Kids adVentures Pre-school and Forest School Prestwich

Counting with natural materials, looking after chickens and exploring Kersal Dale give this preschool its character. Outdoor learning is the main experience here, supported by cabins, gardens and classrooms rather than confined to an occasional woodland outing. The practical distinction matters: families are choosing a day built around the outdoors, with indoor places for rest and shelter.

Kids adVentures Pre-school and Forest School Prestwich has capacity for 44 children aged three to five, at Garden Needs in Salford. At its April 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good, found safeguarding effective and recognised good progress for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Full-day and half-day attendance options serve different family routines. In April 2025, the main improvement needed was to shorten children's waits between activities, especially before meals, while later regulatory action addressed staff training and moving children safely around the site.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, counting and making marks take place outdoors with natural materials, alongside learning about trees and animal habitats. Forest School means learning in an outdoor setting; at this branch it shapes the preschool day rather than operating as an occasional extra.

There is a useful connection between the surroundings and what children do. Identifying trees gives them something real to examine and name. Returning chickens to their pen creates a practical problem to solve together. These are concrete experiences for families who want nature to be part of everyday learning, rather than simply the backdrop to outdoor play.

In April 2025, children discussed how to carry large tubes together, combining conversation with a shared physical task. Staff also used a monster story to explore emotions: children acted out feelings and talked about situations that could make them happy or worried, including starting school. The activity connected language with experiences children could recognise.

Books had their place too. In April 2025, children sought their key person for shared reading and practised handling books carefully. Woodland learning did not displace stories: the day included both practical exploration and quieter time with an adult.

Outdoor and Community Life

An enclosed outdoor space, gardens and cabins form the base, with direct access to Kersal Dale woodlands. Outings can include the meadows or Dragon mountain. These named places give the outdoor experience scope beyond the setting's own grounds, although the destinations vary rather than following a fixed daily itinerary.

The buildings include a kitchen and care facilities, classrooms and somewhere children can nap. Indoor shelter is also used during storms. That combination makes the setting relevant to families attracted by outdoor learning who also want their child to have a place to rest or withdraw from difficult weather.

In April 2025, children used palm drills with gloves and learnt to keep outside the working boundary while another child used a tool. Safety was made part of the activity itself. Children also practised putting on their own waterproof clothing, linking the outdoor routine with everyday independence.

Emotional reassurance accompanied the practical learning in April 2025. Staff responded to individual children with comfort, including cuddles, and modelled considerate behaviour. Children helped tidy resources and received encouragement for their efforts. For a preschool child, those small interactions can make a demanding outdoor activity easier to approach.

Independence extended beyond clothing. In April 2025, children washed their hands and helped themselves to meals. These ordinary routines gave them opportunities to do things for themselves, alongside the more conspicuous woodland activities.

Communication with home also had concrete forms in April 2025. Staff shared individual achievements with parents, and a lending library supplied books for families to read together at home. The same stories could therefore continue beyond the preschool day. For children with emerging additional needs, staff worked with parents and the local authority on individual support plans.

Between September and December 2025, safety action concerned premises security, staff training and moving children safely around the site. Following regulatory visits in September and December 2025, Ofsted recorded improvements to premises security and staff training, and confirmed on 18 December 2025 that the safeguarding and welfare actions had been met. The intervening action included a welfare requirements notice after a November telephone call, requiring targeted training; the subsequent visit checked staff knowledge about moving children safely around the site.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day and half-day options are offered, with opening hours of 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Those hours describe the opening window; the two attendance patterns allow families to choose between a longer day and a shorter booking.

The setting operates across the year, closing on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas. Families whose work continues through those closures will need to build them into their childcare arrangements.

Getting There

The address is Garden Needs, 1 Radford Street, Salford, M7 4NT. Despite Prestwich in the registered name, this is the Radford Street woodland setting, a useful distinction when planning the family journey.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0161 792 5448 or by email to Forestpreschool@kidsadventures.org.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare is offered alongside paid attendance. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation, keeping their chosen attendance pattern and any funded hours together when assessing the arrangement.

• An outdoor day. Natural materials, chickens and access to Kersal Dale shape the experience, with classrooms and space for rest too. On a visit, explore how your child would use the balance of outdoor activity, shelter and quieter time.
• Waiting before meals. In April 2025, some changes between activities left children waiting long enough to lose interest. Ask how the mealtime routine now keeps children occupied while they move from play to eating.
• Moving safely around the site. Targeted staff training followed the November 2025 welfare requirements notice, and the actions were confirmed as met on 18 December 2025. A visit is an opportunity to discuss how movement between the enclosed grounds and wider woodland is organised.

This preschool suits families seeking either full-day or half-day attendance with outdoor learning as the main experience. Kersal Dale, the chickens and the combination of cabins, gardens and classrooms give that choice substance. Children have practical reasons to talk, cooperate and become more independent.

The April 2025 Good judgement provides a dated assessment, while the later training action and the improvement point about waiting deserve attention in a family's decision. The strongest fit is a preschool child who enjoys exploring outdoors, with a family comfortable making woodland activity central to the childcare day.