Small Steps Academy

🧚✨ Have you ever spotted our Small Steps Fairies? ✨🧚

Sometimes, if you look closely, you might just catch a glimpse of our tiny fairy friends fluttering through the gardens, hiding beneath the leaves or sprinkling a little magic throughout our outdoor spaces.

At Small Steps Academy, we believe the most beautiful learning often begins with imagination. 🌿💚

Our team recently participated in a Risky Play Kindy Professional Development session, exploring how natural materials and real-world experiences can support children’s learning and development.

Through hands-on activities, educators gained valuable ideas to encourage curiosity, creativity, resilience, confidence, and problem-solving through outdoor play. 🌿

We’re excited to bring these new experiences back to our centres and continue creating engaging environments where children can explore, discover, and thrive.

🐻🌿 We're Going on a Bear Hunt! 🌿🐻

What an adventure our Bush Kindy children had today as they set off to search for some missing teddy bears!

Through the trees, over logs and along winding bush tracks, the children worked together, followed clues and explored the natural environment with excitement and curiosity. Their hard work paid off when they finally found the teddy bears and enjoyed a special picnic together in the bush.

A day filled with imagination, teamwork, problem-solving and plenty of childhood magic. 💚

🍃 Today the children built a village.

Not with blocks. Not with toys. Not from a kit bought in a shop.

They built it from sticks, leaves, imagination, teamwork, and determination.

What started as a pile of branches soon became a shelter beneath the trees. Children carried giant banana leaves, searched for the perfect sticks, discovered fungi growing on fallen logs, gathered around a pretend campfire, and worked together to create something entirely their own.

There were disagreements to solve, problems to overcome, heavy branches to carry, ideas to test, and discoveries to share.

And the best part?

Not once did a child ask for a screen.

For hours they were completely absorbed in nature, imagination, friendship, and wonder.

This is Bush Kindy.

This is where confidence grows, resilience develops, creativity flourishes, and childhood is allowed to be exactly what it should be.

A little muddy. A little wild. And absolutely magical. 🤎🌿



✨ "Today the children didn't just build a shelter. They built memories." ✨

🤎 Welcome to the Small Steps Family 🤎

A very warm welcome to our beautiful new educators, Miss Lou, Miss Emily and Miss Becca.

We are so happy to have you join our Small Steps Academy village. Thank you for bringing your kindness, enthusiasm and love for children to our team.

We can't wait to watch your journey unfold with us. 🤎

Welcome to the family, girls! xx

🤎 A Night of Reflection, Hot Chocolate & Heart 🤎

Last night we had the absolute privilege of welcoming Stephanie Bennett from the Curiosity Approach to Small Steps Academy.

As Stephanie walked through our service, we felt incredibly proud. Proud of how far we have come. Proud of the environments we have created. Proud of the culture we have built. And most importantly, proud of the incredible team who have poured their hearts into this journey since the day we opened.

Our evening began gathered together in a beautiful, cosy space. We wrapped ourselves in blankets, sipped hot chocolates topped with marshmallows and took a moment to slow down and reflect.

The question we explored was simple but powerful:

✨ "What kind of educator did you need when you were a child?"

Surrounded by childhood photographs and memories of our younger selves, we reflected on the comfort, patience, encouragement, understanding and love we may have needed.

There were smiles, laughter, stories and moments that touched our hearts.

It was a beautiful reminder that every educator was once a child too.

As I looked around the room, I couldn't help but feel grateful. Grateful for a team that continually shows up. Grateful for educators who are passionate about learning and growing. Grateful for people who never lose sight of why we do what we do.

What we have created at Small Steps Academy isn't just beautiful environments.

It's a village.

A village of educators who believe children deserve time, connection, wonder and a childhood that is respected.

To every educator who came after a long day at work, thank you. I know how tired everyone is at the end of the day, yet you still showed up. That says everything about the kind of educators you are.

To Stephanie, thank you for inspiring us, challenging our thinking and celebrating how far we have come on this journey.

And to my Small Steps family, thank you for believing in this vision from the very beginning. Since opening our doors, we have worked so hard together to create something truly special, and last night was a beautiful reminder of just how much we have achieved.

🤎 Hot chocolates. 🤎 Marshmallows. 🤎 Childhood memories. 🤎 Meaningful conversations. 🤎 A team with huge hearts.

A pretty special night.

🤎✨

🌟 Meet Miss Carly 🌟

Miss Carly is one of our wonderful educators at Small Steps Academy!

Miss Carly is a valued member of our team who is passionate about supporting children’s learning, development, and wellbeing. With her caring nature and positive attitude, she helps create a welcoming environment where every child feels safe, respected, and encouraged to explore the world around them.

She loves building meaningful relationships with children and families and enjoys providing engaging experiences that inspire curiosity, creativity, and confidence. Miss Carly’s dedication to early childhood education shines through in everything she does, making a positive impact on the lives of the children in her care.

Our team recently had the opportunity to participate in an inspiring Bush Kindy Professional Development session at Wildlings Forest School. Through hands-on exploration, we discovered how natural materials can be transformed into creative learning experiences, encouraging curiosity, problem-solving, teamwork, and connection with nature.

From constructing nature sculptures and shelters to exploring the endless possibilities of loose parts play, we gained valuable ideas to bring back to our children and extend their learning in meaningful ways. 🌱🍃

Experiences like these remind us that some of the richest learning opportunities happen outdoors, where children can take risks, build resilience, develop confidence, and foster a deep appreciation for the natural world.