Forest School For Life

A woodland day built around growing food, caring for animals and exploring pond life gives Forest School For Life its character. On Silfield Street in Wymondham, this outdoor setting welcomes babies from six months, with older children sharing the natural spaces rather than spending their days in separate age-based rooms. It has 33 places in total. Nature supplies much of the material for play; sheltered spaces give children somewhere to pause.

At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and judged safeguarding effective, while identifying uneven staff skill in extending learning and insufficiently flexible planning for the youngest children. Those qualifications matter alongside the woodland appeal. The strongest practical features are the combination of outdoor exploration, places for quiet rest and a curriculum that makes environmental care tangible.

Early-years childcare runs across the year on an all-day basis, while Friday Stay & Play offers a separate, accompanied term-time morning for families.

Rooms and Ages

Marsupials, for babies from six months, combines sensory exploration with outdoor textures, changes in terrain and spaces for sleep. Leverets, for children aged two and upwards, emphasises movement, stories and creative play, with logs, puddles and natural materials supplying opportunities to investigate. Hares, from three years, adds supervised tools, imaginative woodland play and small responsibilities, including helping younger children at mealtimes.

These are age-stage names within a shared woodland model. Children spend time together across ages and abilities, so a baby's day includes contact with older children as well as support from adults. For families choosing between a separate baby-room model and shared outdoor spaces, that is a substantial difference in daily experience.

The Den is the principal daytime base, with hammocks, shelters, places for role play and a library. Painting, clay and tool activities sit alongside opportunities to move or withdraw into quieter play. Children can follow an idea through several materials and spaces rather than having every activity fixed to one table.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the foundation for learning and care: children develop language, movement, relationships and early literacy and mathematics through play and adult guidance. Forest School, an approach centred on repeated outdoor experiences and child-led exploration, shapes how that foundation is delivered here. It sits alongside Bigger Than Us, the nursery's own curriculum linking animal care, food growing and sustainable living with children's everyday decisions.

The examples are concrete. Children count acorns, compare leaves and measure sticks; building a den gives shape and space a practical purpose. Mark-making can involve charcoal, mud and natural tools. The Willows, a library cabin with a stove, gives books a sheltered home, while story baskets and print also travel into the woods. Outdoor learning here includes reading and mathematical thinking, as well as physical exploration.

In January 2025, activities included making leaf collages, tending chickens and working out how to join foraged twigs. Adults used questions and allowed thinking time, but this support was inconsistent between staff. The improvement priorities were stronger mentoring and coaching, plus closer attention to the emerging skills of the youngest children. An appealing activity is only part of the equation; the adult's response determines how far learning goes.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Pond supports investigation of habitats and life cycles, while The Meadow offers pathways, wildflowers and space for quieter exploration. In the Permaculture Area, children encounter fruit trees, herbs and berries, and help grow and harvest food. These spaces connect environmental ideas with things children can handle, observe and eat.

The Bird Hide and Winter Cabin, introduced in April 2026, overlooks the pond and combines sheltered wildlife watching with a stove, kitchen and composting toilets. Solar power and rainwater collection make the sustainability theme visible in the building itself. A quieter observation space also broadens the ways children can take part: outdoor education need not mean constant movement.

Stay & Play runs each Friday morning during term time, with story or seasonal themes, Fairy Walks and exploration of natural materials. Dressing up is encouraged. This is an accompanied family activity, distinct from early-years childcare, and offers parents a way to share the woodland experience with their children.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, and The Roost provides a space for conversations between families and practitioners. This gives the shared outdoor day a familiar adult relationship and a regular place for exchanging information. Learning journals and observations are shared with families termly, with parents invited to contribute their own reflections.

Communication extends beyond individual updates. Monthly Family Teatime brings existing families together, and a family WhatsApp community allows parents to connect and support one another. These arrangements create several ways to stay involved: discussing a child's day, contributing to their learning record or getting to know other families.

For school transition, staff invite school professionals to meet children in familiar surroundings and share information to support planning. Preschool children receive a transition report at the end of the academic year. The emphasis is continuity: adults can learn about the child before the next setting becomes part of daily life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCo role and individual learning plans provide the practical structure for SEND support, with ongoing communication between staff and families. The woodland also includes sheltered respite areas where children can rest, read or take a quiet break. Support is therefore both relational and physical, with somewhere to step back from busy shared play.

In January 2025, younger children's personal routines shaped their care, and sleep took place outdoors. For parents of babies, this makes the sleeping arrangements as important a choice as the activities. The current baby offer includes areas for rest and sleep, alongside sensory play and shared stories.

Meals are vegetarian, prepared by the kitchen team, with children sometimes helping and with provision for dietary, cultural and religious requirements. The nursery publishes a no-nut policy.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Silfield Street, Silfield, Wymondham, NR18 9NL. Early-years childcare operates Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm, for 50 weeks of the year. Bank holidays and usually two weeks over Christmas are closures. The all-day booking remains charged on that basis if a family collects earlier, so an early finish does not turn the booking into a shorter paid session.

Stay & Play is a separate Friday option from 10am to noon during term time, for accompanied children aged zero to five. Families are asked to come 15 minutes before the session, and each adult and child needs a ticket booked in advance. Tickets cannot be refunded or transferred, although a block booking can be shared with a friend or relative if plans change.

The nursery operates a waiting list. Enquiries can be made through its contact form or enquiry telephone number.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15 hours and 30 hours (Working Families Entitlement) for children from nine months to four years. Funding is deducted from the monthly invoice, with either 2.5 or 5 hours allocated per day according to the contract. This contract-dependent allocation matters when comparing the funded entitlement with the length of an all-day booking.

Private childcare is charged monthly in advance, with the annual total divided into 12 equal payments. Consumables carry no separate charge. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding page explains the payment structure.

An administrative charge secures a confirmed placement. For funded-only children it is returned in full within six weeks of their first attendance; for contracts exceeding the funded entitlement, the deposit is returned when the contract ends and outstanding charges have been settled. Fee reviews take place in April, with at least six weeks' written notice of changes.

• Youngest children's learning. January 2025 improvement priorities concerned staff coaching and opportunities for younger children to practise emerging skills. Early Years Viewing appointments are requested through the booking calendar and become confirmed when the nursery emails the family. During a visit, ask how the baby team adapts activities and how mentoring supports that work.
• An outdoor day in every season. Babies have outdoor experiences and spaces for rest, while the wider site includes heated shelter. Sleep arrangements, weather routines and the kit your child will need are central to choosing this outdoor model.
• All-day charging and funded allocations. Earlier collection does not reduce the all-day charge, and daily funding deductions depend on the contract. Have the written quotation explain the treatment of meals on both funded and private hours.
• Food allergies. Vegetarian meals and a no-nut policy shape the food offer. Families affected by allergies should confirm current food preparation and allergen arrangements before joining.

Forest School For Life suits families who actively want shared woodland learning, animal care and food growing to shape their child's early years. The Den, The Willows and the Bird Hide and Winter Cabin give that choice substance, including sheltered alternatives to energetic outdoor play.

It serves two different needs: all-day childcare across the year and accompanied, term-time Friday mornings through Stay & Play. The January 2025 Good judgement supports consideration, but the priorities around staff teaching skills and the youngest children's learning deserve equal weight. The best fit is a family comfortable with outdoor routines and interested in how practitioners turn natural experiences into the next step in a child's learning.