Tree Tots Day Nursery

Woodland learning has a substantial place in the day at Tree Tots Day Nursery: children build dens, investigate natural materials and join a rotating Forest School programme, an approach centred on play and exploration outdoors. Babies have their own outdoor space too. This Salisbury Road nursery in Tidworth combines that outdoor emphasis with a separate sleep room for its youngest children and structured ways for parents to follow learning at home.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Tree Tots Good and found effective safeguarding, with staff tracking development and a special educational needs coordinator working alongside families and other professionals where concerns arose. That judgement belongs to that visit; later regulatory findings also matter to the assessment of care.

Tree Tots has 60 places in total and accepts children from four months to five years. Acorns, Saplings and Oaks provide the progression from baby care to preparation for school, while Forest School Foragers brings children together for woodland experiences from age two. Attendance runs across 50 weeks, with several day sessions offered.

Rooms and Ages

Acorns, for four months to two years, has a maximum of 12 children, a separate sleep room with an individual cot and bedding, bottle preparation facilities, a separate changing area and direct access to outdoor sensory and messy play. For a baby, those arrangements make rest and personal care part of the room's design rather than an interruption to its play space.

Saplings, for two to three years, encourages children to investigate their own ideas through play, with direct outdoor access to mud kitchens and pipes and tubes for exploring water. The equipment gives toddlers practical ways to experiment: water can be redirected and imaginative play can develop around materials they manipulate themselves.

Oaks, for three to five years, accommodates up to 24 children and places emphasis on independence and outdoor challenges, including den construction, clay, bug hotels and cooking over a campfire once children are ready and confident. Its stated staffing arrangement is one adult to six children, compared with the statutory minimum of one to eight for this age group. That is additional staffing above the minimum, although the room's capacity remains a separate measure.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes learning through communication, relationships, physical development and experiences with reading, mathematics, the world and creative expression. These are the common foundations of early years education. Tree Tots adds a practical emphasis on responding to children's interests, using play as the starting point for conversations and new ideas.

In the moment planning means practitioners extend learning during play and adapt plans to children's interests. Daily stories, singing, letters and sounds activities and key group times add shared structure. All children join music, movement and physical sports sessions to practise balance and coordination.

Aspects of the Curiosity Approach add exploration with natural, reclaimed and everyday objects: pine cones, shells, branches, pots, crates and tyres. Children can investigate their own uses for these materials alongside learning within the common framework.

In September 2022, some mathematical tasks were too demanding, with resources that did not consistently help children succeed. The improvement requested was better support for less experienced staff during adult-led learning, where matching tasks to children's development matters.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School Foragers serves ages two to five through a six-week programme delivered on rotation. Within the woodland programme, sessions run Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3.30pm; younger children attend morning and afternoon sessions, while those aged three to five take part for a whole day. These are programme timings, separate from the nursery's childcare booking sessions.

The designated forest school area provides experiences beyond indoor play. Oaks activities include identifying plants and animals, making potions and whittling with potato peelers when children are ready and confident. Acorns children also explore the area through nature-based play. Outdoors is consequently part of the offer from babyhood, with more structured woodland experiences introduced later.

Weekly woodland journals let parents follow activities and add observations. A Friday weekend activity extends the child's interests and learning at home. Saplings families discuss plans before each block and can volunteer at woodland sessions.

Relationships and Communication

Acorns practitioners agree individual care plans with parents, giving families a way to explain their baby's needs and routines.

Communication about learning uses eyLog, through which parents can engage with nursery experiences and share learning from home. Monthly curriculum information explains the theme and intended work across areas of development. Alongside the woodland journals, this gives families several ways to understand what children are doing and contribute their own observations.

In September 2022, staff narrated care routines to babies, explaining what they were doing during changes and naps. Older children practised managing coats, shoes and handwashing for themselves. The practical value was in everyday independence and familiar, responsive care, rather than school preparation being confined to a formal activity.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Seedlings Sensory Den provides allocated 20-minute sessions for sensory exploration and calm. The nursery's SENCO has a direct email contact for additional-needs discussions.

Later care findings require attention: in its January and October 2023 complaint outcomes, Ofsted recorded breaches for which corrective action had been taken, first concerning accurate information to parents about injuries and later following an incident compromising children's safety, with changes to risk assessment, staff training, baby care and the response to serious incidents. The October action included notifying parents promptly and obtaining professional advice. Both outcomes recorded corrective action, with parent communication recurring as a concern.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm from Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5pm on Friday. Tree Tots operates for 50 weeks, closing for two weeks over Christmas and five Bank Holidays. Families needing care across the year therefore have a different calendar to plan around from a term-time nursery.

Day attendance includes options with earlier finishes and later starts. Friday's earlier closing time is a separate practical constraint when matching childcare to working hours.

The nursery is on Salisbury Road, Tidworth, Wiltshire, SP9 7XP. The office contacts are treetots@tnbearlyyears.org and 01980 847823. The administrator and SENCO also have separate email contacts, allowing administrative and additional-needs discussions to reach the relevant role.

Funding and Paid Extras

Tree Tots accepts Nursery Education Grant Funding and stretches the allocation across its 50 weeks of operation, rather than concentrating it into 38 weeks. Spreading the allocation changes the funded attendance each week.

The funding arrangements also describe an extended entitlement of up to 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds in households where both parents work at least 16 hours, and up to 15 hours for vulnerable two-year-olds with an identified need. Eligibility conditions apply. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, alongside its fees and funding information.

• Care and incident communication. Both January and October 2023 outcomes involved changes to how parents were informed following injuries or incidents. On a visit, ask how the current procedures work for babies, including when parents receive a call and how written information follows.
• Session choice and Friday hours. Day sessions have different starts and finishes, and Friday closes earlier; the two session descriptions also conflict over the options. Agree the exact weekly pattern in writing before committing, especially if work requires a late finish.
• Woodland participation. Forest School Foragers runs in six-week rotations, with a weekly journal and a Friday home activity. Ask how your child's rotation, clothing needs and family involvement would fit your attendance pattern.
• The full childcare bill. Funding is stretched across 50 weeks. Request a written quotation for your chosen days that separates funded hours, paid hours, meals and snacks, and non-food consumables such as nappies and wipes.

Tree Tots suits families who value woodland exploration and need earlier-finishing or later-starting days. Separate baby sleeping arrangements and journals connecting woodland learning with home add practical value.

Balance those strengths against the September 2022 adult-led learning improvement and repeated communication issues in the 2023 outcomes. Care procedures and the agreed weekly pattern matter alongside the outdoor curriculum.