A training provider is celebrating a landmark year with a move to new offices.
Stepping Stones Education and Training has relocated its 15-strong team from rented offices at Berkeley Court in Newcastle-under-Lyme to a new headquarters at Brindley Court on Lymedale Business Park.
It comes just months after the company won the approval of educational standards inspector Ofsted.
Director Andy Talbot said: “It has been non-stop over the past few months. We have completed our relocation to Brindley Court and now own our own offices for the first time.
“We also faced assessments by Ofsted and Matrix and we’ve come through it all well, so we are on track to grow our services in 2020.”
Stepping Stones is a family-run business headed up by Annetta Talbot and her two grown-up children Andy Talbot and Rebecca Miller.
It specialises in lifelong learning services for companies and their staff – from apprentices to short courses such as safeguarding training – and works regularly with North Staffordshire businesses including Best of British Beer, Woolcool, the Parogon pub group and John Belfield International.
It is almost 10 years old, but for the first eight years the company was categorised as a sub-provider for other education and training organisations and were not given a separate Ofsted approval.
But now the company has won support from Ofsted and, at the same time, has passed its Matrix re-assessment – the national kite mark for organisations supporting people through education and training.
Andy said: “They are important assessments as they give peace of mind to the companies who entrust Stepping Stones to provide a high level of service.”
