Annie and Co Nursery and Forest School

Campfire cooking, bridge building and a cabin in the woods give Annie and Co Nursery and Forest School its character. Most of the day takes place outside, with children choosing their own play alongside activities organised by adults. This is a setting for families who want woodland exploration to shape everyday childcare.

At its April 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. The practical scale is small: capacity for 21 children, with an accepted age range of 6 to 60 months. Capacity describes the whole nursery, rather than the size of a particular group.

Based at The Lodge Scout Park on Gordon Road, London N11 2PB, the nursery combines an indoor cabin with woodland activity. Long and short days are offered, depending on children's ages and the days families require.

Learning and Activities

Forest School means repeated learning and play in woodland, with natural materials and opportunities to attempt physical challenges. Here, den building, knot tying, tree climbing and tool handling give that approach concrete form. A branch can call itself a forest school and still spend much of its time indoors; at Annie and Co, outdoor activity occupies most of the day.

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, including learning through play and tracking their development. Forest School sits alongside it: counting sticks, making things and exploring outside supply practical contexts for early learning. Regular observations and assessments help staff follow children's development rather than treating outdoor play as a separate activity.

Child choice has a substantial place in the timetable. Children select resources and decide what to play, while adults also organise projects involving early literacy and numeracy. Those projects are adapted for different levels, allowing children to participate together rather than needing to complete an identical task.

The curriculum planning described in July 2024 included daily reading, story time and circle time, alongside optional adult-led activities such as painting, cooking and planting. It also set out walking stories using Bog Baby and Going on a bear hunt at least twice a week. Combining movement with a story gives books a place in the outdoor timetable as well as quieter reading sessions.

In April 2025, children made binoculars from reused and natural materials to look for wildlife. They also counted and measured while moving water in jugs and filling holes. These examples show how language, making and mathematics can share the same activity, rather than requiring children to leave their play for a separate lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily adult-led outdoor activities include making jam, cooking marshmallows over a fire, and constructing dens or bridges. Free play runs alongside them. The July 2025 account of the nursery day described weekly Wednesday campfires and obstacle challenges, giving a recurring rhythm to the physical and practical activities.

Seasonal projects add longer tasks. In May 2025, children were tending seedlings in a greenhouse and preparing raised beds for peas, tomatoes, cauliflower and sweet peas. Plans linked tending the plants with harvesting, cooking and eating the produce, making the work something children could follow through over time.

That same May, children were measuring sunflowers with yard sticks and caring for a willow arbour. The arbour was intended to become a reading circle, while nature walks included looking for young birds and returning flowers. These were seasonal projects, with the changing surroundings supplying the subject matter.

The cabin provides an indoor play space with resources children can choose for themselves. It also gives younger children shelter when conditions outside become too cold or wet. For families considering woodland care for a baby or toddler, that indoor option matters alongside the outdoor emphasis.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person who follows their development and wellbeing. Many activities take place together, so children also become familiar with the wider staff team. The arrangement combines one person's responsibility for an individual child with relationships beyond that single adult.

At the April 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children had close relationships with staff, that activities supported communication and language, and that quieter or younger children received adjustments when their attention waned. These findings give substance to the child-led approach: children's choices were accompanied by adult attention to who needed help joining in.

In April 2025, parents received regular updates and staff worked with local schools to help children prepare for the move onwards. This was transition support, rather than a promise of admission to a particular school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff team includes experience of supporting additional needs, and team members have training in paediatric first aid, safeguarding and food hygiene.

The cabin can be used to prepare warm food, and children sometimes eat lunch beside the campfire. In April 2025, children helped peel vegetables for soup, bringing food preparation into their day.

Shared facilities need clear coordination. In April 2025, staff took children to shared toilets, and communication with those responsible for maintaining shared areas needed greater consistency. The improvement point concerned information passing between leaders, practitioners and other facility users. For parents, the important issue is how responsibilities for those spaces work in daily practice.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Long and short days are separate attendance options, with the arrangement depending on the child's age and the days required. The opening window describes the nursery's hours, rather than the length of either booking pattern.

Spring and September are the regular intake points. The nursery accepts waiting-list applications, giving families a defined route into its joining process.

Billing is spread over 12 months, with childcare costs normally calculated across either 39 or 47 weeks. Children leaving in summer to begin school still have August payments under this arrangement. Families should judge the payment schedule across the whole contract, rather than assuming that payments stop on the final attendance day.

Getting There

The address is The Lodge Scout Park, Gordon Road, London N11 2PB, with Bounds Green Scout Park used in the nursery's contact details. Enquiries can be made by email to the nursery.

• Outdoor comfort. Most of the day is spent outside, with the cabin offering shelter for younger children when conditions are difficult. At a visit, discuss how your child's clothing, comfort and indoor breaks would work through the seasons.
• Shared spaces. Communication about shared facilities was an April 2025 improvement point. Ask how the nursery and other users coordinate maintenance and responsibilities for the toilets and shared areas.
• Attendance and payments. Long and short days depend on age and the days required, while payments are spread across the year. Before committing, obtain a written quotation setting out your child's attendance pattern, the payment schedule, funded-hour arrangements and any meal or consumable charges.

Annie and Co suits families seeking either long or short days built around woodland play, practical projects and a cabin base. The strongest appeal is concrete: daily outdoor activity, opportunities to make and build, and books incorporated into movement and exploration.

The April 2025 Good judgement provides a dated assessment of quality. The decision for a family is also about fit: whether an outdoor-heavy day suits their child, whether the offered attendance pattern works, and whether the shared-space arrangements are clear. For children who enjoy physical exploration and making things, the everyday offer has a recognisable purpose.