A Level 3 trained forest school leader, I have been delivering forest schools for the past 11 years. Over the past nine I have delivered training for all settings within Swindon for Ecat, (Every Child A Talker) on behalf of the council, organised and assisted in the set-up of a few outdoor childcare providers, and delivered outdoor learning at many nurseries. I wanted to provide the opportunity for my youngest daughter (who is 2) to play outside every day, and decided to extend this opportunity out to the community. Thus the idea of The Owl in the Tree Outdoor Nursery, was born.
We worked with the local council to find the right place. It took six months of searching until we found a suitable venue in Liddington, Swindon, a lovely village hall with amazing rural space. We had been offered a few provisions which had closed; we had spent some time with a developer in locating plots of land. This became very time consuming. We held lengthy discussions with the village hall committee over a few months until a decision was agreed...and then we had our base camp! The hall is just a base camp, not our learning area, as we expect to spend just two hours a day here, welcoming the children in, having our breakfast and getting weather-proofed. At the end of the day the staff will come back here to reflect on our learning in a holistic way.
Our real challenge was finding the outdoor space. After making links in the community I met a very kind farmer who believed and shared my vision – and allocated us a plot of land - a giant field with a small woodland attached to it. In total, we have five acres of outdoor land with short and long grass, lots of wild plants, a woodland area with fallen trees to investigate, walk across, and climb. The outdoor site is a six minute car ride away from the village hall and we will use our own 7 seater transport to make the daily journey.
After regular meetings with the local council we know the expansion of the free entitlement to 30 hours means there is a need for more childcare places in the area.
We will be a 15 place outdoor nursery with room to expand to 24, for children aged two to five years offering after school and holiday club care. Our opening times will be 8am- 6pm with the flexibility to offer hours either side. We will be providing freshly cooked home-made meals, some of which - potatoes, pasta, sausages - will be cooked outside on an open fire. There is also a small kitchen at the village hall which we can use to make food which will then be brought to the site by a member of staff. We are unique to the area offering something that children should be doing: exploring outside through play.
So far we have met 46 families interested in The Owl in the Tree. We are awaiting Ofsted registration. I am so excited about this. Fingers crossed all goes to plan when Ofsted visit. We will let you know what happens in the new year.
