Wild Days Lodge

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff place a strong emphasis on outdoor learning, where they create an enticing environment which children confidently explore. Toddlers use their muscles as they use trowels to scoop up wood chippings and pour them into small baskets. Others use their legs to push themselves along on bicycles and tractors. Pre-school children politely ask staff if they can roll down the slope. Staff encourage children to check that the area is safe. Children readily work with staff to remove small rocks and branches from the ground. Children giggle with their friends as they take turns to roll down the hillside. This helps children learn how to play safely.

Children are inquisitive about the world around them. They ask staff why the tree stumps are not heavy. Staff introduce new vocabulary, explaining bugs have 'burrowed' inside the stump and eaten it to make it 'hollow'. Staff teach children how to build a campfire. Children listen intently to staff instructions, waiting patiently for their turn to use the flint to create a spark. Staff ensure children are supervised as they light the fire. When children struggle, staff provide a helping hand. This helps support children's growing curiosity and builds on their emerging interests.

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

• Parents speak positively about the care their children receive. They value the multiple outdoor activities their children have access to. Parents say they have developed good relationships with staff. For example, staff share information and strategies to help them with toilet training their children at home. They state that their children have grown in confidence and are making good progress in their social skills.
• Staff are good role models. They remind children to use their manners, help each other and share resources. Staff are vigilant and swiftly intervene when necessary. For example, staff explain to toddlers that throwing wood chips at their friends' faces may hurt them. This helps children learn about the impact of their actions on others.
• Children enjoy group time. Pre-school children gather with their friends to listen to staff read a story about a friendly monster. Children confidently point out animals in the pictures. Staff pose questions to children about how the characters may be feeling. Toddlers enjoy singing familiar rhymes with staff. Children shake tambourines and bells as staff sing. This helps children develop a love of books, songs and rhymes.
• In general, staff offer good support for children's learning. For example, staff engage with children during their play to build on what they want them to learn next. However, at times, staff do not deploy themselves well enough. This means children sometimes lack support from staff to consistently extend their play and learning.
• Staff provide children with healthy snacks, meals and fresh drinking water. Children are reminded to wash their hands before meals, after wiping their nose and after using the toilet. Staff work with parents to manage children's allergies, dietary requirements and intolerances. There is an established process in place to ensure this information is safely communicated across the nursery.
• Overall, staff encourage children's developing independence skills. For example, pre-school children wipe their faces after meals and collect their own water bottles. In addition, toddlers readily help staff tidy away resources. However, opportunities for children to do things for themselves are not always used consistently. For example, staff are quick to complete tasks for children that they can do for themselves, this includes taking lids off yogurts, taking away dirty plates and cups, and putting rubbish in the bin. This affects how children learn to do things for themselves.
• Leaders and managers are reflective. They regularly evaluate their provision, which includes gathering feedback from parents. Managers value staff members' continuing professional development and have recently introduced a new system to monitor this. Staff receive training on forest school teaching and sessions on how to use equipment safely. Staff say they enjoy working at the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the deployment of staff in order to provide consistent and purposeful interactions for children, which build on their existing skills and knowledge
• provide more consistent opportunities for children to do things for themselves to promote their independence further.