The Woodland Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish and make excellent progress in this highly unique and enriching outdoor learning environment. Staff are fully attentive and responsive to children's individual needs and know their characters and personal learning styles exceptionally well. A real strength is the respect and amount of time staff give to the children. This creates a trusting, loving and calm atmosphere where children show high levels of confidence and enthusiasm to learn. Children have strong bonds with staff and show that they are happy and secure. Staff have extremely high expectations for children and are successful in supporting them to reach their full potential. During their play, children show incredibly high levels of curiosity and engagement when exploring a wide variety of interesting resources. For instance, they delight in transporting plants in a wheelbarrow and plant them with great care and concentration. Their knowledge and understanding of different plants and what they need to grow is skilfully supported by staff. There is a real sense of fun and enjoyment. Children laugh and smile as they play hide and seek and climb in the tree-house. Their opportunities to be physically active and take risks are abundant. Parents describe exceptionally high levels of satisfaction with the provision. They report that due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, they are no longer allowed into the setting. However, this has not effected them feeling involved in their children's learning and progress. They describe excellent communication and feedback, and praise how personal, professional and nurturing the staff are in understanding their children's needs.

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

• Children show enjoyment, and a real sense of adventure and fun as they explore this wonderfully inspiring environment. Staff are advocates for outdoor learning and plan an innovative and ambitious curriculum. It is evident that children make strong progress in relation to their starting points.
• Children's physical development and well-being are supported to an impressive level. For instance, children climb rope ladders in to tree-houses and balance on obstacle courses with tyres and planks. Children are physically confident and show excellent risk-taking skills and coordination.
• Opportunities are fully maximised to enrich and extend children's language and communication skills. This is evident when a staff member reads a story about dinosaurs and other historic periods of time and children are encouraged to discuss the meaning of words such as 'ancestors', 'archaeologists' and 'extinct'.
• Children's imagination and creativity is fully nurtured. For instance, this is apparent when children make mud pies in the mud kitchen and explore exciting sensory play trays. Children also enthuse about making dinosaur fossils with salt dough and discuss the different types of dinosaurs and which are carnivores and herbivores.
• Staff provide children with a superb foundation in early literacy and mathematics. This is illustrated when children actively participate in singing songs, rhymes and stories. They also show a depth of knowledge when making comparisons, exploring shapes and using mathematical language.
• High priority is given to promoting children's personal, social and emotional development. Children's efforts and achievements are highly valued and they are skilfully supported to understand and manage their feelings and emotions. As a result, children show high levels of confidence and willingness to have a go. They also behave impeccably and show kindness towards each other.
• Staff are excellent role models for children. Teaching is strong and staff provide sensitive care and guidance to children. This is particularly true for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• There is a very strong focus on teaching children about the world in which they live and the importance of looking after it. For instance, children learn about respecting trees, insects and woodland animals that they share the environment with, and regularly participate in projects about recycling and reducing global warming.
• Partnerships with parents and other professionals are exceptional. There are excellent arrangements in place for sharing information and planning for children's future learning. This helps children to reach their full potential.
• Leaders constantly evaluate the provision and make ongoing improvements. For instance, they have listened to parents views about having extended hours to fit in better with the needs of working families. There are highly effective systems in place for mentoring and supervising newer staff and an excellent culture of supporting staff members professional development and skills.