Bramfield Stepping Stones Pre-School
GoodTakes funded hours★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Halesworth for children from birth to 5, open 07:45 to 17:30, 5 days a week. £37.44 a day, and they take the funded hours. Rated Good by Ofsted in July 2024. Open since 2008, with 18 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
| Age | Full day | Session | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | £37.44All day care | £6.24Breakfast Club (Mon-Fri) or Lunch club £12.48Afternoon, 2 hrs £18.72Morning, 3 hrs |
Extras
Charged on top of the session rate.
- £2.75 a day school dinner
Where this came from
The outlined line is the one the price was taken from.
Funded hours
Government funding for up to 15 hours a week is available for all 3 and 4 year olds, commencing from the term following their third birthday; We also offer up to 30 hours funding a week for eligible 3, 4-year olds. (30 hours for 2 year olds of working families from September 2025); Government funding is also available for some 2 year olds whose parents meet the 2 year old funding criteria.
Worth knowing. We make NO EXTRA CHARGES for Children entitled to 2, 3 or 4 year old government funding. We only charge additional fees if you choose to access extra sessions above your funding entitlement or access school dinners. Our Lunch Club hour can also be included within your funding.
What childcare usually costs in Suffolk
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Suffolk from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
IP19 9HZWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 15 July 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Staff create a homely setting which children thrive in. Children excitedly arrive and take pride as they hang their belongings on their peg. An effective key-person system is in place and children have created secure attachments with staff which enable them to part with ease from their family. Children excitedly find somewhere to play, happily joining their friends. Children can independently negotiate turntaking and, as a result, share resources well.
Staff lead a very popular circle time focused on language development. Children are excited when they see the treasure box. They ask for their favourite puppet and wait with anticipation. Each puppet is linked to a familiar song which they join in with. Children laugh as the puppet tickles them or creeps out of the box. Staff ensure that both factual books and storybooks are available in different places in the environment. Children independently access them and really enjoy retelling stories. This promotes their listening and communication skills and develops their use of vocabulary. Staff provide a variety of opportunities for children to mark make, both indoors and outside. They work collaboratively when they use paintbrushes and water to paint the fence and marvel as the wood changes colour.
Children love being outside. They particularly like the sand, burying their feet in it.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- review the routines of the day to minimise children's waiting time and maximise their time spent in purposeful play.
- 15 July 2024Good
- 21 November 2018Good
- 4 December 2015Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Bramfield Stepping Stones Pre-School
- Youngest age taken
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date. The rest is in no dataset anywhere. Either way it is worth ten minutes on the phone.
- Is £37.44 a day still the rate? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- How do you apply my funded hours? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.
Pre-schools within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.