Built for nurseries & preschools

The staff admin tool your setting actually runs on — all in one screen.

Ratios, leave, DBS renewals and Ofsted-ready records — replacing the spreadsheets, the WhatsApp group and the paper file with one place that's always up to date.

Book a demo See how it works
UK-hosted, one database per nursery Built by a developer working with nurseries Now taking early nurseries for Q2 2027
app.firststepshr.co.uk
First Steps HR manager dashboard, showing today's attendance for Willow Bank Nursery

Real screenshot from the First Steps HR demo environment — sample data, not a live client account.

Most nurseries run this way today

Not because anyone's careless — because nothing's ever joined it all up.

staff group, 7:41amSorry running late, traffic on the A2 🙈
manager, 8:15amCan someone check if Jane's DBS is due? Think it's this month
deputy, 3:02pmRatio's tight this afternoon, who's actually in?
manager, day before OfstedWhere's the qualifications folder gone
Check-in happens on arrival — no group chat needed
Renewal alerts land 60, 30 and 7 days before they're due
See who's actually on site the moment they check in, matched against the rota
Every record structured the way an inspector expects

Everything a manager checks before 9am

Four screens, not four systems. Each one built from what a real nursery manager asked for.

Leave that understands term-time

Term-time and full-time staff sit in the same calendar without manual workarounds. Overlaps get flagged before they become a ratio problem, and holiday rollover runs itself at year end.

Leave approvals screen, showing two pending leave requests awaiting approval

Compliance records, always inspection-ready

DBS numbers, qualification levels and CPD dates live in one place, pulled through wherever they're needed. No separately-updated fields to fall out of sync.

Staff Records screen expanded for one staff member, showing the qualification level picker and options

Payroll-ready, not payroll-guesswork

Hours, leave and pay-affecting changes exported in a format your payroll provider can actually use — with sick and closure days already accounted for.

Payroll export screen, showing hours, sick days and staff type ready to export

One login, every site

Run one setting or six — managers see their own site, HR sees everything, and deputy cover is time-boxed automatically rather than left as a permanent role change.

Manager dashboard showing an All Sites view with staff from two different locations, Oakfield House and Willow Bank Nursery

A week's attendance, at a glance

Every check-in and check-out time, for every member of staff, laid out by the week — not reconstructed from memory at 5pm on a Friday. A site manager can see who's in, who's late, and who's missing without chasing anyone.

Weekly attendance view, showing check-in and check-out times for every staff member across the week

One dashboard, every metric that matters

Headcount, attendance, sickness and Bradford Factor risk — the numbers a manager checks before a board meeting or an Ofsted visit, pulled together automatically instead of rebuilt in a spreadsheet every month.

Reports dashboard, showing headcount, attendance, sickness and Bradford Factor summaries for the month

Absence patterns, caught early

The Bradford Factor is calculated automatically for every member of staff, rolling over 12 months — flagging a real pattern long before it's obvious from the rota alone.

Bradford Factor screen, showing a rolling 12-month risk score for every staff member

A full audit trail, automatically

Every change to a staff record — hourly rate, working pattern, site, payroll number — is logged with who changed it, when, and the before-and-after values. Nothing to reconstruct after the fact.

Audit log screen, showing a field-level history of staff record changes with old and new values

Notices staff actually see

Push a notice out and it's the first thing staff see when they next open the app — with read receipts showing exactly who's seen it and who hasn't, not just who it was sent to.

Notice compliance report, showing read, acknowledged and not-read counts for every staff member

Every staff record and company document, digitised

DBS certificates, qualifications, contracts, insurance, policies, utility bills — upload once, tag it to a category and a site, and it's there for good. No more filing cabinets, no more "who has the original."

Company Storage screen, showing uploaded staff and company documents with category and site tags

One tap, on their own phone

No badge readers, no kiosk queue at the door. Staff check in and out from the phone already in their pocket — the whole thing takes about two seconds, start to finish.

1. Open the app Staff mobile app home screen showing today's status as Checked out, with a Check In button

Today's status and one clear action — nothing to hunt for.

2. Confirm Staff mobile app Check In confirmation sheet, confirming the start time for today

One tap to confirm — no forms, no manager needed.

3. Done Staff mobile app home screen showing Checked in since 4:01 PM, with a Check Out button ready

Timestamped instantly — no paper, no group chat.

And notices, too Staff mobile app home screen showing a new notice from HR at the top, with a Notices badge showing 1 unread

Front and centre the moment they open the app — not buried in an inbox they don't check.

And everything else that comes with it

The parts that don't need a screenshot to explain, but save the most time.

Certificate & qualification tracking

DBS, first aid, safeguarding and CPD dates tracked automatically, with alerts before anything lapses.

Site compliance dashboard

Every site's attendance, closures and outstanding actions, visible at a glance from one screen.

Full audit log

Every change is recorded — who did what, and when. Visible to HR admins only.

Leave approvals

Requests and approvals in one flow, with email notifications so nothing sits waiting.

HR records

Supervision, disciplinary, performance and probation — each with its own access controls.

Return to work

A structured RTW interview is prompted automatically after any sick leave is approved.

Notices staff actually see

Push a notice out and it's the first thing staff see when they next open the app on their phone — read receipts show exactly who's seen it, not just who it was sent to.

Absence pattern tracking

Bradford Factor calculated automatically, flagging patterns before they become a problem.

Deputy & multi-site permissions

Managers see their site, HR sees everything, and deputy cover is time-boxed automatically.

Kiosk check-in

A shared tablet at reception for staff who don't carry their own device on site.

Holiday rollover

Entitlements carry over automatically at year end — no manual recalculation.

Secure by default

Automatic session timeouts, encrypted data throughout, and UK-only hosting.

Document storage

Contracts, policies, insurance and certificates, tagged by category and site, with alerts before anything lapses.

Not adapted for early years. Designed from it.

Every field and alert exists because a real nursery manager needed it.

Attendance, live

Staff check-in matched against the rota in real time — not reconstructed from yesterday's headcount on a whiteboard.

Term-time contracts

Handled as a first-class staff type, not a workaround bolted onto full-time logic.

Site closures

Ad-hoc and planned closures flagged clearly, with pay correctly unaffected either way.

Outdoor & forest settings

Built with a working forest preschool in mind from day one, not added as an edge case.

First Steps HR platform
Sunflower Nursery Own locked records
Bright Beginnings Own locked records
Little Explorers Own locked records

Your data is safe, and it's yours alone

Just for you

Your nursery's records are kept completely separate from every other nursery on First Steps HR. No one else can ever see your data, and you can never see theirs.

Kept in the UK, kept private

Everything is stored securely on servers in the UK and protected so that only the right people can ever see it.

Never lost

Your data is automatically copied and saved every night, so it can always be brought back safely if anything ever goes wrong.

Simple, per-site pricing

One flat monthly fee per site, however many staff you run there — no per-seat charges to watch as your team grows. Every package includes secure document storage for staff records and company paperwork, so digitising your filing cabinet is never a separate add-on.

Sessional / Playgroup
£99/month

For a morning-only playgroup, pre-school or church-hall setting. Everything on this page, plus 5GB of secure document storage.

Book a demo
1 site
£150/month

For a single full-time nursery or preschool. No feature tier to upgrade into, 5GB of secure document storage included.

Book a demo
Most common
2–4 sites
£399/month

Small chains — one login across every site, with HR seeing everything and managers seeing their own. 15GB of document storage included.

Book a demo
5–10 sites
£499/month

Established multi-site groups, with the same deputy cover and cross-site reporting as the tier below and 30GB of document storage.

Book a demo
10+ sites
Let's talk

Larger chains get a tailored rollout plan and pricing worked out on a call, not a fixed self-serve rate.

Book a call

All tiers include UK hosting, DBS & qualification tracking, leave management, secure document storage and payroll-ready exports. Prices exclude VAT.

See it running with your own setting in mind.

No sales script — a real walkthrough with the person who built it, and hands-on help setting up your first site.

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