Outdoor Owls Richmond

A garden day for babies, a woodland day for older children: Outdoor Owls Richmond makes age a practical dividing line. Younger children stay at Richmond & Putney Unitarian Church, while the older groups travel to a dedicated Richmond camp in Cobham. Outdoor learning shapes both experiences. The difference is how far children venture from their Richmond base.

At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and highlighted learning that developed physical skills, independence and understanding of nature. That judgement belongs to the provision inspected then. The current offer accepts children from six months to five years and has capacity for 40 children in total.

For parents, the strongest reason to consider this nursery is the substance behind its outdoor approach: woodland exploration, a yurt for rest, practical activities and a separate garden routine for the youngest children. Transport and weather are part of the childcare decision here, rather than incidental details.

Rooms and Ages

Owlie Camp serves children from six months to around two years at the Garden Nursery, combining digging, books, creative activities and mud kitchen play with a garden base and access to the church hall. Babies and younger toddlers stay in Richmond throughout their day. Their routine includes a circle gathering with songs and feelings, followed by activities children can explore for themselves.

Tawny Owls Camp is the group for children around two at the Forest Nursery, with an obstacle course, creative play and woodland walks alongside a yurt used for naps. Sooty Owls Camp serves three- to five-year-olds, combining woodland exploration with preschool learning and practical work such as drilling, sawing and whittling. These are age groups, rather than promises about how many children share a session.

Children begin travelling to the forest around two or nearer three, depending on minibus spaces. This matters for families choosing the garden provision as a baby's first nursery and thinking ahead to a quite different toddler routine.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the learning framework: children develop communication, physical abilities and early literacy and mathematics through play and guided activities. Here, those experiences include books in camp, exploring natural materials and preschool work on mark-making, phonics and practical mathematics. Outdoors is the setting for learning, rather than a replacement for the framework.

Alongside this, the group-wide Body, Mind and Soul learning roots connect movement and coordination with problem-solving, language, relationships and self-care. Richmond's daily activities give those headings practical meaning. Children choose how to use play areas, explore with staff and take part in adult-led sessions. A mud kitchen invites experimentation; an obstacle course adds physical challenge.

School preparation has its own setting and rhythm. During the nine months before school, small groups use a classroom-style outdoor space furnished with a blackboard and stools made from logs. Listening, taking turns to answer and speaking to a group sit alongside the learning activities. Families receive a report on their child's early learning goals before the move to school.

Outdoor and Community Life

Walton Firs Activity Centre in Cobham is the woodland destination for Richmond's older children. Their dedicated camp includes a yurt heated by a wood-burning stove, spaces for reading and imaginative play, and a circle for campfires. Adventure walks take children beyond the camp to explore trees, dens and open areas. The environment changes the material available for play and gives the day a clear outdoor identity.

In August 2022, children worked together to arrange wooden planks for balancing and used problem-solving while climbing trees. They also counted collected stones and returned to factual books to investigate plants. Those examples show how physical exploration, number work and reading connected during that visit; they are dated observations rather than promises about today's activities.

Classroom on Wheels is the minibus journey used for songs, books and conversation with staff sitting among the children. The journey takes around 40mins. It is a substantial part of the older children's routine, with its own shared activities, and needs to suit the child as well as the family's collection arrangements.

Relationships and Communication

Settling includes two sessions lasting two hours each, attended with a parent before the first full day. This gives children an introduction to the people and spaces involved in their nursery routine. For a forest attendee, familiarity has to encompass the woodland experience as well as the Richmond base.

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted identified inconsistent sharing of individual curriculum information with parents and asked for clearer guidance on supporting learning at home. This is a specific communication concern, not a criticism of outdoor learning itself. The useful distinction for parents is between hearing what happened during a day and understanding what their child is learning and how to extend it.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Rest has a place in the outdoor timetable. The garden routine includes sleep in an outdoor pram space, while younger forest children nap in the yurt and older children can use it for a shorter rest. Forest toileting arrangements include a nappy-changing unit and a separate screened potty and toilet area with handwashing facilities. Care routines therefore remain part of the camp day.

TwoTeaspoons prepares the meals, with breakfast, lunch, tea and an afternoon snack forming the daily food offer. At the forest, staff prepare the delivered food for children to eat together outdoors.

Didriksons waterproof outerwear with a fleece lining and a child's hi-vis vest are included through the enrolment fee. Families also receive a seasonal kit list. Clothing is a practical part of participation: the outdoor routine depends on children being dressed for the conditions, even when shelters are available.

Sessions and Attendance

The Richmond base is Richmond & Putney Unitarian Church, Ormond Road, Richmond, TW10 6TH. Garden Nursery opening hours are 8am to 5.45pm, Monday to Thursday; the Forest School opens at those hours Monday to Friday. Attendance is booked for at least two days a week, and care is not sold by the hour.

The nursery operates across 51 weeks, closing for Christmas, bank holidays and staff training days. Full-day attendance is the organising pattern. Garden families can bring and collect children at any time within opening hours; forest families use the morning window of 8am to 8.20am and the evening window of 5.20pm to 5.45pm. Those transport windows make the older children's day less flexible for families whose working hours vary.

Enquiries use an online form. Weekday showarounds cover the church and the forest, followed by an email through which families can book a place. The two sites deserve equal attention when choosing this model: the Richmond address is the family base, while older children spend their nursery day in Cobham.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid attendance are offered. The funding options include universal 15-hour provision for three- and four-year-olds, the 30-hour Working Parents' Entitlement and extended 30-hour provision for three- and four-year-olds, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions. Funding is stretched across the year: 15 hours becomes a maximum of 11.17 hours weekly across 51 weeks, and eligible 30-hour funding becomes 22.35 hours weekly.

Private fees include food and snacks and non-food care consumables. For funded attendance, food and snacks are charged separately, as are care consumables and the digital learning package; the additional-services charge also covers enhanced activities and events, is voluntary, and has an opt-out route through the nursery. Care items include nappies, wipes and formula, so funded hours and the cost of the full nursery day need to be considered separately.

An enrolment fee covers administration, the first two settling sessions, app setup and the clothing welcome pack. A separate deposit is returned on leaving if the required notice is given; cancellation requires two months' notice. Fees are paid monthly in advance, and sickness or holidays do not attract refunds. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• The garden-to-forest change. Moving to the minibus can happen around two or nearer three, depending on spaces. During a showaround, discuss the timing of this change and which garden facilities are in use for the youngest group.
• A fixed forest timetable. Forest collection runs from 5.20pm to 5.45pm, while the garden has more flexible handovers and opens Monday to Thursday. Match the age-specific arrangements to your working week.
• Learning updates. The August 2022 improvement point concerned information about individual learning and support at home. Ask to see how a child's current learning is explained to families, beyond a description of activities.
• Weather and financial planning. Severe conditions can require closure, and voluntary services charges sit alongside funded hours. Review the weather arrangements, opt-out process and two-month cancellation notice before committing.

Outdoor Owls Richmond suits families who want sustained outdoor play and can work with its age-specific routines: garden-based attendance for babies and younger toddlers, followed by minibus travel and woodland days for older children. The camp facilities, practical learning and deliberate preschool preparation give that model substance.

The deciding considerations are equally concrete. Forest handovers have fixed windows, garden attendance currently follows a shorter working week, and funded hours sit alongside additional services. For families comfortable with those arrangements, this is a clear outdoor childcare choice with a Good judgement from August 2022 and a communication improvement point that deserves attention.