Stepping Stones Pre-School Leverington

02/11/2026

For your information

01/11/2026

We are having a Christmas fair held at pre-school on Wednesday 2nd December at 3:15pm. Please bring your family and children along to enjoy stalls including: a teddy tombola, lucky dip, cake stall and many more! All money raised will go back into pre-school and support with the costs for trips, experiences and our Christmas party for your children.

We do need your help! Any donations you can give us to support our fair will be greatly appreciated, we are looking for teddys (in good, clean condition) candy canes, bags of sweets to make sweet cones and little toys such as sensory, fidget toys or small toys to go in our lucky dip bags.

Please hand in any donations to staff.

Thank you so much for your support!

22/10/2026

Unfortunately we have made the decision to cancel tomorrow's pumpkin patch visit. This has been a difficult decision, however with weather warnings in place for high winds and rain throughout the afternoon, we felt it was the safest decision.

We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding with this decision.

Pre-school will now be open as normal for the afternoon. Please ensure you pick up your child at their normal time.

To make up for the disappointment, pre-school has brought every child a pumpkin from the Ringers Lane Pumpkin Patch, which can be collected from pre-school tomorrow! Please let us know if you can not pick up your child’s pumpkin and we will arrange getting it to you.

21/10/2026

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins!

This week we have been learning about being safe, which is one of values! Using tools safety, being safe around a flame, and using resources safely.

We’ve been painting pumpkins, washing them and repainting them again! We’ve been carefully carving pumpkins, scooping and exploring the inside, what is it like? How does it feel? We’ve heard vocabulary such as ‘slimey, wet, slippery and squishy' from the children.

We’ve used tools to twist holes into the pumpkins, hammers and Halloween cookie cutter shapes to make different patterns in the pumpkins. We’ve used small carving tools to carve shapes and learnt how to use them carefully and safely.

We have learnt how to be safe around a flame, to sit still and not touch or go near a lighted flame, and how it is important that only adults can light a candle. We turned out the lights and lots of the children said ‘WOW!’ as the flame lit up our beautiful pumpkins! 🎃 This is linked to one of our 50 things your child does at Stepping Stones. All wonderful experiences EVERY child will do during their time with us!

We have enjoyed playing with slime this week, rolling, pulling and stretching it to make different shapes. We have used a timer to take turns. The children have impressed us by waiting patiently for their turn, and negotiating whose turn is next.

In Wildspace we made leaf kebabs this week. Carefully putting leaves onto a stick, picking different sizes and colours. Don't they look fantastic?

We also made sensory foam using juice from a jar of chick peas and some cream of tartar powder. Using an electric whisk we whisked for 4 minutes and created some great sensory foam for the children to play with.

Please note: We are carefully watching the weather for our pumpkin patch trip this Friday 23rd October, unfortunately it is predicting rain for the afternoon. We will make a decision about the trip on Friday morning and email or phone to let you know. We do have wellies and waterproof suits for every child. Please send us your positive, rain-free thoughts for Friday!

09/10/2026

We've had a muddy, messy week at pre-school! We have started our Wildspace sessions on Wednesdays and Friday mornings. Beginning with a walk down to Wildspace, teaching the children the rules and how to be safe outside of pre-school. The children have wellies and waterproof suits and wear high vis-vests which means we can go in all weathers.

The mud kitchen has been busy this week with the children making muddy potions, coffees and mud cakes. In the garden we crushed chalk with a hammer and used the powder to make paint, mixing it with water and painting the patio. We have continued to make elaborate obstacle courses with the planks and crates and have been learning to make sure they are safe and secure before climbing on them. This has helped us with our gross motor skills and our balance! We also have a coffee shop in our outside house, which has been a big hit! The children have been roleplaying making coffee and serving their friends which has been lovely to see. Lots of lovely communication, and back and forth conversations.

The garden had a little re-vamp and we created a water explore area for the children to immerse themselves in water play. The children really love to play in the water and enjoy using the guttering and pipes to pour, fill and move the water from one container to another.

We are continuing reading 'The Colour monster' and have been making collages of the colour monsters using tissue paper, talking about the colours and what emotion the colour monster is feeling when he is red, yellow or green. The children have been using play-dough to make portraits this week, thinking about their features such as eyebrows, ears and hair. Also making happy faces and sad faces.

We have been working on our fine motor control and pincer grip using cotton buds to make autumn tree pictures. Carefully adding dots to show the autumn leaves. The children are proud to share their art work and display it on our artist board.

25/09/2026

We've had a busy week at pre-school! The children have been very interested in searching for ladybirds in the garden and decided to make a home for them. We have followed the children's lead and interests by putting out insect identification and insect hunts on clipboards for the children to explore. We also have been looking at habitats for insects and reading The Very Lazy Ladybird story. Aswell as building obstacle courses with the large crates and planks, we have been making large structures such as a den, a house and a bridge. We have been very messy in our mud kitchen, pouring, filling, emptying containers and mixing up some very muddy creations!

Last week the children had a nature walk to collect conkers. Using our walking caterpillar and wearing their high vis vests, the children followed the rules by holding on and listening carefully to the adults. Keeping safe. We spoke to the children about how to be safe outside pre-school and how to cross the road safely. After collecting lots of conkers the children have been very curious! Including using them for conker painting, rolling conkers down tubes and pipes and looking closely at them using magnify glasses.

We have been drawing self portraits, looking into a mirror at our features. We have been talking about who lives in our house and our family. Thank you to all who have sent in a family photo for our home corner. There is still time to send in your photos if you haven't already!

The children are settling in really well at pre-school and have picked up on our two pre-school rules which are: To be kind and to be safe.

16/09/2026

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is reading the feedback forms from our wonderful families!

I wanted to share this wonderful feedback with you all...

"Our daughter has attended Stepping Stones pre-school for the past two years, and we honestly couldn't have asked for a better start to her education. She has loved going in everyday, especially enjoying the Wildspace, playing with her friends, and taking part in the science and craft activities. I...

09/09/2026

What a fantastic two weeks back at pre-school we've had!

Our children returning from last year have came back taller, more confident and are amazing role models for our new starters. We have completed almost all of our home visits and settling in sessions now. We are so impressed with how well the new children are settling in. A few tears and wobbles are to be expected but the staff are here to support the children (and our parents) with this.

The children have been exploring all the areas of pre-school. We have our calm area where the children can read a book or have some quiet time with the sensory toys. Our reading area is full of books and story baskets. The construction and small world areas have been popular with lots of building and imaginative play happening. And probably the most popular...painting! We've had lots of painting and creative play.

Outside we have our investigations space, binoculars for bird watching, magnify glasses, magnets, tape measures, beanbags and numbers. Also our mud kitchen which has already been covered in mud with the children making 'porridge' this week in the rain. The sandpit and water tray are available everyday and the children have been busy making obstacle courses with the planks and crates this week.

During snack the children have been serving themselves, pouring their own drinks and are already keen to be independent.

Our four values at Stepping Stones Pre-School are for the children to be:
Independent, safe, resilient and curious! Everything we do links back to these values.

It's been a fantastic start to a new school year!

17/07/2026

All the staff at Stepping Stones have been overwhelmed with the kind words, beautifully written cards, gifts and so many bunches of flowers received this week! It’s been an emotional one, waving our pre-school children off to school. Saying goodbye to families who we have known for years and cared for multiple siblings. We just wanted to say a huge thank you from us! It’s a privilege to look after your children, and we all love what we do. We are proud to be a setting that will always go that extra mile for you and your family.

Have a wonderful summer!

Stay safe.

From your Stepping Stones team x

14/07/2026

Thank you for completing our sponsored summer scavenger hunt with your child. The children have enjoyed sharing their photos of all the things they have collected.

We raised a huge £632.00 for pre-school. Which is tremendous!

We will be using the money to purchase new books, fiction and non fiction books linked to our Curriculum. Also we will be adding new books to our home/school library.

Thank you so much!