Flying High Outdoor Nursery

Twigs became story characters, floating experiments and tools for dough play in January 2023: practical exploration gave this Hodge Hill nursery's learning its character. At its 10 January 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Good overall, with engaging indoor and outdoor experiences alongside improvement points in group conversation and toddler mathematics.

Flying High Outdoor Nursery serves children aged 24 to 60 months at 322 Coleshill Road, Hodge Hill, Birmingham, B36 8BG. The learning examples below describe January 2023 practice.

In January 2023, preschool children extended a story about a stick man by making twig families and investigating branches in water. In the toddler room, pretend tearoom play involved coffee beans, crockery and teabags. These were concrete starting points for introducing language and ideas, rather than activities detached from children's interests.

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for children's learning, care and development; here, its educational content took practical form through stories, imaginative play and number activities. In January 2023, preschool children used a dough recipe to practise calculation and mathematical vocabulary. Outings included country parks and experiences of public transport, extending learning beyond the nursery premises.

During that January 2023 visit, children could choose resources for themselves and return to an idea after trying it out. The indoor and outdoor spaces supported this exploration. That matters for the kind of learning illustrated by the twig activities: children could pursue the same interest through storytelling, water experiments and dough, rather than finish with a single task. The materials changed what they could investigate while keeping their original interest in view.

The January 2023 tearoom example also brought familiar objects into pretend play. Water and milk joined the crockery, teabags and coffee beans, giving toddlers materials to handle as well as a situation to act out. Books and singing interested children across the setting, including those learning English as an additional language. Together, these examples show how conversation could grow from something a child was already doing. The concern about quieter speakers was more specific: participation in group activities needed attention, even alongside this language work.

At the January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities through collaboration with parents, referrals to outside professionals and adaptations to activities and surroundings.

In January 2023, a home visit before starting helped staff understand each family's circumstances. Targeted language work supported children with delayed speech and children learning English alongside another language. These arrangements connected support to individual needs, although quieter children received too little encouragement to contribute during some group activities.

At that January 2023 visit, safeguarding routines included checks of the premises each day and risk assessments for outings. Staff received child protection training and worked with professionals involved with families. These were practical parts of the arrangements behind the safeguarding judgement, with attention extending beyond the building to trips. They describe practice at that visit.

Health learning in January 2023 involved parents as well as children. Staff covered healthy eating, exercise and cleaning teeth, linking care to habits children could practise. For additional needs, the combination of parent discussions, referrals and adapted activities meant support involved both identifying a difficulty and changing the child's experience within the nursery. That is a useful distinction for families weighing how their child would take part in everyday play.

The nursery's address is 322 Coleshill Road, Hodge Hill, Birmingham, B36 8BG. In January 2023, it opened during term time, Monday to Friday, with sessions running from 7.30am to 6pm. This was a weekday, term-time arrangement: the session window and the annual attendance calendar are separate parts of how that provision fitted family routines.

• Quieter children. January 2023 group discussions sometimes favoured confident speakers. On a visit, ask how practitioners now help a reluctant speaker take part.
• Mathematical challenge. In January 2023, toddler activities needed more challenge for children ready to move beyond basic counting and colour recognition. Ask to see how staff extend that learning today.
• Attendance arrangements. The January 2023 opening pattern was term time only. Before joining, what attendance pattern and holiday arrangements would apply to your child?

For families who value learning through practical investigation, the January 2023 examples offer a clear reason to consider this nursery: stories continued into experimentation, and recipe work brought mathematics into play. Its strongest appeal is to parents seeking that connection between children's interests and early learning. The dated concerns about quieter speakers and mathematical challenge deserve equal weight in the decision.