Our Garden

Our Garden

Our outdoor space plays a vital role in our children’s development. The children learn best through active, hands-on experiences, and the outdoors provides the perfect environment for this kind of learning.

Key benefits of outdoor space:

• Physical Development
  Outdoor play encourages movement — running, jumping, climbing, balancing — helping children build strength, coordination, and confidence in their physical abilities.
• Health and Well-being
  Fresh air, natural light, and open space support children’s mental and physical health. Outdoor play reduces stress, boosts mood, and supports better sleep and focus.
• Independence and Risk-Taking
  Being outside gives children more freedom to explore, try new things, and take manageable risks — all of which are essential for building self-confidence and resilience.
• Curiosity and Creativity
  Nature is full of opportunities for open-ended play. Sticks become magic wands, leaves become food in a mud kitchen — children use their imagination freely in outdoor environments.
• Communication and Social Skills
  Outdoor play often involves teamwork — building dens, inventing games, solving problems — helping children develop language and cooperation.
• Connection to Nature
  Regular access to outdoor space helps children develop a lifelong respect for the environment and an appreciation for the natural world.

Where Nature Becomes the Classroom

In high-quality early years settings, outdoor learning is not a break from the curriculum — it is the curriculum. Whether it’s our purpose-built garden, forest school site, or our simple patch of grass, the outdoors is a rich and essential learning environment for every child.

Our garden is surrounded by fields and trees which creates a private, safe, and secure outdoor space for all the children.

The outdoor space allows the children to use their senses, experience changes in seasons and weather, and explore the natural world around them.  The outdoors provides plenty of opportunities for the children to be active learners, which is an important part of our curriculum, and we understand and encourage the positive impact it has on the children’s well-being and development.

Exploring and Learning Outdoors

The outdoor area provides opportunities for the children to explore and play safely, the children can grow seeds and plant flowers and vegetables, with the use of the potting shed.  The children can make their own potions and pies to share with their friends and carers in the mud kitchen, as well as use mud and clay to create works of art with natural materials.  The playhouse is an ideal place to create a homely setting for the children to role-play or sit and read stories on the veranda in the warmth of the sun.

All the children enjoy looking for bugs, with the bug hotel situated in amongst the trees and bushes where the children learn about insect habitats and life cycles.  The grass area allows us to make daisy chains, have picnics, play circle games or just relax and take in the fresh air and sounds of nature.

In addition to our spacious outdoor spaces, our babies and toddlers have separate enclosed outdoor space that supports both focused learning and free-flow play. These areas are carefully designed to meet the developmental needs of each age group, allowing children to move freely between indoor and outdoor environments, explore their interests, and engage in planned activities as well as spontaneous play.