Nature Trails Day Nursery

Woodland is more than a backdrop at Nature Trails Day Nursery in Cawston. A purpose-built setting overlooking open countryside, it combines regular woodland walks with a Specialised Woodland Play area, a garden base camp and covered outdoor spaces. For children who enjoy exploring outside, the physical setting gives that interest room to grow.

At its October 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, finding effective safeguarding and excellent support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The strongest examples were practical: children turned imaginary outdoor play into real experiences, developed independence and learnt new vocabulary through creative work.

Nature Trails accepts children from six months to five years and has capacity for 151 children in total. That is a whole-nursery figure, rather than the size of an individual room. Its address is Cawston Farm House, Coventry Road, Cawston, Rugby, CV22 7RY.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillars, Ladybirds, Bumblebees, Butterflies, Preschool and Preschool 2 are the named rooms. The wider age range spans babies through to children preparing for school, making the way children move between rooms an important part of the nursery experience.

In October 2024, children spent time in their next room before moving, getting to know both the adults and other children. Parents could meet the next key person and discuss changes at parent evenings. This gave room changes a period of preparation rather than making them a sudden switch.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. In parent terms, learning includes conversation, play and growing independence, alongside looking after children's everyday needs. Outdoor experiences and creative activities give those requirements a concrete form here.

Forest School, an approach involving outdoor learning, takes place in the adjacent woodland and at the garden base camp, with regular sessions led by a Forest School Leader. Yoga, signing and singing sessions, creative arts, and movement with music also form part of the inclusive activity package. These give children different ways to participate, from physical movement to making and communication.

In October 2024, woodland storytelling included recreating the Gruffalo, while pretend marshmallow toasting led to the real experience during outdoor learning. Indoors, toddlers explored paint and printing after family pumpkin-picking trips. Older children made mosaics using pictures of bathrooms and swimming pools, with staff introducing vocabulary about the tiles' appearance. Familiar experiences became starting points for further exploration.

Outdoor and Community Life

Two gardens with all-weather surfaces and small covered verandas extend the options for outdoor play in changeable weather. Regular walks take children into the local woods, while the Specialised Woodland Play area provides another setting for exploration. The combination matters: outdoor activity has several spaces to draw on, rather than depending on one garden.

In October 2024, children explored the effects of plastic on sea life and made placards to share their learning. Food-bank and coat-bank initiatives brought helping others into nursery life; selling coats and waterproof clothing also introduced coins and money. These were tangible experiences of environmental responsibility and sharing resources.

National Storytelling Week has brought character costumes, story sacks, puppets and role play into the setting, with families contributing items to Rugby Foodbank. The event connected books with making, dressing up and helping others. Mental Health Awareness Week activities included conversations about feelings using The Colour Monster storybook, alongside yoga and mindfulness.

Relationships and Communication

In October 2024, a key-person arrangement supported by a buddy system gave children familiar adults who knew their needs. Older children also helped newcomers join play and offered comfort as they learnt the routines. For families weighing a room move or a first nursery experience, that attention to relationships is an important part of the dated picture of daily care.

An optional, closed Facebook group gives parents photographs and activity updates during the day. It offers another way to follow what children are doing, while participation remains a choice.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In October 2024, staff worked with parents, speech and language therapists, and disability services to support children with SEND. Staff training helped develop their understanding of individual needs. The practical value lies in bringing nursery and outside professionals into the same conversation, rather than treating additional support as separate from everyday care.

Independence developed through ordinary routines at that time. Babies practised feeding themselves; older children poured drinks and served food. Preschool children could ring a bathroom bell when they needed assistance, allowing them to attempt tasks while retaining a clear way to call for help. That is a useful balance for children preparing to manage more for themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across 52 weeks, with closures for bank holidays and staff training days. Families therefore need to account for those closures alongside their usual working pattern.

Funded entitlement with additional paid childcare is an attendance option. For families attending under the 51-week funding arrangement, two-year-old, universal and extended entitlements are spread across the year. Childcare beyond the funded allocation is charged separately. Funded-only and funding-with-additional-care arrangements cannot be combined within the same booking pattern, so the choice affects how a family's attendance is organised.

Funding and Paid Extras

The 51-week arrangement requires a completed local authority declaration and an eligibility code by the nursery's deadline. Eligibility and session availability remain conditions of the offer. Current prices for additional childcare come in the nursery's written quotation.

A birthday cake can be made by the nursery chef in return for a charitable donation. Requests require at least one week's notice. This is an optional addition for a celebration.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01788 815445 or by email to naturetrails@childbase.com. There is also an enquiry form with a callback route.

• The woodland routine. Regular walks and Forest School sessions are central to the offer. On a visit, ask how your child's room uses the woodland and covered outdoor spaces.
• Room changes. The October 2024 arrangements included time in the next room and introductions to a new key person. Ask how that preparation would work for your child, especially if they find changes difficult.
• Your funded booking. The 51-week arrangement separates funded hours from additional paid childcare and prevents mixing funded-only and additional-care patterns. Ask for a written breakdown that also explains the position on meals and non-food consumables for your chosen booking.

Nature Trails suits families who value regular outdoor experiences, woodland learning and practical steps towards independence. Its October 2024 judgement gives a strong dated assessment, supported by memorable examples of creative work, relationships and additional-needs support.

The year-round opening pattern will matter to working families, including those combining funded entitlement with paid childcare. The choice should turn on how the woodland routine, room transitions and specific funding arrangement fit the child and the family's week.