The Trust’s first Nature Nursery, based at the home of Essex Wildlife Trust’s main office in Colchester, was launched in September 2021. The nursery aims to inspire a lifelong love of nature in children from their early years while offering an outstanding outdoor educational childcare provision for children under the age of 5.

The Trust has led Forest School sessions for children since 2008 and delivered Forest School training since 2014, training over 250 practitioners and encouraging schools across Essex to offer outdoor sessions in their curriculum.

The nursery follows the statutory Early Years curriculum, but almost all learning takes place in an outdoor environment. The nursery itself encourages creativity and independence, with meadows, woodland, vegetable gardens and other sustainable elements across the site.

Children learn through child-led, nature-based exploration and activities led by Early Years professionals who are passionate about the natural world.

Children make exceptional progress in their learning.

The Ofsted report considered the curriculum to be “ambitious” where “children make exceptional progress in their learning”. The report highlights the academic achievements of children, including their abilities in mathematics and their vocabulary development. The report continued to praise the nursery, calling it “idyllic”.

The report highlights the curiosity and independence that is cultivated at the Nature Nursery and praises the staff that run it. In keeping with the Trust’s vision, the report recognises the care and understanding that children cultivate for the environment, stating that children “are becoming considerate citizens who care for their world”.

The Nature Nursery was also awarded the Millie’s Mark in October 2022, an endorsement that recognises childcare providers are trained in paediatric first aid. 

Melanie Mewton, Nature Nursery Manager, says:

“We are so proud of the Nature Nursery and recent Ofsted rating. The aim of our nursery is to help secure a healthier, happier, and more sustainable future. A future where every child is ‘wild’ is a future where the planet is in good hands. Seeing children care about the environment and develop into independent, creative people is a wonderful thing to be a part of. We are looking forward to welcoming a new cohort of Nature Nursery attendees in September, and invite anyone interested in a place to come to an Open Day and see our nursery in person.”

Rich Yates, Director of Engagement for Essex Wildlife Trust, says:

“We are thrilled with this endorsement by Ofsted. We hope that the Nature Nursery is the first of many. Our aim is for outdoor nurseries to be a mainstream alternative to indoor-based early years childcare and education. We would love to see other providers follow this example and give parents and carers real choice. There are so many benefits to being outdoors, not just in terms of a child’s connection to nature and environmental stewardship, which has never been more important, but in relation to more general skills such as language development and physical and emotional development. The children at the Nature Nursery spend all day every day outdoors and their relationship to nature and one another is completely different. Most of our three-year-olds can tell the difference between the call of a blue tit and the call of a great tit. They are much closer to the world they live in and the world they need to protect. We think it’s the future, and we hope other people will share our view.”