The Early Learning Camp

Vegetables grown in the allotment, stories shared outdoors and a Hollywood Stage for singing and acting give The Early Learning Camp its character. At this Exhall nursery, outdoor exploration sits alongside music, imaginative play and early reading. The practical appeal is clear: children have several ways to get involved, whether they prefer growing things, making sounds or inventing a story.

At its 1 March 2024 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and identified effective support for children with SEND. That judgement came with two improvement priorities: making the curriculum more consistent across the setting and organising changes between activities more effectively. Both matter to the ordinary nursery day.

There are 90 places in total. Children are welcomed from 6 weeks through to preschool age, with funded attendance offered across the year or during term time. The setting is at 3 Blackhorse Road, Exhall, Coventry, CV7 9FW.

Rooms and Ages

The rooms are Baby Room, Brown Bears, Curious Cubs, Bumble Bee Cottage and Honey Pot Cabin.

In March 2024, babies had room to move, practise standing and travel between pieces of equipment, with adults nearby to help. Songs encouraged them to try actions and speech sounds. The combination gave early movement and communication a place in everyday play, rather than treating learning as something that starts at preschool age.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning and care through play, covering communication, movement, relationships, early reading, mathematics, creativity and understanding the world. It is the common framework for early years provision. Here, activities combine children’s choices with adult guidance, and observations help practitioners decide what to introduce next.

Jolly Phonics sessions accompany work on forming letters. An indoor reading garden and an outdoor reading area give books a physical place within the setting, so literacy includes time with stories as well as learning to make marks. Counting games, puzzles and shape sorting bring mathematical ideas into play.

Weekly Drama Tots encourages imaginative expression, with the Hollywood Stage providing space to act, dance and sing. Babies join weekly Jo Jingles sessions for music and movement.

In March 2024, children explored scented flowers with clay, combining conversation with using their hands. Older children also acted out an airport journey, using bags and pretend passports. These examples show how an interest can connect language, physical skills and imagination within one activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds practical learning about nature through outdoor experiences. Regular sessions include growing plants, making shelters, cooking outside and campfire activities. Tree and plant identification, woodland crafts and learning to handle tools are also part of the approach. The emphasis is on doing: children can investigate materials and tackle a practical task with support.

The allotment connects growing with everyday life. Children help plant and water crops, then watch them develop. In March 2024, vegetables they grew became ingredients for soup or went home for cooking with parents. That makes the connection between a plant and a meal tangible.

Seasonal and family occasions include the Christmas Fair, graduation celebrations and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day activities. Stay and Play sessions bring parents into shared learning, while workshops offer another way for families to participate. These experiences sit within the additional-services charging structure for funded attendance, so their cost and the opt-out arrangements matter alongside their appeal.

Relationships and Communication

Children settle towards a practitioner they feel comfortable with, who then becomes their key person. Room staff share care responsibilities, giving families a familiar contact within a team.

Settling sessions can take place before the start date, and the settling period is flexible. An introductory sheet gives parents a way to share their child’s interests and needs before care begins. That is useful preparation for staff learning what reassures a child and what catches their attention.

Famly provides access to daily care information, including sleep, feeds and toileting, alongside observations and reports. Parents can message the key person and contribute photographs or information from home. The value is continuity: something a child enjoys outside nursery can help shape the next activity inside it.

Termly reports lead into a parents’ evening. Each child has a Focus Child week every term, with extra observations and a Famly report; Wow Moments share achievements between these discussions.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO coordinates SEND provision through an assess, plan, do and review process. Parents help plan and review support, and their consent is sought before discussions with outside agencies.

Individual Education Plans and support or health plans guide care, with termly key person meetings involving professionals where needed. Adapted activities and equipment support mobility, sensory needs and physical development.

Behaviour support starts with adults responding calmly, recognising feelings and helping children work through conflict. If concerns persist, the key person and SENCO involve parents in an action plan and may seek external advice. This gives families a route for discussing repeated difficulties as well as individual incidents.

Designated safeguarding lead roles and paediatric first aid training are part of the staffing arrangements. The sleep policy requires recorded checks at least every ten minutes. When children move on to school or another setting, staff can share learning records, invite receiving staff to meet the child and arrange for the key person to accompany school visits.

Hot food is delivered daily by Cupcakes Early Years Catering, with meals spanning purees, lunches and afternoon tea. Its allergen arrangements include access to ingredient information and provision for dietary or religious requirements.

Sessions and Attendance

Funded attendance includes term-time places and entitlement stretched across 51 weeks, giving families different ways to organise care across the year.

The nursery operates Monday to Friday and closes at 6pm. Bank holidays and one week between Christmas and New Year are closures, which need to sit within a family’s childcare planning. Enquiries can be made through the nursery’s enquiry form, by telephone or by email.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements described for children from 9 months, two-year-olds, and three- and four-year-olds. Eligibility conditions apply. Funding can be stretched across the year, and term-time funded attendance is also offered.

For families accessing funding who choose the additional services, meals and snacks are charged separately through the additional-charge arrangement. The same structure supports enhanced resources, outdoor experiences, events and family activities. An opt-out policy allows parents to decline additional services while continuing to access their funded entitlement.

The fees and funding page explains the charge structure, and invoices separate the charges applied. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation, with funded education and chosen additional services treated separately.

• Changes between activities. In March 2024, some transitions left children waiting or disengaged, and the curriculum still needed more consistent implementation. On a visit, ask how room teams now manage these changes and keep children involved.
• The morning start. Opening information gives both 7.30am and 7.45am starts, with a 6pm finish. Confirm the agreed start time before relying on an early morning handover.
• Funded attendance and extras. Additional services can be declined under the opt-out policy. Ask how that works for meals, Forest School and celebrations within your child’s attendance pattern, and have the arrangement included in the quotation.
• Dietary needs. Cupcakes Early Years Catering supplies the hot food and makes ingredient information accessible to the nursery. Families managing allergies should confirm current meal preparation, communication and serving arrangements for their child.

The Early Learning Camp suits families who want outdoor exploration alongside books, music and imaginative play, whether they need funded attendance during term time or an entitlement spread across the year. Forest School, the allotment and the Hollywood Stage make that combination concrete. The key person arrangement and Famly reporting give parents defined ways to stay involved.

The balance is in the daily organisation. A Good judgement provides a dated assessment of quality, while the March 2024 priorities identify what families should look at closely: consistent learning and purposeful transitions. For a child who enjoys making, moving and pretending, the activities offer several routes into the nursery day.