First Step - where learning is child's play
first step provides a trusted path in pre-school & pre-kindergarten education. Sri Lankan and international children from the ages of 2 – 6 years explore their world with gentle guidance from experienced, nurturing teachers who understand children and childhood. fs teachers arrange learning centers indoors and outdoors that focus a child’s attention to a wide range of curriculum areas. Play provides the basis to a child’s learning for life. Teachers present a varied schedule that is interspersed with age-appropriate structured times of concept development (including language arts and reading skills, mathematical concepts and skills, science awareness, and cultural awareness), singing & dancing, physical games & activities, arts & crafts, and drama & imagination.
Child Development & Early Childhood Specialist
The story behind first step
The director, Cheryl De Saram, has an undergraduate degree in psychology with an emphasis on child development from the University of California at Berkeley, has done graduate studies in early childhood education at California State University, and has operated a preschool/daycare center in California, USA from 1982 – 1989. She created first step in Sri Lanka in 1992 to help bridge the gap from the traditional Montessori pre-school to developmentally appropriate pre-school education offering diversified programming in a natural child-friendly environment. first step is one of the first programs in the Colombo area to practice inclusive education.
Children are learning
Meet Our Team
Earl Stone
Nora Reed
Nora Reed