08/09/2024
What another fantastic year we had as we said Goodbye and Good Luck to the Stepping Stones children of 2023/24 as they left to move on to Nursery!
The whole academic year was so busy!
After settling in really quickly, we had a fun filled term during which we started to work with EYFS learning objectives through pre-school activities including role play, early writing skills, stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears with visual aids, physical activities including balancing, ball play, music and movement and much more. We celebrated Harvest Festival by baking some bread, and other occasions such as Diwali and Remembrance, all through learning and having fun:
As the term came to an end the children heard the Christmas story and then told it to their parents by performing their first Nativity with great confidence, following which they enjoyed a Christmas party!
When we came back after Christmas, we became ‘weather investigators’, learning lots about the British weather! We celebrated the Chinese New Year – this time the Year of the Dragon – having great fun with lanterns and ribbons. In March we acknowledged World Book Day, when staff and children shared their favourite stories. The term drew to a close with us celebrating Easter through a variety of activities, such as an Easter Egg Hunt and Easter baking – always good fun! These activities helped us achieve a wide range of learning outcomes.
In the Summer Term the children enjoyed the Stepping Stones version of Forest School where, among other things, they hunted for insects and worms, planted cress and Sunflower seeds, made clay models of mini-beasts, collaged using a variety of natural materials, and many other activities. We watched the lifecycle of five caterpillars turning into beautiful butterflies which we released into the sky! We also had a Day of Sports when everyone was involved in a wide variety of activities such as obstacle races, giant skittles, basketball, egg and spoon races, throwing Velcro balls onto a giant target, scoring goals into the goal net, using the Spacehoppers, parachute and more. Everyone was awarded a ‘rosette’ certificate for participating. Drama Tots visited us which the children really enjoyed. We also had an exciting visit from the Police who arrived in a Police car to show the children, complete with flashing blue lights and sirens blaring!
On the last day of term, all the children were involved in our ‘End of the Year Show Show’ to which parents were invited. During the show, each of the children shared a painting they had done specially for the show of something each one had enjoyed doing at Stepping Stones throughout the year together with a Sunflower collage they had worked on as a group. They also performed some dancing, following instructions, and some music and movement using hand sticks and pom poms. We then had a party with games, following which the children left, taking with them their personal memory book which they had made containing different pieces of work they had done throughout the year!
The Stepping Stones team feels really privileged to have been part of all the children’s Early Years development!
