Learning and staying safe

Children playing

Learning and staying safe

At Nature Nursery, we grow roots for learning. Children leave our nursery with the key skills and foundations they need for their future experience in education; ready to take on the next phase of learning in school.

A key phrase you will hear us refer to is ‘child-led’. As skilled adults in child development, we listen and watch each child as they begin to take on their own understanding of their world. We then support them to take their learning further by taking them through a helpful resource, or providing them a ‘wonder’ question, for example. Our child-led approach focuses on developing key skills for learning.

All staff are highly qualified in Early Years and/or are Forest School qualified leaders and specialists in their field.

We are designated as an outstanding Ofsted registered nursery, and follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum guidelines and statutory requirements  in the same way as a conventional indoor nursery. Our recent report stated that “leaders have designed an incredibly ambitious curriculum where children make exceptional progress in their learning.”

We focus on holistic learning, and children will gain from the breadth of stimulating natural spaces to provide a healthy measure of awe and wonder.

How will my children learn?

Physical development – Climbing trees, rolling down hills, balancing along logs, tying knots, digging

Communication and language – Listening to different bird calls, talking about new discoveries, building vocabulary from first-hand experiences

Personal, social and emotional development – Building friendships, working together to cook  lunch, caring for the environment

Literacy (reading & writing) – Writing out signs for the veg patch, finding hidden stone letters in the woodland, creating treasure maps, storytelling with items children found on a walk to the woodland

Mathematical development – Counting out conkers on the conker abacus, weighing out leaves on the tree scales

Creative development – Making mud pies, looking for fairies, making dream catchers and stick whistles

Knowledge and understanding of the world – Taking photos of the magic tree each season and noticing the changes, making a house for a hedgehog, laying out night cameras to see what animals visit the nursery at night.

How will my child be nurtured?

Physiological needs – Water will be provided all day and rolling healthy snacks will be available for the children. There will be cosy sheltered places for rest and adults will monitor children’s needs throughout the day.

Safety – There is an enclosed area for transition times, robust risk assessments, high child/adult ratios, appropriate staff training and DBS checks in place.

Love & belonging – Each child has a key person. This is a member of staff who develops an in-depth relationship the individual child and family. Home visits and regular opportunities to ‘get to know’ your key person establish a bond and relationship.

Esteem needs – There are constant opportunities to try out and master skills through the outdoor Forest School approach. Children are shown how to do something and then supported to master and achieve success independently. Done in a relaxed way with the pressure removed, children’s esteem soars.

Self-actualisation – Our child-led approach to the natural world allows children to reach their potential to thrive and maximise learning through experiences which give them joy.

How will my child keep safe?

Keeping your child safe is paramount to what we do. We have strict and robust procedures in place which all staff follow continuously. Higher ratios allow children to access more than within an indoor nursery. We operate a 1:5 ratio for 3-5yr olds and 1:4 for the 2yr olds.

View our policies

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Contact us

For further enquiries please call: 07730 217262 or email info@naturenursery.org.uk

Abbotts Hall Farm, Maldon Road, Great Wigborough, Colchester, CO5 7RZ