Why Parents Choose FirstSteps
Personalized Attention
In our small classes, every child is recognized by name, strengths, and needs, ensuring a tailored educational experience.
Proactive Support
We identify learning differences early on, offering immediate support rather than waiting for challenges to arise.
Evidence-Based Instruction
We provide structured daily lessons in reading and math, rooted in the latest research on how children learn best.
Family Engagement
We maintain a close partnership with families, involving them throughout their child's educational journey.
Expert Educators
Our teachers are specially trained in inclusive education, structured literacy, and formative assessment to support diverse learners.
Nurturing Environment
Our school fosters a calm and respectful atmosphere where children are both challenged and cared for equally.
Personalized Attention
In our small classes, every child is recognized by name, strengths, and needs, ensuring a tailored educational experience.
Proactive Support
We identify learning differences early on, offering immediate support rather than waiting for challenges to arise.
Evidence-Based Instruction
We provide structured daily lessons in reading and math, rooted in the latest research on how children learn best.
Family Engagement
We maintain a close partnership with families, involving them throughout their child's educational journey.
Expert Educators
Our teachers are specially trained in inclusive education, structured literacy, and formative assessment to support diverse learners.
Nurturing Environment
Our school fosters a calm and respectful atmosphere where children are both challenged and cared for equally.
Results That Matter
FirstSteps' instructional model is built on the Learning Without Limits programme, a structured literacy and inclusive education initiative operating across Nigeria.
These outcomes come from classrooms applying the same instructional practices used at FirstSteps every day.
schools using the Learning Without Limits model
teachers trained in structured literacy instruction
Students receiving daily reading and mathematics instruction
Average reading fluency growth in one academic year
Students able to decode simple words
Students reading at grade level
Teachers delivering structured phonics daily
Our Story
Founded by Vanderbilt University's Special Education trained Noel Ifeanyi Alumona, FirstSteps produces strong readers and mathematical thinkers. We do this through structured, evidence-based instruction delivered by trained inclusive educators in small classrooms where every child is known.
We opened our doors in Enugu because too many children in Nigeria are falling behind in reading and mathematics, not because they lack ability, but because they lack the right instruction at the right time. And for children who learn differently, the gap is even wider. Schools that move at a single pace, teach in a single way, and assess with a single measure leave too many children behind.
FirstSteps was built to close that gap.
FirstSteps operates a structured literacy and inclusive education programme that has trained over 148 teachers across 43 public primary schools in Nigeria.
What We Believe
Every child who leaves FirstSteps will be a confident reader and a capable mathematical thinker. We treat foundational literacy and numeracy as non negotiable outcomes.
We work closely with parents because a child grows best when school and home speak the same language.
At FirstSteps, inclusive education is not an add on. It is built into how we hire, how we train, and how we structure every classroom.
Research shows that children who develop reading fluency by the end of Grade 3 are significantly more likely to succeed academically and economically. We act on that research every day.
Who We Serve
FirstSteps serves children between the ages of 3 and 10, from nursery through upper primary.
We welcome children with and without learning difficulties, and ensure that every family that walks through our door, regardless of their child's needs, receives the same thoughtful, personalised experience.
