academic year before they start Reception year).
The ‘Stepping Up’ staff are highly qualified and have many years of teaching experience.
The emphasis is the development of self-help skills and independence, improving social skills and making friends, sharing and turn-taking. Alongside developing knowledge of phonics and numbers in readiness for starting school.
The activities in Stepping Up builds self confidence and friendships providing skills to aid a successful transition into primary school.
The activities the children enjoy whilst in Stepping Up are planned using the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS).
The EYFS is split into prime areas of learning:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development'
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Understanding the World.
The learning opportunities provided in Stepping Up are carefully planned play activities including more structured adult led learning.
More information can be found on the following link:
Developmental Matters for the Early Years
The structure of the day in Stepping Up mimics that of a Reception class.
We take the register first thing in the morning as well as after lunch and we use this as an opportunity to introduce times of the day.
Children are encouraged to recognise their own belongings and eat their lunches with minimal adult intervention. At snack time, the expectation (by the end of the academic year) is for the children to butter their own toast, pour their own drink from a jug and tidy their plates and cups away when they have finished. We use both the inside and outside areas to maximise the learning opportunities available for the children and regularly discuss keeping safe and managing risks.
It is expected that children help tidy toys and put away at the end of a session.
The children are introduced to recognising and writing their names, ‘write dance’ is used to help develop the gross motor skills needed to assist early writing skills, and ‘dough disco’ which works to develop finger strength in preparation for holding pens and pencils.
Children are encouraged to recognise their own belongings and eat their lunches with minimal adult intervention. At snack time, the expectation (by the end of the academic year) is for the children to butter their own toast, pour their own drink from a jug and tidy their plates and cups away when they have finished. We use both the inside and outside areas to maximise the learning opportunities available for the children and regularly discuss keeping safe and managing risks.
It is expected that children help tidy toys and put away at the end of a session.
The children are introduced to recognising and writing their names, ‘write dance’ is used to help develop the gross motor skills needed to assist early writing skills, and ‘dough disco’ which works to develop finger strength in preparation for holding pens and pencils.
On a daily basis, activities are provided to develop the strength of children’s hand muscles, for example, writing / colouring activities and using scissors.
To develop phonic awareness, we use ‘Jolly Phonics’ cards and songs to help the children distinguish between sounds. When the children are ready, we then extend this knowledge to blending sounds to make words – important pre-reading skills.
Phonics at Stepping Stones Video
Mathematical understanding is taught through games, songs and practical activities. The children are introduced to the numbers 1 – 10, encouraged to count using one to one correlation and recognise numbers in their written form. Through practical work, they explore quantities and simple
mathematical problems, often feeling confident enough by the end of the year to have a go at
making up their own problems to solve.
We also look at shapes and observe them in the environment.
Our Stepping Up children are offered key speaking and acting roles in the Christmas play. They learn their ‘lines’ and act out their part on stage in front of their proud parents and family members.
We liaise with a range of local primary schools to ensure a smooth transition to the school Reception class for our Stepping Up children. As part of this, we have strong links with our feeder primary school,
and through this partnership arrange for children to make additional visits to the school in the
summer term. We welcome a range of visitors to the setting, for example our village PCSO; and we
enjoy going on local trips for example a teddy bears picnic in the park.
Parents are informed regularly of what their children have been learning, both through Tapestry (our online assessment programme) and through regular ‘update’ emails and end of year parent consultations.
This enables parents to reinforce the learning that has taken place in Stepping Up as well as sharing
future learning. Information can also be found on our Facebook page:
Stepping Stones Pre School Alrewas Facebook Page
If you wish to come and see us please get in touch via our email, Facebook or telephone and ask to speak to Rose or Kerri to arrange an appointment.
