Stepping Stones After School Club

🎄Christmas dinner: happy tummies and happy children🎄

This week we had our annual Stepping Stones Christmas party. We really pride ourselves on the fresh, hot and home cooked meals we serve every afternoon, and our Christmas dinner was no exception. The children absolutely loved their food and the festivities!

We’ll be reopening as usual on January 4th. We wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our families. See you again in 2023!

⚽World Cup Design Colouring Contest Winners ⚽

We’ve had World Cup themed activities for our older children including a challenge to design the best team kit and trophies. A few weeks ago we shared the activity and photos of the children hard at work on their designs, and now we can announce the winners: Joshan, Vinny and Jesse! We hope all the children enjoyed this activity, and congratulate the winners! 🏆

You’re welcome, Valley End Infant School. We’re proud to be one of the local businesses who sponsored the Christmas Fayre again this year. This school is also one of our longest serving school partners.

⚽ World Cup at Stepping Stones ⚽

We held a drawing competition to design football shirts for our older children. Watch this space for the results!

🎄It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas🎄

Our children loved putting up the Christmas tree this week. They decorated it all by themselves without any help from the staff. The result looks fabulous!

🚦Road Safety Week at Stepping Stones🚦

We marked this annual welfare campaign by talking to our kids about safety on the roads. Swipe to view the traffic lights craft the children made to coincide with this activity.

🐻 Pudsey Bear masks for Children In Need 🐻

The BBC’s Children In Need is airing tonight and tomorrow evening, so our themed craft of the day was making Pudsey Bear masks.

Marking Remembrance at Stepping Stones

Our children made crafts this week to recognise the importance of Remembrance Sunday. Scroll to view examples of the projects.

🔥Marking Diwali at Stepping Stones🔥

Our children made crafts to recognise the multi-faith holiday of Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated in India and beyond. Swipe and view our stories to see their artistic interpretations of Diwali lanterns.

🍂 Autumn half term reminders 🍂

🗓 Half term at is running Mon 24 - Mon 31 Oct 8am - 6pm
🏫 Our holiday club setting is Connaught Junior School, Manor Way, Bagshot, GU19 5JY
🍂 We are CLOSED for Connaught children on Fri 21 Oct and Tues 1 Nov (children from all other schools will be taken to Gloucester Hall)
📨 Please check your emails from us ASAP and confirm your children’s attendance and times
⌚️ If you are running late for your collection slot please text Sharon on 07748 531278, so we are not waiting at the gate in the cold
🎒 Please bring: a named water bottle, a packed lunch and a morning snack
🚫 Please NO: nuts, sweets or fizzy drinks
🥪 Please DO: pack a substantial lunch that includes a sandwich, a wrap, pasta etc. (we are VERY active)
🍝 Hot tea will be served at 415pm as usual
🌦 Please send your child with NAMED clothing, a coat and wellies as appropriate for the weather
👕Please send a spare set of clothes for children who are prone to accidents
📱A charged and named IPad/tablet is permitted for free play time (NO mobile phones please!)

We look forward to welcoming your children back to Stepping Stones this half term!

📖 Imaginative play at Stepping Stones 📖

Our children made a game of playing school last week. “Teacher” shows spelling on the board and another child takes the class register with some rambunctious “pupils” looking on. Are they working hard or hardly working!?

🍂 Autumn crafting at Stepping Stones 🍂

The autumn term is in full swing at and this week our children made autumnal crafts. Swipe to view the project ideas and their artistic interpretations of scarecrows and jolly acorns!

Enjoy the rest of your summer holiday folks!

That's us done at until September!

Thank you to parents old and new for being part of the Stepping Stones family 💙💗

With this weather continuing we have been having a few water fights these last couple of weeks - keeping the kids cool whilst having a blast! 💦

Monday's are for baking!

Sun dried tomato bread ☀️🍅🍞

Light, fluffy and delicious - very proud of our holiday club bakers today

23 - 31 July

So where did we go?!?! To the park of course :-)

The children had a really fun time at The Lookout Discovery Centre, Bracknell the other day.

Lots of with plenty of competitive den building!

We are so lucky to have so many amazing parks where we live 🌲

Holiday Club is officially in full swing!

We have so much planned over the next couple of weeks with the children and the weather has cooled slightly whilst still promising a little ☀️😎 which is 👍🏻

Please remember to apply sun cream before they arrive, wear a hat / cap and bring plenty of water!

Outdoor games ⚽, arts 🎭, crafts 🎨 and much, much more 😃

Enjoy the most of this weather - we might even bbq this weekend!

Keep safe in the heat by drinking lots of 💦, minimise time in the ☀️ and wear a 👒 to keep you cool 👍🏻

It might be messy but getting your children involved with art is a great way to drive inspiration, encourage engagement and keep them entertained (if only for a short while!)

At we like to keep an eye on poignant events and see how we can support both local, national and global events.

July is Plastic Free July®

It has been started to drive awareness of plastic pollution – a step towards having cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.

Reducing single-use plastic waste everyday whether at home, work or school setting is one of the key focuses.

https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/ has some great resources and ideas as to how we can all become a little more aware about what we can do to help reduce the amount of plastic we are using.

Small steps can make big differences if we all do something:-

- We encourage the children to bring/use single-use plastic bottles
- We try and reuse / recycle / reduce the amount of plastic toys we have

are proud sponsors!

We are delighted to be one of the sponsors at this years Valley End Infant School Summer Fayre.

Why not pop along tomorrow!

Saturday 2nd July 12pm - 3pm

Supporting our local schools and their families 💙

World Wellbeing Week.

Celebrating the many aspects of wellbeing, from physical, mental and emotional health to caring for the environment.

Wellbeing has never been so important to our lives and livelihoods and especially for our children.

It is amazing what a simple stroll outside in the fresh air can do or taking a moment out with a good book! 📖🌳🌥️

Game. Set. Match. 🎾

Wimbledon started today! 🍓

A great excuse to reach for the cream and slather over strawberries whilst watching the amazing spectacle of tennis with some fabulous players!

Might you even get the kids involved in some tennis in the garden?!?!

The concentration on these faces really makes us smile!

Some serious board game competitors at our Connaught Junior School school setting.

We have a varied selection of toys, games, arts, crafts as well as outdoor sport (come rain or shine) and we love to see the children using everything that is available to them!

School Sports Week ⚽🏈🎾🏐🏑

No doubt many of you will be cheering on your children in the coming days and weeks as school sports days begin to take place!

It's great to see lots more interschool competitions happening too as really important for the children to be able to experience this.

House points a plenty we hope for all our children that take part!

International Picnic Day.

Tomorrow is International Picnic Day 🧺

Enjoying time spent outdoors is one of the best activities for your child.

Recent weather is proving to make this more possible 😎 but make you take plenty of 💦 and lots of ☀️ protection!

Here's to warm summer days enjoying time outdoors, lazing on blankets and eating plentiful picnic food!

Royal Ascot starts today! 🏇🏻 🎩

A beautiful day for those visiting this amazing venue that we are lucky enough to have on our doorstep.

When the racing is not on we love taking Oscar 🐶 for a walk around the perimeter of the heath. An amazing space that is not just for horses, top hats and tails!

👩🏻‍🍳 Cook required👨🏻‍🍳

Are you a cook or do you know a cook who could join our team 👍🏻

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 🥰

We really do love getting feedback like this from our children and parents!

It means a great deal to know that we have happy children who enjoy their time with both after school and during our holiday clubs.

Please do continue to take the time and leave us a review on our page and Google my business page 👍🏻

🗒️ Your friendly reminder...

Stepping Stones will be closed this May half term.

We hope for plenty of ☀️and time to enjoy the outdoors 🌳

💡Did you know💡

Turtles belong to one of the oldest reptile groups in the world - which makes them significantly older than snakes, crocodiles and alligators.

🐢 So on this day, World Turtle Day we will be learning with the children to understand better how to protect these creatures for many years to come.

Thanks to Twinkl Resources for some great activities to choose from 👍🏻

Grab a clean sheet of paper, sharpen your pencils, and get ready to celebrate...it's National Stationery Week! 📝✉️🖊️

A time to celebrate writing by hand, the importance of writing and sharing a love of sending more letters and cards to our friends and family.

We are Stepping Stones!

We take the upmost PRIDE in:

✓ Providing children with EYFS based care
supported with creativity, sport & fun
✓ Taking the stress out of evening meals for
parents
✓ Offering an extended home learning provision
✓ Family owned & run

Our VISION has always been:

To provide parents with outstanding quality after school & holiday childcare

We are ever thankful to all our families who allow us to create a stimulating, fun and safe environment where your children ‘want to go’ 💞

😁 It's National Smile Month!

As humans our smile is one of our greatest assets so it makes sense to look after it!

Healthy habits are key to keeping a healthy mouth and smile.

This month we will be encouraging the children to:

🪥 Brush their teeth twice a day for 2 minutes
😜 Remember to brush your tongue gently too
🍏 Eat lots of fruit & veg 🥕
🍬 Not too many sweet treats!
🦷 Regular trips to the dentist

Everybody smile now! 😆

National Doughnut Week is a thing...and one for a good cause too it seems!

Bakers, coffee shops, schools and offices get involved baking these amazing sweet treats to sell and raise funds for the https://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/ - the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury.

Amazing how many ways there are for raising money for good causes whilst having some fun and sneaky treats!

🚶🏻‍♀️May is National Walking Month and it particularly promotes walking to school where possible.

Other ways to increase your families step count could be:

🪜 Take the stairs instead of the lift
🚶🏻‍♂ Lunchtime stroll in the fresh air
🐕‍🦺 Walk your pet (or someone else's!)
🧭 Explore your local area

Either way, their are sooooo many benefits to walking so see what changes you can make to get those steps in!

for some great tips on how you or your child's school can get involved 👍🏻

🧦 To all the socks that are no longer with us!

Where do they go....nobody knows 🤷🏻‍♂️

A perfectly matched pair can be here one minute and gone the next!

In honour of National Lost Sock Day we wish the lone socks well on being reunited with their pair!

The power of storytelling 📖

This month it is share a story month.

A month designed to celebrate storytelling and how powerful it can be for children in broadening their vocabulary and expanding their imagination.

We love capturing moments where children escape to our quiet book corner and immerse themselves in the pages of a book 📘