Right Step Nursery & Kids Club

Right Step Nursery & Kids Club
Unique reference number (URN): 2590563
Address: Whitfield Valley Primary Academy, Oxford Road, Fegg Hayes, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, ST6
6TD
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 30/04/2020
Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR
Registered person: Davies, Amanda Jane
Inspection report: 17 June 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement

Strong standard
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for
governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open
culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively
identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all
legal requirements are met.
Inclusion Strong standard
Staff are highly skilled at supporting disadvantaged children and/or children with special
educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They are patient and offer high levels of care
to them. Consequently, children with SEND, other barriers to their learning or those known
to children's social care are flourishing in their development. Staff and leaders work
extremely closely with parents and other professionals. They attend relevant meetings and
share comprehensive updates and gather information. Staff develop thorough plans and
targets for children, utilising the advice and support they have received from other
professionals. They meticulously monitor and review plans; making changes as required.
Staff and leaders remain committed to ensuring that the support children receive meets their
emerging and changing needs.
Staff know the children's individual needs extremely well. Routines are thoughtfully adapted
to meet children's needs, and are increased in small increments over time. Staff carefully
consider each child's days of attendance. For instance, they tailor activities to ensure that
disadvantaged children still receive the full curriculum entitlement during their time in the
setting. Staff deliver one-to-one learning experiences for children, with an emphasis on
children's focus, attention and their personal social and emotional development. Children
smile as the staff purposefully interact with them. The experiences on offer to children are
focused on their next steps and on narrowing gaps in their learning. Any additional funding
that is received is carefully spent and monitored by staff and leaders to ensure that it meets
children's needs.

Expected standard
Achievement Expected standard
Disadvantaged children are thriving in their learning, particularly in their personal, social and
emotional development. They learn how to interact and play with and alongside their peers
and staff.
Children leave the setting ready for the next stage of their learning, including school. They
are confident and independent learners. Children eagerly offer to stand up and sing songs
and rhymes to their peers. They start to learn how to take turns and share. Children learn
how to make patterns, as they thread coloured objects on to string in a repeated sequence.
Children learn how to use glue to make objects stick together. They develop their knowledge
of colours and numbers as they play. Children develop a love of reading as they look at
pictures in stories. Older children are excellent communicators. They speak in sentences.
Younger children use sounds, single words and gestures as they learn to express
themselves. Children practise their physical skills, such as running, throwing and jumping.
However, at times, children need further support to help extend their knowledge and skills as
they play.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
On the whole, children show an eagerness to engage in the learning experiences on offer.
They develop their social skills as they play with and alongside their peers. However, on
occasion, the organisation of adult-led and whole-group activities is not well thought out. For
example, at times, there are not enough resources on hand for the amount of children, or
some children lose focus and become distracted. This does not support children to remain
engaged and enthused in their learning.
Staff are caring and shower children with love and cuddles. They praise children for their
effort. Staff remind children of the rules. They typically follow the setting's approach for how
they should manage children's behaviour. Staff generally support children to learn the
routine. For instance, children know that they need to wash their hands before they sit at the
table to eat their lunch. Staff support disadvantaged children to become familiar with the
routine, by showing objects and visual cues. They make adaptations to the routine where
needed, taking into account children's individual needs. For example, they adjust the length
of the day to meet children's needs and then increase this in small increments over time.
Children develop warm relationships with the staff who care for them. Staff role model to
children how they should treat each other with care and respect. Leaders regularly share
information about their attendance procedure with parents. They talk to them about the
importance of routines and structure for children.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Staff wash children's hands before meals. Children generally have plenty of opportunities to
play and explore outdoors. They practise a range of skills, including jumping, running and

learning how to kick a ball. Leaders and staff do not work closely enough with parents to
promote healthy eating. Children's packed lunches often contain items that are not balanced
or nutritious, and staff who eat with the children sometimes bring food that does not model
healthy eating effectively.
Staff provide high levels of care and support for disadvantaged children. They have a
designated quiet room that is used to provide a calming environment for children, and
provide one-to-one activities. This helps to ensure that disadvantaged children and children
with special educational needs and/or disabilities have the time they require to form deep
bonds with the staff who care for them.
Settling-in arrangements and transition arrangements are typically well thought out. Staff are
responsive to children, following their individual cues. Leaders take effective steps to ensure
that the correct ratios are maintained. Staff deploy themselves well as children eat, play and
rest. This ensures that all children are well supervised at all times.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
The curriculum is ambitious and varied. It covers all areas of learning and is sequenced well.
Staff generally support children to develop their knowledge of mathematical concepts. For
instance, children learn about space and size as they attempt to fit puzzles into the right
spaces. Children develop their perseverance as they keep on trying until they are
successful. At times, some staff do not consistently support children to extend their
knowledge and skills as they play.
Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. For instance,
children practise throwing and/or kicking balls into the large hoops outside. In addition,
children are supported to learn how they can use their feet to move themselves on scooters.
Children thoroughly enjoy mark-making experiences, as they use a range of media to draw
and create. They show their pride by keenly showing staff what they have drawn,
constructed and built. Staff praise them for what they do well, recognising when children
have tried hard.
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive high levels of support
from staff. Staff support them to make choices, by using objects as reference. They give
children lots of space to make their choice as they learn to express themselves. Leaders
typically have an understanding of staff's teaching practice, and areas where this can be
developed even further.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders are passionate. They typically evaluate the overall quality of the setting, and identify
areas of strength and areas that can be strengthened further. They have recently taken
steps to develop information-sharing with the local school, specifically when accidents occur
in their setting. In addition, they have improved the procedures followed for reporting
accidents to parents.
Leaders generally work well with parents. They host various open days throughout the year
for parents, carers and grandparents to attend. They provide information about the setting's

routines, curriculum and transitions or settling-in procedures. Staff keep parents informed
about their children's development, progress and next steps. They provide parents with
information packs, ideas and resources that they can use at home to support their children.
This includes recipes and oral health guides. Parents value the support and care that they
and their child receive. Leaders need to work even more closely with parents to help ensure
children's lunches are healthy, balanced and nutritious, in order to fully promote children's
health.
Leaders work extremely well with other professionals. They ensure that disadvantaged
children receive the specialist help, care and support that they require to thrive. Leaders
ensure that staff share key information about the children with other settings that they are
due to attend. This helps to ensure that children receive the consistency they require.
Staff generally feel well supported in their role and feel that leaders take into account their
wellbeing and workload. Leaders monitor staff through observations. They encourage staff
to reflect on their own performance. Leaders hold regular supervision meetings with staff
where they review staff's practice; identifying any areas of support or training.
Compulsory Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met

Voluntary Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Most children leave their parents at the door happily as they come into the setting. The few
children who require support in separating from their parents are provided with warm and
affectionate care from staff. Before long, all children are happy, settled and ready to play or
explore. Children's voices are valued by staff. For instance, they are provided with lots of
space and time to express their thoughts and feelings.
The curriculum is rich. Staff use their knowledge of the children to plan activities that build
on their curiosity, interests and development. All children make progress in their learning
from their starting points. They practise movements, such as stomping, jumping and
stretching, as they join in with 'physical activity time'. Children also develop their knowledge
of positional language. For instance, they join in on parachute games and run underneath to
get to the other side.
Children typically show an eagerness to join in. They practise their mark-making skills.
Some children excitedly explain that they are drawing a fish. Staff are on hand to support
them to learn how to hold the writing materials. Children are keen to show others how to use
the crayons to colour in. They enjoy stories and rhymes. Staff read stories clearly and with
lots of expression. They ask children questions about the story. Some children confidently
share their knowledge of the story as they answer questions or talk about the pictures.
Children are supported to develop their social skills. For instance, staff support them to take
turns. Partnership working with others is a strength of the setting. Disadvantaged children
receive high levels of care and support from staff. Staff identify gaps and barriers in
children's learning swiftly. They take positive steps to help ensure that children with special
educational needs and/or disabilities receive the specialist help and/or support they require
to thrive.

Inspector:
Louise Chinyuku
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2590563
Address:
Whitfield Valley Primary Academy
Oxford Road
Fegg Hayes
Stoke on Trent
Staffordshire
ST6 6TD
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 30/04/2020
Registered person: Davies, Amanda Jane
Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Next steps
Leaders should support staff to help extend children's learning and skills as they access
experiences and/or activities.
Leaders should strengthen the strategies used to help promote children's diet and health,
including partnership working with parents and supporting staff to model this.
Leaders should help staff to organise activities better to help support children to remain
engaged and enthused to learn.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders and staff during the inspection.
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the
quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The
registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for
children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

Local authority: Stoke-on-Trent
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 17 June 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
2 to 11
Total number of places
35
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are
following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional
standards expected of them.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects
and regulates services that care for children and young people.
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