Nurture Outdoor Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Nurturing key-person relationships ensure that children feel happy and safe. Children are warmly greeted with smiles and cuddles from staff on arrival. They confidently explore the woodland setting and follow their own interests. They use a wealth of natural resources imaginatively in their play. They make rivers in sandpits, build bridges and practise their balance skills as they walk across them. They work together with their friends, imaginatively creating pretend traps. Children hammer wooden pegs into the ground and cover their traps with nearby resources. They create signs to warn their friends of the dangers ahead and proudly show staff and visitors what they have made.

Children enjoy fresh air and exercise all day in this outdoor setting, which helps to promote their health and well-being. They develop their physical skills as they climb trees and swing on trapezes. They skilfully ride balance bicycles and negotiate obstacles in the woodland area as they splash through puddles, chasing their friends. Children enjoy healthy snacks and cooked meals in the outdoor dining space. This, along with daily rest periods, provides nourishment and relaxation following a busy morning's play.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully supported. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with parents and staff to identify children's additional needs early and put support in place. She accesses additional training and advice to support children's specific needs as they arise.
• Staff know the children well. They understand children's starting points through discussions with parents. Staff monitor children's progress regularly as they complete focus week observations of children. Parents share home learning, which contributes to development assessments that staff use to inform future planning. Children confidently contribute their thoughts during planned whole-group discussions. Younger children watch and learn from their older peers. However, sometimes, the organisation of adult-led activities does not provide opportunities to extend older children's learning and build on what they already know.
• Parents speak positively about the setting. Many describe the managers and staff as family. They express feeling grateful for the empathy, respect, support and care that staff show them and their children. They enthuse about the provision, including its emphasis on developing their children's physical and mental well-being. They describe the outdoor environment as magical, where children experience the change of the seasons, and parents feel this inspires children's imagination and creativity.
• Children's personal, social and emotional development are key focus areas for leadership and management. Children enjoy story times where staff teach them the language of emotions. Staff write learning stories to children and parents that describe how well children have coped with challenges and shown resilience. These stories show parents how staff understand children's behaviour and provide suggestions to further support children at home.
• Leadership and management closely monitor the provision. They ensure staff have time to communicate and reflect on the care and education they provide. They recognise staff strengths and encourage staff to share these with each other. The manager completes regular staff supervision to identify future training needs. Recently, managers and staff have identified that they do not fully incorporate mathematical activities in their daily routines. This means there is room to extend the opportunities for children to acquire and enhance their early mathematical skills.
• Leadership and management recognise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have measures in place to support families and bridge the gaps in children's learning and experiences. They have ambitious plans for the future, which they have shared with staff and parents. These include relocating the kindergarten and creating a setting that supports families and children from conception. Staff are excited to share this journey and aspire to work in even closer partnerships with other professionals to enhance the support they offer to children and families.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of adult-led activities to extend and maximise all children's learning and support older children to build on what they already know
• develop further the opportunities for children to acquire and enhance their early mathematical skills.