Outdoor Nursery FAQ

Beatle Woods opens Monday to Friday, 9am to 3 pm term time; to express your interest, please contact us using our contact form here

We know that this experience is different and we ask for a minimum attendance of 2 days per week to ensure your child settles quickly and begins to access new learning opportunities.

Beatle Woods welcomes and in fact, strongly recommends you pay us a visit . We try to coordinate these at a time when our Manager ( who works directly in ratio with the children) is available to show you around and answer any questions you might have. We do hold ‘drop in’ sessions during the year;  please check our home page over the coming weeks for dates or use our contact form to arrange a visit.

Every child can access 570 hours of free Early Education from the term after their 3^rd birthday. If your child is eligible for the extended entitlement ( 30 hours ) this is 1140 hours. Beatle Woods offers this to children across the school term, subject to availability. Please contact us for more details.

Fees for non-funded children are £49.00 per day. If your child is eligible for the 15/30 hours funding, we ask that they attend for a minimum of 2 days and claim 5 hours per day. The additional hour per day is chargeable separately at our hourly rate of £18.50.

We offer a limited number of fully funded 2 year old places. Please see here for more information about eligibility.

We don’t see weather as a barrier to learning or fun! Children are happy or play whatever the weather. We do have some natural built shelter on site and also a 4 metre tipi tent permanently erected. We can erect lightweight tarpaulins wherever we are on site in the event of a sudden downpour. Provided children have the appropriate clothing and are warm and dry, they will happily play outdoors regardless. We do have a kit list to ensure your child has the right number of layers and appropriate clothing for each session.

At the point of registration and confirmation of your child’s place, we provide a your child with a set of Didrikson’s waterproofs and a child’s sized back pack for additional clothing. Your child must come dressed in the supplied waterproofs so that we can ensure their safety and follow our safeguarding procedures. The set are yours to keep so you can use them away from Beatle Woods. If you subsequently require the next size or an additional set, these can be purchased from us for an additional charge of £40.00.

We plan to stay outdoors in most weathers but in severe storms or where we feel safety is compromised, we have a large building on site where we will seek temporary refuge. If the weather continues to be severe, our Manager or Deputy, will decide whether we can return to the woods or end the session.

Children become very skilled at managing their own risks and are quickly able to assess situations, much more so than those who don’t spend time outdoors. We do have an emergency evacuation and action plan and in the case of an accident our first aiders( all of our staff hold Paediatric First Aid), will attend to your child whilst we summon medical assistance if required.

We have a base camp at which we start each day and return to as and when we like. Here we erect special toilet tents with portable flushing toilets along with warm water and soap for handwashing. Children still in nappies are changed in designated areas within the tipi tent. Please provide nappies and wipes.

Please provide your child with a healthy snack and send your child with a packed lunch in a named box. Please also ensure your child has a named drinks bottle that can be refilled ( tap water only) during the day.

For children who sleep during the day, we have both our large tipi tent and caravan with inflatable beds for rest time.

Safeguarding is the most important factor for Beatle Woods. We operate from a fenced 10 acre woodland site in Frog Lane Balsall Common and have sole access during our hours of operation. Each day our risk assessments ensure we check the site and the specific areas that we will use that day and encourage children to help with this. We also have a ‘safety talk’ each morning involving the children to think about their own safety. To further ensure safety, we operate on a strict ratio of over and above the legal ratios (maximum 1:4 for all ages from 2 to 5 year olds). Children are always supervised and, in the sight, and proximity of at least 2 practitioners within the set boundary for each session. We encourage children to stay safe by playing games that reinforce the importance of staying close and playing within the boundaries set.