Stepping Stones Pre-School

Village life gives Stepping Stones Pre-School much of its character. Based at Alrewas Village Hall, this charity-run setting connects early learning with community events, practical independence and a preschool-year group called Butterflies, where children practise managing belongings, friendships and the everyday tasks that prepare them for school.

At its 7 July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The detail gives parents a useful picture: children took responsibility for small jobs, explored mathematics through play and encountered people whose work they could recognise in the community. There were also clear improvements to make in teaching consistency and communication with other childcare settings.

There are 26 places in total, with the current age range running from 18 months to five years. Main provision follows school terms. This makes the setting a different practical proposition from childcare that continues throughout the holidays, even though a conditional summer holiday club forms part of its offer.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning through play, conversation, movement and practical exploration, covering development from communication and relationships to early literacy and mathematics. Stepping Stones uses Development Matters, guidance about how young children learn and develop, to help shape its curriculum. Topics are planned ahead but can change with children's interests and needs.

Butterflies serves children in the academic year before Reception. Its emphasis is independence, friendships, turn-taking, phonics and number work, using indoor and outdoor spaces. Children practise recognising their possessions and managing lunch with less adult help; the snack-time ambition is to spread toast, pour a drink and clear away afterwards. School preparation here includes ordinary tasks that children can practise again at home.

Early writing starts with movement as well as pencils. In Butterflies, write dance develops the larger movements needed for writing, while dough disco builds finger strength for handling pens and pencils. Cutting, colouring and other hand activities add further practice. These are concrete ways of preparing the body for writing, rather than treating readiness as a matter of copying letters alone.

Physical resources carry that approach across the setting. A Tool Station gives children access to items such as hole punches and paper clips, while vertical drawing surfaces encourage different movements. Outdoors, balance bikes, scooters and wheelbarrows provide opportunities to push, steer and carry. A mini gym and yoga station add resources for strength, balance and coordination.

Books are organised in a Reading Area with accessible shelves, allowing children to make their own selections. Stories and rhymes receive daily teaching time, and fiction and information books also sit alongside other activities. Mathematics similarly extends beyond a group lesson: accessible resources, shapes and number prompts give children opportunities to compare, sort and solve practical problems during play.

Performance has a physical place too. Children can use a stage, instruments, costumes and props, and a weekly dance session works on movement skills, including balance and coordination. Butterflies children also take speaking parts in the Christmas play. For children who enjoy performing, this offers an audience and a purpose for practising language.

Outdoor and Community Life

Community participation includes the Alrewas Show and All Saints Church Christmas Tree Festival. These connect the preschool with recognisable village occasions, giving families a sense of how it belongs to the place around it. Fundraising supports the purchase of toys and equipment, so community involvement also has a practical role in the children's provision.

In July 2025, children regularly visited a local shop to see how food was selected and paid for. Paramedics and a dentist contributed visits about emergency services and oral health, and a movable growing area allowed children to cultivate fruit and vegetables. These experiences gave everyday subjects something tangible to attach to.

The same month, early mathematics included finding and counting coins in sand, comparing raspberries and singing counting songs. Physical activities included moving with scarves, parachute games and using tweezers to pick up small objects. The examples show learning woven into things children can handle, compare and try for themselves.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who records achievements and plans the next steps in learning. Tapestry, an online journal containing photographs, videos and observations, gives parents access to that work and lets them contribute comments and experiences from home. This makes communication a shared exchange: a child's interests outside preschool can become useful information for the practitioner planning activities.

Parents can speak with their key person in person or by telephone, and summer-term consultations provide time to discuss development. Home learning plans also go through Tapestry. For families who want to understand what their child is practising, there are both ongoing updates and a more deliberate conversation about progress.

Settling arrangements draw information from home visits, stay-and-play sessions and discussions with parents or existing key workers. That information helps shape the environment and early learning plans. The practical value is continuity: staff have a way to learn about the child before expecting them to manage unfamiliar routines and relationships.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that individual support and additional funding helped disadvantaged children participate and achieve, and that communication assessments and staff knowledge of referral routes supported children needing help with language. These are specific findings about how support worked at that point, rather than a blanket promise about every child's future experience.

Daily routines provide opportunities to practise self-care. In July 2025, children independently washed their hands, used a song to remember the steps and rehearsed the movements during foam play. Daily helpers also took on useful jobs, including distributing lunch name cards. Small responsibilities made independence part of the day rather than a separate lesson.

Preparation for school includes contact with receiving teachers and practical guidance for parents. In July 2025, teachers visited to meet children before the move. Butterflies also includes summer-term school visits through a primary-school partnership, allowing children to become familiar with the next stage through direct experience.

Stepping Stones operates at Alrewas Village Hall, Wellfield Road, Alrewas, DE13 7HB. Contact is by telephone on 07890 530616 or through the enquiry form. Its main opening hours are 9.15am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time, with closure during school holidays.

A summer holiday club operates for part of the break subject to staffing. Families whose work continues through school holidays therefore need to distinguish the main term-time provision from that conditional arrangement when considering the setting's fit.

Funded childcare is offered, including extended 30 hours places, alongside privately paid childcare, and childcare vouchers are accepted. Main attendance follows term time. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the relevant decision is how the funded entitlement and any privately paid attendance fit the family's intended pattern.

The preschool is managed by a volunteer committee drawn from parents and carers. Committee meetings take place monthly, with an annual general meeting open to parents. Families can also help with fundraising without taking a committee position, giving them a practical route to contribute time, ideas or skills.

School links support transition rather than determine admission. The nursery describes links with local feeder primary schools and a partnership that enables additional visits. Attending does not guarantee a Reception place; families still apply through the local authority admissions process for a state school.

• Teaching consistency. In July 2025, some activities did not deliver the intended learning as effectively as planned. During a visit, ask how staff now make the aims of an activity clear and adapt it when a child needs more support or challenge.
• Learning across two settings. In July 2025, information-sharing with other childcare providers was inconsistent. Families combining Stepping Stones with another setting should discuss how the two key people will exchange learning priorities.
• Term-time fit and the written quotation. Main provision follows school terms, and the summer club depends on staffing. Ask which attendance pattern can be booked and what the quotation includes for meals, snacks and non-food consumables.

Stepping Stones suits families seeking a village-based preschool with term-time attendance, hands-on learning and practical preparation for Reception. Butterflies gives the preschool year a clear identity, while Tapestry helps parents connect activities at home with what their child is doing in the setting.

The July 2025 findings give substance to that appeal, especially through children's responsibilities and community experiences. Teaching consistency and coordination with other providers remain the decision points to explore. For families comfortable with the term-time calendar and keen to participate in preschool life, the charity and committee structure adds another useful connection.