News

Pupils and staff from Stepping Stones School enjoyed a fun-packed day out in London visiting the Imperial War Museum and later, the Royal Festival Hall to watch the musical, Sweeney Todd.

      
Just under four hours were spent in the Imperial War Museum, as pupils and staff soaked up as much information as they could about the 1st and 2nd World Wars. The cabinets were full of a whole range of memorabilia from the armory and weapons through to the clothing that soldiers wore, and also artifacts which in their own way, retold life as it was in Britain during the war.

Later, some chose to visit the Crimes Against Humanity exhibition which Dominic described as 'chilling.' Indeed it was.

The day didn't end there, and we soon found ourselves walking along the River Thames in the South Bank admiring the many street entertainers and enjoying a variety of cuisine. The girls enjoyed a delicious Italian menu whilst the boys kept with familiarity at a McDonalds.

The evening's performance of Sweeney Todd was simply amazing. Prospective pupil, Toby, who will be joining us in September, enabled us to visit the Royal Festival Hall and see his mum perform in the well-known musical. It was a real delight and pleasure to be a part of what we later understood to be a three-performances-only show!

Take a look at some more photographs.

Registration is now open for families to apply for a place at this year's Stepping Stones Activity Day which will take place at the usual site in Churt, Farnham.

This will be our 7th year of hosting this annual event which attracts some 200 people each year. This year we hope to include even more participants than in previous years.

You can register your interest on our brand new Activity Fun Day site. Here you will be able to view the activities that we hope to run and see photographs from previous Activity Days. There is also a video that was produced following the 2006 Activity Day. Take a look and see what happened!

You will also have a chance to get involved in the website too. You can:

• Vote on your top three favourite activities.
• Play some of our online games.
• Share your thoughts by leaving a message on the website.

Go ahead, we look forward to hearing from you.

Unfortunately, there is a maximum number that can be accommodated, but we'll try to include as many of you as possible. Register today!

Recently, students at Stepping Stones School have started working towards their Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Bronze award and Adventure Service Challenge (ASC) awards.

One of the sections of this award requires students to carry out an expedition. On Thursday 21st June, five students and three members of staff travelled into the Haslemere countryside, walking up a steady gradient that is well respected as Tennyson country. Our initial destination was a place called the Temple of the Winds, where we had lunch close by. All the walkers opted to continue the second leg, towards Valewood Farmhouse.

As the photographs show, they students took the opportunity to learn as much as they could from the experience, from navigating, to cooking and studying wildlife.

This is, the first of many expeditions as the students progress through the award scheme.

Take a look at photographs from the day.

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.

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.

Pupils at Stepping Stones School went along to St Peters School in Guildford to try fencing. Only Dom had had any experience of fencing before, and his distant memory didn't fail him as he recalled the particular name given to the hand grip on a foil.

After a quick piece of footwork, the pupils then tried the hand grip on the foil itself and thrust it forward into the chest of the fencing coach.

It was clear the pupils were keen, and much excitement was had trying on the protective clothing, some referring to them as 'straitjackets', offering more restricted movement.

Everyone is looking forward to starting the course in about 4 weeks time.