We are open for 50 weeks of the year, with a 2-week closure over the Christmas period. We are also closed for all bank holidays and three additional days during the year for staff development and training days.

Session times are as follows:

Mondays to Thursdays

Full Day Session: From 8am to 5.45pm (includes lunch or tea or both)

Morning Session: From 8am to 1pm (includes lunch)

Afternoon Session: 1pm to 5.45pm (includes tea)

Fridays

Session times end at 5.15pm

Everyday

We also offer an early bird starter session from 7.45am-8am. This is at a small additional cost and must be pre-booked.

There is a discount available for full-time places at Positive Steps.

You are entitled to 'holidays' with your children - this is dependent on the number of sessions your child attends.

Meet The Team

Follow this link to find out more details of our fantastic team at the nursery

Exterior of the Positive Steps Day Nursery play area

Transition Visits

When you have accepted your nursery place, we will work out some visits for you and your child.

Initially, you will do a one hour visit between 10am and 11am or 2pm and 3pm, depending on what is best for you and your child.

Once your child is more secure and you feel confident to leave them for a longer time, visits will be extended to 2 hours and once we all agree your child is settled and happy, you will begin your paid sessions.

Rooms at Positive Steps

We have three separate rooms at Positive Steps for children of different age groups. These are:

Cuddly Cubs - for children from birth to 2 years

Little Bears - for children aged 2-3 years

Pre-School - for children aged 3-5 years

These ages are a preferred guideline; children may be admitted into the next relevant age group earlier or later at the discretion of the management team and following discussion with the child's parents/carers.

Childcare Funding Available

You could be eligible for government help for childcare. The government helps provide free childcare for children aged between 2 and 4.

For more details, please Check out our funding information page here >>

Positive Feedback

We are extremely proud of the quality of service we offer to all the children entrusted to our care, as well as to their parents and carers. It is always very satisfying to have that endorsed by the positive feedback received from parents. This is just one example of many:

"I just wanted to drop you guys a message to express our appreciation for the outstanding quality and professionalism of the whole team at Positive Steps Nursery. Denise and the whole team deserve special mention for the absolute joy, care and attention to detail they have in their roles. We feel very lucky that our daughter has a place at Positive Steps, and we could not be more impressed or satisfied with the fantastic work that the whole team does there." Phillip.