My Little Barn Owls

Woodland beside the nursery, three enclosed gardens and a curriculum built around children's interests give My Little Barn Owls its character. Outdoor learning has a substantial place here: Forest School combines repeated woodland sessions with practical activities such as making dens and bug houses. The Old Barn in Roberttown is the nursery base, with older children's club provision at Roberttown Community Centre.

At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall. That judgement is a dated assessment, while the current offer combines The Curiosity Approach, which balances children's own play ideas with activities planned by adults, with learning recorded through the Famly App. Parents can contribute to those records rather than simply receive updates.

Attendance includes full days, morning and afternoon sessions, flexible shift patterns and term-time-only places. This gives families several ways to organise care around work and the school calendar.

Rooms and Ages

Five playrooms divide the nursery experience into stages, with toilets on both floors and a kitchen for preparing meals. The ground floor has wheelchair access; the upper floor is reached by stairs. That distinction matters when considering how a child will use the building as they move between rooms.

Snowy Owl Baby Room combines sensory experiences, music and pasta play with care adapted to babies' preferences, giving exploration a place alongside individual routines.

Tawny Owl Room uses painting, role play, water and sand activities, together with walks locally, to connect creative play with discovering the surrounding world.

Barn Owl Room has direct garden access and an adaptable layout that responds to children's immediate interests, making outdoor movement part of its daily offer.

Eagle Owl Room encourages children to choose resources and serve themselves at meals with staff support, linking everyday independence with conversation and social interaction.

Wise Owls Pre -School concentrates on preparation for school and collaboration with local schools, supporting the move from nursery into the next stage of education.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the learning framework: children develop communication, relationships and other areas of learning through play indoors and outside. Alongside that shared foundation, The Curiosity Approach shapes how activities are arranged here. Staff combine play prompted by children's interests with adult-planned invitations, then extend learning as it happens. The practical distinction is between following a child's idea and leaving them entirely to it: adults have an active role in developing the experience.

The curriculum outline also connects learning with the environment and community, and gives literacy a clear place. Observations establish children's starting points and help staff plan subsequent experiences. Every two months, team discussions review learning and inform future plans, giving the curriculum a cycle of observation, reflection and adjustment.

In March 2022, babies explored movement through tummy time, crawling, songs and rhymes; toddlers handled dough and mark-making tools. Older children tackled wooden planks and pallets. These were different physical challenges for different stages, rather than one activity applied across the nursery.

Water play also became an investigation in March 2022. Children tested floating and sinking, then explored how loosening or tightening a water-tray plug changed what happened. It is a concrete example of an everyday resource becoming a question to solve.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds repeated learning in the woodland adjoining the nursery, with choice, practical tasks and supported risk-taking. The current home offer identifies sessions for children aged three and above. Participating children attend a minimum of six sessions, lasting around two hours, with the same children remaining together from week to week. Continuity gives a group time to become familiar with both the place and one another.

Den making, bug-house construction and fires connect the programme with practical woodland experiences. The nursery also describes tool safety talks and daily assessments of benefits and risks. These arrangements explain how the activities are organised.

In March 2022, older children checked a branch before putting their weight on it and used a hammer while making an imaginary home for fairies. Elsewhere outdoors, a ladder resting on an upturned boat and a small slope used with skateboards brought climbing and balance into play. Physical challenge and imaginative stories met in the same spaces.

Relationships and Communication

The Famly App brings photographs, videos, written observations and contributions from parents into each child's learning journey. This gives families several ways to understand what their child has been doing and to add experiences from home. Communication is therefore connected to planning, rather than confined to a collection of pictures.

In March 2022, families received activities to continue at home, including seeds to plant for Mother's Day, and could contribute to subsequent learning plans. Staff also supported parents anxious about leaving babies after the pandemic, providing a care bag for parents during settling. These examples belong to that period, but show how family relationships formed part of nursery practice then.

Sleep and comfort were individualised in March 2022. Staff followed babies' home routines, including rocking some to sleep or allowing them to rest against an adult's chest. For parents of babies, the useful detail is the attention to familiar care patterns, rather than a single settling routine imposed on everyone.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and assessed support for children with SEND very positively, describing targeted work with other professionals and support extending to children receiving additional funding. The SEND coordinator and individual key-worker support were part of that inspection-time account. This is specific evidence about support at that date, rather than a general promise about every child's future experience.

A cook prepares homemade lunches and teas in the nursery, with examples including soup, wholemeal pizza and sandwiches. Allergen information accompanies the menu arrangements, and seasonal menu samples cover autumn/winter and spring/summer.

School preparation has a current place in Wise Owls Pre -School through collaboration with local schools. In March 2022, physical experiences were also planned over time to build skills for the move to school. These activities support preparation for school.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery address is The Old Barn, Roberttown Lane, Liversedge, WF15 7LY. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year, excluding bank holidays. Full-week, part-week and sessional attendance sit alongside flexible shift patterns and term-time-only places.

Morning sessions run from 7am to 1pm; afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 6pm. Full days are also offered, although the opening window and the named session patterns serve different purposes when planning attendance. For the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, using the full entitlement requires attendance over at least two days; flexible arrangements are also described.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01924 412791. The Owl's Den, the out-of-school and holiday club, operates at Roberttown Community Centre, with indoor and outdoor space and activities including baking, crafts and games. Families using nursery and club care should account for the separate bases.

Getting There

The Old Barn is set back from the main road and has private parking. Within the nursery, wheelchair access serves the ground floor, while access upstairs is by staircase.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 30-hour funding from the term after an eligible child turns nine months, two-year funding and the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds. Term-time delivery is described for the two-year and universal entitlements, and funded hours can be combined with paid sessions. Eligibility conditions apply to the relevant schemes.

Food and intimate-care packages are charged separately. For funded sessions, consumables are charged according to attendance, with a packed lunch offered as an alternative to nursery food. The fees information distinguishes attendance charges from these packages; families should obtain current prices in a written quotation.

• Room allocation. The home and room descriptions give different age boundaries and preschool arrangements. At a visit, establish which room your child would use and how moves between rooms are agreed.
• Forest School participation. The home offer starts at three years, while the handbook also discusses younger participants. Ask how the programme applies to your child's age and attendance pattern.
• Funded-session costs. Food and intimate-care packages sit alongside attendance charges, and funded-session consumables depend on the session attended. Request a quotation separating funded hours, paid hours and these packages.
• Allergies and access. Menu arrangements include allergen information, and the upper floor is reached by stairs. Families with dietary or mobility requirements should discuss current food handling and the rooms their child would use.

My Little Barn Owls suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance, with flexible shifts and term-time-only patterns adding further options. Its clearest attractions are the adjoining woodland, garden access and a play-based curriculum that joins children's interests with adult involvement. The Famly App gives parents a practical connection to that learning.

The Outstanding judgement dates to March 2022. For today's choice, room allocation, Forest School participation and the full structure of funded-session charges deserve attention. Families drawn to outdoor exploration have concrete activities to weigh here, rather than just a general promise of outdoor play.