Sign up free
Skip to main content

Kids Love Nature Kindergarten at Avon Heath

Kids Love Nature Kindergarten at Avon Heath is a day nursery in Ringwood for children aged 1 to 4, with 40 registered places. Ofsted report card, 6 January 2026: Strong standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.

Avon Heath Country Park, Brocks Pine, St Ives, Ringwood, BH24 2DH

Key facts

Type
Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Ages
1 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered places
40 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
23 July 2012 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 6 January 2026

Who runs it

Kids Love Nature Kindergarten at Avon Heath is run by Kids Love Nature Ltd (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

  • Inclusion: Strong standard
  • Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard
  • Achievement: Strong standard
  • Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
  • Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
  • Leadership and governance: Strong standard
  • Safeguarding standards met

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 6 January 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children thrive in this setting because they receive a unique, outdoor-focused educational experience. This ignites their curiosity and deepens their understanding of the natural world. They spend their days exploring the heath, tending to the vegetable patch and growing food that they prepare for lunch. For example, children chop the vegetables and help the chef to make soup. They take potatoes that they dig up home to share. These rich routines help children develop lifelong healthy habits and a genuine love of nature. Children feel truly known as individuals. Skilled staff build genuinely warm, nurturing relationships. These give children the confidence to take risks and express themselves. Leaders have developed a solid culture of kindness and inclusion across the setting. Children learn to care for one another, share resources and work collaboratively. They see these values modelled consistently by staff. For example, they work alongside staff to make a wooden tractor for the outdoor area.

The environment is calm, purposeful and thoughtfully planned. Children benefit from highly effective routines that help them grow in independence. They know what to expect and what is expected of them. This enables even the youngest children to take ownership of their learning. Any potential barriers to learning are swiftly identified and addressed. High-quality interactions between staff and children support the rapid development of communication skills. Staff introduce rich vocabulary, ask thoughtful questions and listen attentively. This helps children to articulate their ideas with confidence. Children show excellent standards of behaviour. Staff provide skilled emotional support that helps children understand their feelings and respond appropriately. As a result, children develop a genuine desire to learn and engage fully. Children enjoy their learning and attend regularly. They feel a strong sense of belonging and flourish as confident, capable and curious learners who are very well prepared for their next steps.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders and staff are committed to achieving the highest standards of inclusion across the setting. Staff have high expectations for all children. They skilfully adapt their practice to support each individual child. This ensures that staff consistently address any potential barriers to learning swiftly. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged receive tailored, high-quality support from all staff as a result of early assessment and identification of needs. The interventions make a sustained difference to children's opportunities and experiences. Leaders and staff use additional funding to provide focused individual support, such as supplying specific doll's house furniture when moving house, so that children can process their experiences. Leaders check the impact of adaptations and spending regularly and support staff to develop new approaches that make a sustained difference.

Leaders create a well-coordinated, collaborative strategy for tackling barriers to learning. They work closely with the local authority, health visitors, schools and speech and language therapists. Leaders support staff to ensure that every child's needs are addressed and staff access relevant training, such as sign language. They work closely with families, such as providing tailored help with potty training and creating individual resources. As a result, children and families feel well known and supported, so they develop a strong sense of belonging.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have developed a highly personalised, well-designed curriculum. They continually reflect and skilfully tailor their offering to deliver sustained improvements. Children develop a genuine love of nature as a result of high-quality teaching from rangers and staff. They take part in walks across the heathland, in which they learn to identify animal tracks and share extensive natural knowledge. Children's communication skills develop rapidly. Staff focus on developing vocabulary and language skills. For example, they use scientific terms when talking about the human body. Staff use all possible moments to engage in high-quality conversation with children. This means that children become extremely confident communicators.

Staff consistently build mathematics into daily routines, such as counting the number of bowls needed for lunch. The carefully resourced environment supports children's physical development, such as when navigating natural banks and slopes. Staff work alongside children to help them to fully understand their emotions. For example, they are taught to identify strategies that they can use to support their own feelings. Staff make continual assessments of what children know and can do. They make skilful adaptations to their teaching to enable all children to make the best possible progress. This includes those who are disadvantaged or with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children know more and can do more as a result. For example, they confidently identify natural features of the local environment.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children develop a love of learning and rapidly build knowledge and skills in all areas. They make consistent progress from their starting points and all achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or who are disadvantaged. Children show high levels of independence, such as when leading their own nappy change process and preparing food for their peers to enjoy for lunch. They work alongside adults to care for their setting. For example, they take on daily roles to water the plants and prepare snacks, which they complete with focus and pride.

Children are extremely well prepared for their next stage of learning, including for school, as a result of the independence skills they develop. They communicate with confidence and security. For example, they review rules with each other before walking onto the heath. Children show high levels of curiosity and engage meaningfully in all learning opportunities. For example, they delight in discovering what was hidden in a 'magic bag'.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders have embedded a system of highly impactful routines that support all children to thrive. Children know the expectations, the culture and the rules. This security enables them to feel safe and happy. Children often follow the routines without staff's prompting, such as when walking with partners for a specific part of a nature walk. Leaders and staff have developed a culture of kindness. Children learn to be kind to each other and share resources independently. For example, they wait patiently for a turn with a magnifying glass.

Staff address rare incidents of poor behaviour very swiftly and consistently. Children quickly learn to manage their own feelings and behaviour. This is because of skilful support from staff, matched to their age and developmental stage. They empathise and work alongside children to help them find their own way, such as by prompting them to use their comforters. Relationships between staff and children are extremely warm and trusting. Staff and leaders ensure that every child is fully known and understood. Leaders have developed a thorough settling process that enables children to make the smoothest of starts in the setting. They act where needed to ensure that children can attend regularly.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Leaders have developed highly respectful care practices that are thoughtfully designed to meet every child's individual needs, including those with additional needs. Staff use routines that nurture children's independence and ensure that welfare and wellbeing is prioritised. Children are happy, settled and confident because their needs are understood and met swiftly by adults who know them extremely well. For example, they help them to find a favourite book to share. Warm, secure relationships sit at the heart of the setting. The key-person system is highly effective. Children enjoy trusting attachments with staff and form positive friendships with one another.

Daily routines promote children's physical development and long-term wellbeing. Mealtimes are a particular strength. Children take vegetables 'from field to fork', working together to grow and prepare food and lay the table. These meaningful experiences shape children's lifelong relationship with healthy eating and help them understand where their food comes from. Staff support children to recognise, express and manage their emotions with increasing confidence. Children also develop a strong understanding of personal safety. They talk knowledgeably about fire safety procedures around the fire pit and share this at home, such as when using birthday cake candles. Through leaders' clear vision and highly effective interactions, children flourish as confident, healthy and emotionally secure learners.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders place children's needs firmly at the centre of every decision. For example, they rapidly adapt their environment to match the specific needs of children. They have a clear understanding of the setting's strengths and act swiftly on focus areas as part of their ambitious vision. As a result, development happens quickly and has measurable impact. Leaders make decisions that are firmly in the best interests of all children, particularly those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities or who face additional barriers. They remove obstacles to learning quickly and ensure that all children make swift progress.

Leaders' prioritise staff wellbeing. Staff feel well supported and enjoy their work. Leaders manage workload thoughtfully so that staff can give their best to children. Staff engage in a meaningful cycle of training and reflection, which supports the high quality of teaching and care across the setting. Leaders work collaboratively to share good practice nationally through their links with universities and colleges. Leaders work closely with parents and carers and external partners to ensure that families feel supported and that children benefit from a collaborative approach. For example, they provide training for parents in specific educational practices. Leaders' commitment to high-quality education and care makes a sustained, positive difference to children's lives.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

  • Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children and those who may face other barriers to their learning and wellbeing.

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 6 January 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history

  • 6 January 2026: Full inspection, report card: Strong standard in 6
  • 25 February 2020: Full inspection, Outstanding (report)
  • 17 January 2013: Full inspection, Outstanding (report)

Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)

Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.

The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.

Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.

Source: Ofsted reports

Funded childcare hours in England

All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.

Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.

Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.

The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.

Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)

Other nurseries nearby

  • The Little Learners Nursery - Day nursery, Ringwood BH24 2PH, ages 1 to 4, 25 places, 0.7 miles
    Ofsted, 19 November 2021: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Stagecoach Ringwood - Pre-school, Ringwood BH24 2LE, 0.9 miles
  • Cherry Tree Montessori Nursery - Day nursery, Ringwood BH24 2HP, ages 0 to 5, 24 places, 1.1 miles
    Ofsted, 26 July 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Little Monkeys at The Old Cottage - Day nursery, Ringwood BH24 1DZ, ages 0 to 6, 60 places, 2.0 miles
    Ofsted report card, 31 July 2026: Expected standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met
  • Greyfriars Pre School - Day nursery, Ringwood BH24 1DW, ages 2 to 4, 30 places, 2.2 miles
    Ofsted report card, 3 December 2025: Strong standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met

Schools nearby

Kids Love Nature Kindergarten at Avon Heath on the Ofsted website