The Nest Nursery Copper Beech

A former house, a garden and Forest School outings to Plantsbrook Nature Reserve give Copper Beech a clear identity: familiar surroundings indoors, with room for exploration beyond them. Neutral colours and natural materials shape the setting at 158 Tennal Road, Birmingham, B32 2HN. The emphasis is on what children can do with an object, rather than a toy with one predetermined use.

Ofsted rated The Nest Nursery Copper Beech Outstanding at its 2 August 2022 inspection. That is a dated judgement, rather than a fresh assessment of today's provision. The nursery has capacity for 35 children and accepts ages from 2 to 60 months; that whole-setting figure should not be read as the size of any individual group.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care, bringing play, communication and growing independence into the nursery day. Copper Beech adds concrete opportunities to explore: recycled objects, loose pieces and natural materials that children can combine and use in different ways. A resource can become part of a construction or an imaginative game. The child supplies the idea.

Music Sessions bring music to all children each week. Forest School, outdoor learning through exploration, takes the oldest children away from the nursery to Plantsbrook Nature Reserve. These are different experiences: music within the nursery's activity programme and exploration in another outdoor setting. Neither needs an invented promise about outcomes to explain its value to a family.

In August 2022, children worked together to build bridges using crates and planks, discussed insects with books to help them, and incorporated stories into animal play. Such examples show the practical shape of the day at that time: conversation accompanied making, investigating and pretending, rather than being confined to a separate language activity.

Cooking also supplied something real to discuss. In August 2022, children prepared onion bhajis, flatbread and salmon croquettes with staff, talking about ingredients and food along the way. The task gave conversation a purpose and connected handling materials with following a recipe.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden extends the space for exploration at Copper Beech. Alongside the off-site Forest School provision, it gives families an outdoor element within the nursery itself. Natural materials and opportunities to create are part of the setting's approach indoors and outside.

In August 2022, outdoor play included balancing and climbing with tyres, ladders and pallets, while books were enjoyed in hammocks. Outings then took children to a library, a park and a sea-life centre. A shopping trip for fruit brought bus travel and road safety into the conversation; a church visit introduced the sound of a choir and organ. These were experiences beyond the nursery, with practical things to notice and discuss.

At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified strong progress for children with SEND through plans adapted to individual needs. Those findings matter together: support was assessed through what staff did for children, alongside the procedures used to protect them.

In August 2022, staff gathered information from families about children's interests and needs, then used observation and assessment to plan subsequent learning. Parents also joined stay-and-play activities linked to topics and celebrations. That arrangement gave them a way to take part in what their children were exploring, rather than receiving only a description afterwards.

Support extended into home routines. In August 2022, parents could attend courses covering dental care, sleep and healthy eating, and ingredients and recipes went home for families to cook together. The connection between nursery and home was practical: something to try, discuss or use with a child.

Food for Copper Beech is prepared away from the nursery by its own chef. Cooking activities for children and the preparation of their meals are separate arrangements.

Sessions and Attendance

Copper Beech opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6.15pm. It operates across the year and closes on bank holidays. The address is 158 Tennal Road, Birmingham, B32 2HN; enquiries can be made by telephone on 0121 427 5040 or by email to enquirycopperbeech@thenestnursery.co.uk.

The opening window gives families a useful boundary for planning work and collection. It should be treated as the nursery's operating hours when weighing the practical fit with a household's routine.

• The youngest children. Copper Beech accepts children from 2 months, while Forest School is for its oldest children. At a visit, how are babies' rest and play organised alongside the older children's activities?
• Attendance and funding. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 6.15pm across the working week. Which booking pattern would fit your routine, and how would funded hours, meals and consumables be treated in a written quotation?
• Outdoor learning. Forest School takes the oldest children to Plantsbrook Nature Reserve. How are these outings organised, and what clothing should families provide?

Copper Beech suits families drawn to a former-house setting, open-ended materials, weekly music and outdoor exploration. Its garden and visits to Plantsbrook Nature Reserve give that character substance. The Outstanding judgement belongs to August 2022, with detailed examples of learning and family involvement from that period; the current physical setting and activity offer provide the practical reasons to consider it now.