Registered by OFSTED for children from 3 months to 8 years
www.steppings.co.uk
Stepping Stones
About Us
Stepping Stones Nursery is situated in a large detached
house in Southsea with a garden mainly laid to lawn, but
with areas for the children to grow flowers and vegetables.
In addition, there is a large outside play area with a special
soft rubber compound surface to protect the children
should they fall.
We have approximately 3,000 sq ft of space inside the
house spread over twelve rooms as well as an office and
staff training room. All of our equipment and toys are part
of a constant renewal process.
Our Staff
Our greatest asset is our well-trained staff, some of whom
have been with the nursery for almost twenty years. We
operate a strong training programme taking young people
from college who will pass through both external and
internal training courses. Having trained them some stay
with us, while others move on with our blessing to careers
in other areas of childcare.
Our History
The nursery has been on this site for eleven years and was
originally part of the ‘Rose Lodge’ group, but when the
nursery was purchased by the present owners in 2007
the name changed to Stepping Stones, thus avoiding any
confusion with the previous owners other site which still
retains the name ‘Rose Lodge’.
Learning with Fun
We believe that we offer a unique mix of large and
differing areas of space to ensure that each child has a
varied and interesting environment during their stay with
us. Our location near the beach, natural history museum,
library, flower garden and parks ensures that children are
given the opportunity to spend time outside the nursery
as during periods of good weather we are able to take
advantage of our location.
Our aim is to facilitate the very best level of child care
ensuring each child is provided with quality pre school
education in a safe and caring environment and above all
that they have fun and enjoy their time with us.
The annual balloon race
– winning balloons have
reached as far as Austria!
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Canoe Lake is
only a short walk
from the nursery
Our Aims & Objectives
Social and Emotional Development
Intellectual Development
To encourage a sense of security and self confidence
in each child and to encourage communication and
cooperation with other children and adults.
z
Physical Development
To develop fine motor movements involved in drawing,
cutting, writing and other manipulative activities.
Language
To develop language skills through stories, rhymes,
poems, talking, listening, imaginative play and drama.
z
Mathematics
To develop an awareness of shape, space, logic, money,
measurement and number concepts through practical
activities of counting, weighing, measuring, sand and
water play.
To develop gross motor movements – throwing, jumping,
skipping, hopping, balancing and gymnastic movements.
z
Science and Technology
– To develop an interest in finding out about plants,
animals and materials through first hand
experiences.
– To foster curiosity and an interest in finding out
how things work.
– To develop an interest in technology through
computers and technological toys.
Moral Development
To create a climate of understanding and practice in
working out what is right and wrong. To be fair and
sensitive in the correction of unacceptable behaviour and
to value each child so they develop good personal values.
z
Aesthetic
To develop an interest in art through working with a
variety of materials, chalk, paint, clay, pastels, dough,
cardboard, glue, pasta, fabrics and crayons
To develop an interest in music through singing,
dancing, percussion and other activities involving
making music.
“The nursery has a strong
commitment towards
providing an environment
in the community, where
children are nurtured and
supported to develop.”
OFSTED REPORT 27 JUNE 2007
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Early Years Foundation Stage
Every child deserves the best possible start to life and
support to fulfil their potential. A child’s experience in the
early years has a major impact on their future life chances.
The aim of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is to
help young children achieve the five Every Child Matters
outcomes of staying safe, being healthy, enjoying and
achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving
economic well-being.
The EYFS is based on 4 important themes which are
underpinned by a principle.
These are:
z
A Unique child
Principle - every child is a competent learner from
birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self
assured.
z
Positive Relationships
Principle - children learn to be strong and independent
from a base of loving and secure relationships with
parents and/ or a key person
z
Enabling Environments
Principle - the environment plays a key role in
supporting and extending children’s development and
learning
z
Learning & Development
Principle – children develop and learn in different
ways and at different rates. All areas of learning
and development are equally important and
interconnected.
The EYFS means that wherever your child is being
cared for or educated between 0-5 years they will
be following the same set of principles. They will
be offered a principled play based approach to
learning and development. Young children learn
best through play and learning experiences for their
stage of development and help them develop new
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skills. The activities that are provided for young children
will underpin the skills they need to work towards the
early learning goals in the following areas:
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Communication, language and literacy
Personal, social and emotional development
Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
Creative development
Physical development
Knowledge and understanding of the world
All areas are of equal importance and many activities
will cover many of the areas.
Each area is divided up into stages of development
and we are able to identify resources and learning
opportunities for individual children dependent on
their developmental needs.
The Baby Unit
We are registered for babies from three months. Our
main baby room has been specially designed to
provide a safe, secure setting. We have a range of toys
and equipment to aid learning through discovery.
We have provided a variety of tactile materials
and sensory areas, so that our babies can develop
through exploring their environment.
Activities provided take into consideration the
importance of development and stimulating the
senses. These include water play, paint exploration,
sticking and gluing. Our more adventurous
activities are gloop (messy play with corn flour,
water and colouring), pasta play (usually cooked
and coloured, rather slimy and great fun!!), jelly
play, mashed potato play and play with our treasure
baskets.
Babies sleep in one of our two special sleep rooms so they
can sleep undisturbed by children playing. Babies spend
time in the garden, learning to crawl and walk, play with
water and a variety of outside toys. Regular walks in our
double buggies are part of the babies’ routine.
We monitor their progress
and record key developmental
stages by using observations
and photographs, this is all kept
in the child’s individual journal.
These journals are available for
the parents to see at any time.
The Baby
Unit is a
specially
designed
safe and
secure area
Staff who work in this area are experienced in working with
babies or have a special interest in them. We are able to
give them plenty of individual attention, love, affection and
approval in a calm, relaxed environment. The consistency
of staff ensures the babies form close bonds with their key
worker and associate key worker.
Parents are encouraged to bring their babies for “settling in
visits” prior to beginning nursery.
We aim to help babies become secure and happy in
their new surroundings. These visits give parents ample
opportunity to pass on information about their baby, and
builds mutual understanding between parents and staff.
The transition from home to nursery is therefore as smooth
as possible. Each baby is regarded as an individual and we
adhere to the baby’s routine in the nursery. Information
about baby’s day is sent home each evening in a link
book. This records sleep times, feeding, nappy changes,
an outline of what the baby has played with and done
throughout the day, as well as anything else the parents
may need to know. We monitor their progress and
record key developmental stages by using observations
and photographs, this is all kept in the child’s individual
journal. These journals are available for the parents to
see at any time.
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Ladybirds
The routine and activities offered to the toddlers take into
account their specific needs. Sensory play and learning
through discovery continues to be important.
Opportunities for physical play are increased, as are the
range of equipment and activities offered. Indoor and
outdoor equipment such as slides, tunnels, trampolines
and small climbing frames are used to develop balance,
mobility and increase confidence in movement. Play
with beanbags, balls and hoops develop the toddler’s
manipulation and small motor skills.
Creative play sessions help
to promote imagination and
include dressing up, home
corner, musical instruments
and singing time.
Calm heuristic play sessions encourage concentration and
manipulation and appeals to natural curiosity by using a
selected range of containers and everyday objects, which
the toddler can explore.
Creative play sessions help to promote
imagination and include dressing up,
home corner, musical instruments and
singing time.
The children gradually begin to enjoy
stories, learn finger rhymes and
action songs, encouraging language
development and listening skills in a
stimulating fun way.
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There is plenty of opportunity for play with puzzles, books
and a large variety of construction toys.
The Ladybirds activities and experiences, take into
consideration the groups increasing abilities. The Ladybird
room has areas for art and messy play, construction toys,
home corner play, role play and adult led tasks which
develop concentration. Group story time is introduced at
this stage of nursery life.
We aim to encourage cooperation and consideration
towards each other through group activities in order to
build good social skills.
The toddlers’ progress is monitored through active
involvement and observation of their play.
We monitor physical, social, language and intellectual
development and key developmental stages are recorded
on each child’s development profile.
Group leaders of Ladybirds liaise closely with parents
to ensure parental wishes are observed and good
communication is maintained between home and nursery.
Staff working in this area are experienced in working with
children under two.
Pre-School
The children are divided into two groups according to age
– The Frogs and Ducklings. Their day is more structured.
We encourage all children to be independent, disciplined,
build self confidence, and take care of their personal needs
wherever possible.
Their session/day is divided between their respective
schoolrooms, where they concentrate on pre-school
activities in language, numeracy, literacy, environment
studies and science and the creative room where art
and craft and imaginative play, musical activities and
concentration work are developed. Regular opportunities
to learn and explore their skills on the computer is
provided.
Both groups work to a chosen theme each term and
activities are developed which relate to the 6 areas of
learning as we follow the EYFS.
The younger children choose a pre-reading book to take
home to share with their parents, when the individual
child has gained the necessary skills to move onto the next
stage. A structured reading scheme is introduced, books
are taken home so that parents can share in their child’s
growing confidence, as their child learns and understand
that script carries meaning.
We encourage all children to
be independent, disciplined,
build self confidence, and take
care of their personal needs
wherever possible.
In our pre-writing skills we teach towards cursive, introduce
phonics and encourage emergent and developmental
writing skills. We use lower case in all writing exercises, in
preparation for reading and writing.
We concentrate on number awareness, one to one
correspondence and naming of basic shapes, for our
mathematical development.
All staff working with the children monitor their progress
through observations. This is noted in their developmental
journal and used in the future planning.
Children work with the staff individually to aid or extend
them appropriately.
Parents are encouraged to share their children’s progress,
through regular casual discussions with their Group Leader
or if necessary a more formal progress meeting can be
arranged.
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Getting Involved
The Garden
Play in the garden is structured to develop specific
skills. Each group has a separate time for garden play.
We have climbing frames, trikes, trucks, tunnels, balls,
quoits, hoops, trampolines, slides and rocking toys to
develop large motor skills of climbing, jumping and
running. We have a range of equipment, playhouses,
dolls and pushchairs for home play. Children use sand
and water to develop manipulative, creative and
mathematical skills. We have developed our garden
also with areas where children can learn about
growing plants and caring for birds. The children
grow flowers, fruit and vegetables from seeds, have
made bird baths and bird feeders and have also
entered our garden into the Portsmouth in Bloom
competition and have succeeded in winning awards
each year.
We have a pets corner in our garden where our two
guinea pigs live, they are called Dora and Diego.
Outings
Children are taken to Canoe Lake, the Rose Gardens, the
beach, the library and Cumberland House museum. For
their safety younger children are always on reins or in
buggies. The frogs have a special trip to end their time
with us here at Stepping Stones.
Taking part in the
nativity play
Events for Parents
Parents are invited to our sports afternoon which we hold
each summer. We present singing and dancing displays
for parents in the summer term and a nativity play at
Christmas.
Holiday School
During the school holidays we run a program so older
children can return in the school holidays.
Snack-time & Meals
We supply the children with a drink of either water or milk
and a healthy snack.
The healthy snacks we provide are: fruit, bread sticks,
toast, crumpets, pancakes, crackers and pitta breads etc.
We also provide hot and cold lunches and teas for your
child at an extra cost.
An outing to
the park
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The Curriculum
The curriculum of our pre-school children consists of six
areas of learning required by OFSTED, the government
inspecting body. These areas are personal and social
development, language and literacy, mathematics,
knowledge and understanding of the world, creative
and physical development. We give priority to personal
and social, language and literacy and mathematical
development as required by OFSTED.
Language and Literacy
This programme is divided into listening, talking, writing,
phonics and reading. We aim to encourage children to:
Listen
z
z
z
z
Listen to stories, songs, music, rhymes and poems
Listen to instructions
Listen to adults and other children
Answer questions after listening to a story
Personal and Social Development
We aim to:
z Encourage taking turns and sharing
z Encourage children to relate and be sensitive to other
cultures and beliefs
z Encourage confidence and self respect
z Encourage concentration and perseverance
z Encourage children to take initiative
z Encourage personal independence e.g. washing hands,
putting on a coat.
z Encourage children to behave appropriately and to
know the difference between right and wrong
z Encourage children to respond to their emotions
Talk
z
z
z
z
z
z
Talk to other children and adults
Talk about their thoughts and their experiences
Make up stories
Enjoy imaginative play
Act out stories read to them
Work with language cards
Phonics
We teach the children the sounds the letters make through
the phonics programme.
Writing
We encourage the children to express themselves by
developing early writing. We also encourage children with
letter formations and writing patterns as well as using our
hand gym.
Reading
Encourage reading we concentrate on a variety of prereading activities, which include:
z Lotto games
z Matching pictures and words
z Sequencing
z Flash cards
z Recognizing names and familiar words
z Sharing story books
z Our reading schemes are spiral starters and 123 and
away
Trying international cuisine whilst
learning about Chinese New Year
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The Curriculum (continued)
Mathematical Development
Help develop mathematical skills we provide practical
activities, which lead to the understanding:
z One to one correspondence
z Sequencing and matching
z Sorting
z Pattern making
z Estimating
z Comparing and ordering
z Counting
z Recognizing and understanding of number
z Writing numbers
z Money, measurement, space, shape and time
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Achieve development in this area we provide activities
and discussion time in our topic to cover:
z The children’s families
z Their environment
z Past and present events in children’s lives
z Studying living things
z Studying natural and man made objects
z Studying patterns and change, similarities and
differences
z Observation
z Understanding why things happen and how they work
z Construction using a variety of materials
z Understanding of technology using the computer
Everyone enjoying
story-time
Creative Development
In order to develop children’s creativity we give them as
many opportunities to:
z Movement to music
z Balancing and climbing
z Running, jumping, hopping and skipping
z Throwing, catching, kicking and bouncing using balls
and bean bags
z Riding bicycles
z Constructing using soft malleable materials and toys
z Cutting, sticking and threading
z Buttons, laces and zips
Physical Development
Creative Development
Order to develop children’s gross movements and their
fine manipulative skills we provide a range of activities:
z Movement to music
z Balancing and climbing
z Running, jumping, hopping and skipping
z Throwing, catching, kicking and bouncing using balls
and bean bags
z Riding bicycles
z Constructing using soft malleable materials and toys
z Cutting, sticking and threading
z Buttons, laces and zips
In order to develop children’s creativity we give them as
many opportunities to:
z Listen to sounds and a variety of musical instruments
z Make and explore music using musical instruments and
percussion
z Explore music through dance and movement
z Use their imagination in role play, dressing up and
imaginative play
z Investigate colour, textures, shapes and fabrics
z Explore printing, drawing and modelling
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About Us
Stepping Stones is registered by OFSTED for children from 3 months to 8 years
Manager
Donna Hill
Diploma in Early Years Education (0-8 yrs awarded by CACHE) NVQ level 4 in Childcare
Staff
Emma Oughton
Lisa Bye
Mel Hunt
Rachel Wells
Katie Lloyd
Emma Pook
NVQ level 3 in Childcare
NNEB
NVQ level 3 in Childcare
NVQ level 3 in Childcare
NVQ level 3 in Childcare
NVQ level 3 in Childcare
Kayleigh Reid
Hannah Threader
Emma Parker
Lucy Oliver
Ann Wilson
NVQ level 2 in Childcare
NVQ level 2 in Childcare
NVQ level 2 in Childcare
NVQ level 2 in Childcare
Food & Beverages
Our Trainees are working towards NVQ level 2 and level 3. We also offer placements for students from Highbury and South
Downs colleges. All staff and students are screened by OFSTED.
Fee Structure
Under 1 year
1 - 3 years
Over 3 years
Morning Session (9am - 12pm)
Afternoon Session (1pm - 4pm)
Full Day (8am - 6pm)
Full Week (8am - 6pm Mon - Fri)
Additional Hours
We ask that attendance hours cannot be changed mid-month, unless for exceptional circumstances, as staff ratios are
planned in advance.
The nursery closes at 6pm, so children collected after 6pm will be charged an additional £50.00. Again we appreciate
there may be exceptional circumstances and will take this into consideration.
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Stepping Stones Nursery School
16 Bruce Road
Southsea
Hampshire PO4 9RL
T: 02392 421718
E: [email protected]
www.steppings.co.uk