The Forest Pre-School at Copythorne and Embers

Woodland play shaped this Copythorne pre-school's character in March 2023. Children mixed ingredients in a mud kitchen, investigated birds with reference books and balanced on tree trunks: outdoor experiences gave them opportunities for conversation, imagination and physical challenge.

Ofsted rated the setting Good on 23 March 2023. Based at Copythorne Scout Hut, it accepts children aged 24 to 60 months and has capacity for 24 children in total. That whole-setting figure is separate from the number attending together on a particular day.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care, so play has an educational purpose alongside children's freedom to explore. In March 2023, the forest school approach put woodland exploration into that learning: staff planned activities around what children needed next while leaving room for their own ideas.

The mud kitchen provided a telling example that month. Children changed their pretend recipe when they could not find an ingredient, adapting their game to the materials they had. Elsewhere, children listened to birds and consulted books to identify them. These were opportunities to connect questions with practical investigation.

Animal encounters in March 2023 also connected pretend play with real experiences. Younger children brought toy pigs to meet the live pigs and held the toys up towards them. The episode gave their imaginative play a direct connection with the animals around them. Singing accompanied the woodland walks, adding another way for children to use language during movement between activities.

In March 2023, making birds provided another example of children adjusting their plans. When feathers could not be found, they chose pine needles instead. The value was in finding a substitute and continuing with their idea. Together with the changing mud-kitchen recipe, this illustrated how open-ended materials could let children make decisions about their play.

Physical experiences in March 2023 included swings, climbing on trunks and balancing before jumping down. Conversations about flowers accompanied walks to the woodland. The educational value lay in using the surroundings for movement and language, rather than treating outdoor time simply as a break from other activities.

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, making good progress. Those are dated judgements.

In March 2023, a key-person arrangement helped staff respond to individual children, and settling support included photographs sent to parents during play. This gave families a concrete glimpse of how their child was spending the day. Staff also prompted handwashing before food and supported everyday hygiene habits.

Safeguarding practice that month included training in recognising concerns and acting on them, recruitment checks, and both paediatric and forest school first-aid training. These arrangements addressed the responsibilities of caring for young children in an outdoor setting.

In March 2023, children practised safety routines on the walk to the woodland, keeping in line and responding to reminders about gates and cars. This made the journey itself part of learning how to follow instructions in shared spaces. Such routines mattered alongside the freedom children had to explore once in the woodland.

Staff support in March 2023 included supervision with a newly added coaching element. Leaders worked alongside practitioners, and regular training helped them refresh their knowledge. For families, this was a useful detail about how staff practice was supported: the outdoor approach depended on adult responses and planning as well as the physical surroundings.

The address is Copythorne Scout Hut, Romsey Road, Copythorne, Southampton, SO40 2PB. Opening hours are 9.15am to 3.15pm, Monday to Friday, during term time, with closure in school holidays. Families needing holiday childcare should factor that calendar into their arrangements.

In March 2023, the pre-school provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

• Thinking time. In March 2023, staff sometimes answered children's questions too quickly, reducing opportunities for children to work out answers themselves. Support for deeper thinking was the improvement priority; families should weigh this alongside the practical exploration described above.
• Woodland routines. Walking to woodland, climbing trunks and using swings formed part of the day in March 2023. On a visit, ask how today's outdoor routines and settling arrangements would accommodate your child's needs.

If the woodland provision described in March 2023 continues, this pre-school would suit families seeking term-time childcare with outdoor learning as a central part of the experience. The March 2023 examples show how natural surroundings supported imaginative play, investigation and movement. The balance to consider is between that freedom to explore and the improvement priority of giving children more time to think through their own answers.