Begin Bright

Early Learning & School Readiness Programs

Smart Stars

Smart Stars offer Begin Bright Early Learning Programs which teach school readiness

classes designed especially for children to have a positive beginning to learning.

Our main aim is to ensure that children have the best head start and have acquired

all the skills necessary for school. Our program covers all educational aspects to

ensure children excel in numbers, letter sounds, handwriting and fine motor skills.

The Begin Bright Program explores Numeracy & Literacy through characters, games,

Science & Technology, music and writing. The first two levels of Begin Bright are

focused on letter formations and the sounds they make, and numbers 1-10.

Work is set out clear and simple, making it easy for teachers, students and parents to understand and ensure children are where they should be academically. All concepts are presented in a workbook and supported by concrete materials (counters, bean bags, everyday objects, etc), making it easy for children to learn and enjoy.

Every time a phonetic skill is taught, it will be immediately applied to print to the children see the relationship not only between the letter formation and sound, but also in its involvement in words. This is important to ensure that children can later apply their phonetic knowledge to decode texts and don't simply memorise sounds being unable to link them to real words and objects.

Some parents confuse a child being able to count, with knowing their numbers. Many children can count, and/or can recognise numerals, but do not understand what these numbers mean. Through the Begin Bright program, we ensure children understand that the numeral corresponds to 'how many' and can show this on their fingers, and can make groups of numbers of objects. What we do with the Begin Bright program is to inspire and encourage of love of learning and help parents to encourage their children to grow and learn.

Green Level - This is the perfect introduction to learning. Green level introduces all the letter names and sounds of the alphabet so that when your child has completed the year they have sound phonemic knowledge of the English language. Numbers 1 – 10 are focused on, so that children learn to recognise them visually.

Yellow Level - Yellow level Begin Bright classes are designed specifically for children starting school the following year. They introduce children to phonetic sounds, numbers to 20 and handwriting skills. They learn to recognise these sound formations as letters, recognise their sound in words and write words containing the sounds. We focus on single sounds at the beginning, end and middle of three letter words.They will learn to recognise and write numbers 1 – 20, and learn to add single digit numbers.

From Tina Tower of Begin Bright

“Play is absolutely vital in development, though it is unrealistic to expect children to go from no formal education at all in pre school, to the now high expectations that are in place in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum is great in that it teaches children solid basic foundations of learning while their brains are at such an optimum receptive stage. Begin Bright prepares children for this and gives them a head start to their learning.”