Little Owl Childcare, Woodland Nursery

Woodland paths, a fire circle and changing seasons give this Burntwood nursery its character. Set within Burntwood Rugby Club beside Chasewater Country Park, Little Owl Childcare, Woodland Nursery makes outdoor exploration the centre of the day, with an indoor base for meals and times when outdoor play is impractical. This is a choice for families who want nature to shape their child's early learning.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 17 November 2021, with Outstanding personal development. Its capacity is 35 children, with a current age range of two to five. Full days, shorter days and morning or afternoon sessions offer different ways to attend.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning and care: play, conversation and physical exploration contribute to their development. Here, natural materials and woodland experiences sit alongside workshops covering early reading, writing, phonics and mathematics. Outdoor learning has an educational purpose beyond fresh air.

Children learn about seasonal changes and caring for wildlife, while adults help them consider risks, handle tools and understand the fire circle's rules. These experiences bring practical decisions into play. The indoor base also matters: the woodland approach has somewhere to gather and eat, and somewhere to use when conditions prevent outdoor activity.

In November 2021, children experimented with movable equipment, placing a slide on a log and checking whether their construction would hold. They also balanced on logs and handled flower petals, combining whole-body movement with delicate finger work. The examples show how physical development and problem-solving can share the same activity.

Storytelling used the surroundings too. In November 2021, children recreated We're Going on a Bear Hunt through the woods, changing the action to incorporate what they encountered. That gave them a reason to recall language and reshape a familiar narrative rather than simply listen to it.

Outdoor and Community Life

The 30 Days Wild Challenge brought nature observation and creative activity together in June 2024. Children searched for wildflowers, printed with leaves and flowers, and used nets to investigate insects in long grass. They watched caterpillars develop and made mixtures in the mud kitchen. The programme gave small changes in the natural world sustained attention.

Chinese New Year activities in 2024 combined Lanterns and Firecrackers, a story introducing the celebration, with The Great Race, which prompted a race on the nearby field. Children also made a dragon head and danced among the trees. Books, movement and making were linked through a shared theme, giving children several ways to participate.

Everyday woodland use is the intended pattern, including wet weather. Seasonal clothing therefore forms part of the childcare routine, rather than an occasional requirement for a trip.

Relationships and Communication

In November 2021, staff shared observations across the team rather than leaving assessment solely to each child's key person. Practitioners pooled their knowledge of what children could do and what they needed to practise next. For parents, the useful distinction is that several adults contributed to understanding their child.

During that period, support for families included recorded stories, activity packs and garden visits that maintained contact with key people during pandemic disruption. These are historical examples of communication, rather than a description of today's settling arrangements.

The group-wide Famly App allows parents to see and comment on their child's nursery experiences. Its practical value is a channel for connecting home life with childcare, alongside conversations with staff.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2021 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities secure, including plans tailored to individual learning needs. This is a dated judgement, with concrete support mechanisms behind it.

A Woodland update from March 2024 describes helping families find speech, language and communication support, including referrals where needed. That gives parents a specific route for discussing a concern rather than a general promise of inclusion.

Fresh food is prepared at the nursery each day, with drinks and snacks offered during sessions; families with special dietary requirements are directed to discuss them with staff. The food package and its charging arrangements depend on whether hours are privately paid or funded.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 50 weeks. Attendance can be across those 50 weeks or term time over 38 weeks, with funding applied differently to each arrangement.

The Full Day runs from 7.30am to 6pm. A Short Day covers 8.30am to 4pm, while Half Day AM runs from 7.30am to 12.30pm and Half Day PM from 1pm to 6pm. These fixed patterns let families choose between a complete working-day window, a shorter day and a single morning or afternoon.

Bespoke sessions are not offered for either invoiced or funded bookings. Additional hours are sold as whole hours. That makes the session boundaries consequential when matching childcare to work or other commitments.

Getting There

The address is Burntwood Rugby Club, The Sportsway, Burntwood, WS7 3PH. Woodland enquiries can be made on 07468 618030 or by email to woodland@littleowlchildcare.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with 15 or up to 30 funded hours applied during a 38-week term-time arrangement, subject to eligibility and availability. For attendance across 50 weeks, funding is stretched into a smaller weekly allocation. Funded hours can be used within the fixed morning, afternoon, full-day and short-day patterns.

Privately invoiced sessions include the food package, snacks, fruit and cow's or oat milk, together with nappies and wipes; formula milk is excluded. During funded hours, food, drinks, nappies and wipes are charged separately according to the sessions attended. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation, with funded time, additional paid hours and extras separated clearly.

• Outdoor clothing and comfort. Woodland use is planned regardless of weather, with an indoor base for days when going outside is impractical. At a visit, discuss the seasonal kit and how your child would manage this outdoor routine.
• Time to think. In November 2021, children sometimes needed a longer pause to answer questions and develop their own solutions. Ask how practitioners now give children space to think during adult-led exchanges.
• Fixed sessions and funded extras. Both funded and privately paid bookings use set session patterns, and funded hours carry separate food and consumables charges. Compare a written quotation against the exact attendance pattern your family needs.
• Settling into woodland care. The day centres on an outdoor setting with an indoor base. How will the key person introduce your child to this routine and support their first sessions?

For children who enjoy movement, natural materials and exploring outdoors, Woodland offers a clearly defined alternative to a predominantly indoor nursery day. The indoor base gives the outdoor approach practical support, while workshops retain explicit attention to early literacy and mathematics.

It suits families seeking full days, shorter days, or morning and afternoon care, with term-time and across-year attendance options. The dated Good judgement provides a useful quality reference; the question about giving children enough thinking time remains relevant when assessing present practice. The strongest reason to choose it is the woodland day itself, provided that its clothing demands, fixed sessions and funded extras fit family life.