Stepping Stones School for children with hemiplegia - Curriculum

End of Year Achievements and Presentations

Jonathan Furness — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:55:40 +0000

After the pupils performed The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Neil Clark and Jonathan Furness took the opportunity to celebrate some of the achievements that the pupils had made over the course of a year.

Jonathan and the pupils began recalling some very recent experiences, the adventures of camping overnight at a site in Farnham.

Jonathan then presented the swimming certificates to each pupil for their achievements earlier this year.

Neil talked about the academic achievements made throughout the past year and summarised, in general terms, what he is expecting from the pupils next year.

Watch the full video to find out more about what was said and presented to the pupils.

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Summer Examinations completed

Jonathan Furness — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:02:22 +0000

We are delighted to announce that today marks the last day of examinations for all our candidates. Every student was involved in examinations this year, from Entry Level courses in Childcare, Mathematics, English, and ICT through to a GCSE ICT examination for some students.

Each pupil worked incredibly hard to meet some tough deadlines for handing in coursework and revising towards examinations. Congratulations and well done!

We should know how the students did in their Entry Level courses at the end of this month, with results released on the 28th June.

GCSE results will become available on 23rd August.

All students will continue to study other subjects, some, to a higher level for completion in 2008.

The excitement is in-tents !

Jonathan Furness — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:45:38 +0000

Pupils continued working through their training programme in both the Adventure Service Challenge Award and Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme today.

You might say the excitement was in-tents (!) as pupils learnt how to pitch a 2 / 3 man dome tent in the garden of Stepping Stones School. Pupils split into two teams, one group pitching a reasonably robust expedition tent compared to a freebie tent that came as part of an offer. The pupils used this to compare the features of both, judging the quality of each and the suitability for purpose.

Claire Greenwood supported this activity with her many years experience in hiking and camping in the outdoors, running events for organisations such as the CARE Challenges. Jonathan's extensive scouting experience as a Scout Leader, gave pupils insight into some of the issues relating to youngsters sleeping outdoors.

Pupils were keen to spend an evening camping outdoors in the school garden as a way of getting used to being outside and sleeping in a tent.

Jessica opens up the front door.

Jessica discovers toilets aren't one of the features!

Dominic and Jessica feel 'at home' quite quickly.

Autumn Poem from around the school environment

Jonathan Furness — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 13:30:00 +0000

Written and performed by Amy, Jessica, Amie, Daniel and Dominic at Stepping Stones School. These students were studying similes in Literacy, and took photographs from around the school site, and used descriptive language to describe what they saw. This video was produced using iMovie.

This video has been uploaded to YouTube.

Celebrating sailing successes at the Sailability Club, Frensham Ponds

Jonathan Furness — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:11:15 +0000

Here are some photographs of the pupils at Frensham Ponds. This was the pupils last session on the water before we break for the Summer holiday. Just like the horseriding on Tuesday, and the Music performances, we invited parents along to watch the pupils sail.

The sailing sessions are part of the Physical Education curriculum and we recognise that our pupils are fortunate to have this opportunity to experience something different and learn new skills. Well done Amy, Dom, Dan and Jess.

We must also say a big thank you to the Sailability team who give of their time freely and without whom, this activity wouldn't be possible. Thank you.

Photographs supplied by Jessica's grandfather.

Talented Musicians perform in front of staff and parents

Jonathan Furness — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:47:59 +0000

Four talented young musicians played to an audience of parents and members of staff, showing the work they have achieved in music.

Their work is impressive, especially the compositions created using the PrintMusic software. Having that capability allowed them to unleash their understanding of music without having the concern of being able to play it.

The individual pieces were also very notable examples of how the pupils' skills have progressed in only a year. We will soon be editing the footage from the afternoon's performance and joining that with some footage shot a year or so ago.

Congratulations to the pupils and to Linda, our music specialist for her commitment to giving the pupils the best possible experiences.

Horseriding at Liphook gives pupils more to 'ride' home about...

Jonathan Furness — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 01:00:41 +0000

On Tuesday 11th July, an enormously proud set of parents and staff looked on as the pupils performed their newfound skills and abilities in horseriding at the RDA centre in Liphook.

A range of skills were demonstrated, from walking to trotting, weaving with the horse under control using the reigns, and jumping.

As a finale, the pupils demonstrated 'Round the World' which demands pupils remain on horseback, yet turn a complete 360 degrees whilst still sitting on the saddle.

Pupils at Stepping Stones school have had weekly visits to the RDA centre in Liphook and forms an integrated part of their Physical Education curriculum. The pupils have the opportunity to continue riding in September when they begin working towards a certificate in dressage.

We were all greatly impressed by the confidence and enjoyment shown by the pupils. Well done all!

more photographs here....

Hester Whittle gets creative with pupils

Jonathan Furness — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:03:47 +0000

Art specialist, Hester Whittle of Grayshott NADFAS, visited Stepping Stones School to provide our pupils with some creative activities in Art.

Hester said:

"As Young Arts representative of Grayshott NADFAS it has been a pleasure to visit Stepping Stones again. Despite the heat of July 3rd the students worked with keen interest and enthusiasm and produced some pleasing drawings and pastel paintings.

We explored tone, line and colour, spent some time in the garden drawing plant forms and produced some colourful work inspired by Kandinsky. I thoroughly enjoyed working with such lively young people and look forward to my next visit"

Here are some photographs of the pupils working with Hester...