May your child have days with a stone in their pocket, grass between their toes and dirt caked to their feet.
Penny Whitehouse

Information For Parents

Nestlings specialises in providing a diverse range of services designed to enrich lives and create lasting memories for children and parents. Whether it’s nurturing additional learning needs through personalised education, fostering a love for learning with our home education or day nursery services, adding a touch of magic to special occasions with our birthday and celebration parties, or connecting families with nature through our engaging family forest school sessions or family camping, we are committed to making every moment extraordinary. So, please join us as we embark on a journey of growth and exploration together.

“When a child gives you a gift, even if it’s a rock they just picked up, exude gratitude. It may be the only thing they have to give, and they have chosen to give it to you.”
– Dean Jackson

Choose Your Service

Additional Learning Needs

“What makes a child gifted or talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning”. Chuck Grassley

Our Forest School Leaders have a breadth of experience in working with children of all abilities and needs and we know that the education system does not suit all children. For many children the education system can be a disabling environment rather than an enabling environment.

Perhaps your child cannot cope with the expectations of the classroom, has sensory sensitivity needs, struggles with social communication skills, or has emotional barriers that require an alternative approach to learning.

No matter what the reason, we are here to welcome you and your child with open arms.

“As a Mum of a child who requires an alternative approach to learning I promise you at our Forest School you won’t have that feeling of being on constant heightened alert, getting ready to helicopter in at a moment’s notice to deal with a situation”
Michelle – Nestlings Forest School Owner

Whether your child is in education or for the time being is not attending an educational setting or if you are just looking for an alternative provision to complement their current education, we are happy to discuss a plan that would work for your child.

We feel passionate that with the right approach, paired with our experienced staff and the low sensory environment of the outdoors, Little Hobbits can offer a tranquil and beautiful space to support your child.

Our alternative and nurturing programme is designed to support your child’s abilities and needs by developing their:
• Self Esteem
• Social interaction or Communication skills
• Motivation
• Perseverance or resilience
• Self-management and independence
• Trust in others
• Confidence in new locations and with new people
• Physical skill sets
• Health and fitness

If you have any questions or would like to discuss our Alternative Provision, please just send us a message, we would love to have a chat (over a cup of tea if you wish) about how we can help.

“Never discourage a child who continuously makes progress, no matter how slow.”
Robot John Meehan

Home Education Services

Our Home Education sessions run during term time and are for families who Home Educate their children. We welcome all school aged children, and we will tailor our sessions to meet the age and stage of your child’s development. At Nestlings Forest School, we follow the Forest School ethos and principles. For this reason, these sessions can only be booked in termly blocks.

We will provide a wide range of activities for your child including having the opportunity to engage in lots of child led play, den building, fire lighting, tool use, rope play and much more!

Our termly price includes a campfire snack and hot drink each week. All allergies and dietary needs can be catered for. On booking your sessions we will ask for your child’s medical and dietary requirements. Please highlight any allergies or dietary requirements on the form.

Birthday and Celebration Parties

We love celebrating in the woods!
We will provide you with 90 minutes of fun filled outdoor experiences. At the time of booking, we will discuss with you if your child would like a theme-based celebration. Your child’s birthday party will be run by two qualified forest school facilitators.

We will provide a whole host of fun including:
• Hammocks
• Ropes
• Swings
• Den building equipment
• Tools
• Crafts
• Mud kitchen
• Water play *
• Woodland games
• Climbing
• Slack line
• Fire lighting
• Campfire
• Campfire snacks and drinks
• Pygmy goat feeding*

In addition to these activities, we will provide you with a list of additional activities that you may like to pick for your child’s big day.
Our parties start around our fire circle where we have a chat about the various activities on offer. We also coach children in the skills of self-assessing their own risk, we never want a child to feel unsafe. Throughout your session we promise there will be lots of child led play, and possibly lots of mud!
To ensure we meet our risk assessment requirements we have a maximum of 15 children per session.
*Pygmy goats are only at our Robin’s Wood setting.
*We recommend that our water play activities are best suited for late spring and summer.
If you would like to discuss your child’s birthday celebrations further, please email: [email protected].

Family Forest School Sessions (Stay and Play)

For kids of all ages, Childminders, Home Educators, and Families, Nestlings offers a distinctive stay and play Forest School experience. The sessions will include fun songs and games as well as stimulating sensory and creative play activities! As we develop a range of Forest School activities for your child to enjoy, we will build on the interests of learners.

To book your family stay and play session please VIEW SESSIONS

Day Nursery

Please get in touch to add your child’s name to our day nursery waiting list, as places fill up very quickly and are offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

For more information about our nursery, please read our prospectus:

DOWNLOAD

What To Wear

When attending Nestlings Forest School please make sure that you and your little ones are dressed appropriately. Wearing layers rather than one thick top under your coat will help as you can peel a layer off if you get too warm. Below are some helpful hints about what to wear.

In Wet Weather

• Wellies
• Warm layers
• Waterproof trousers
• Waterproof jacket

In Cold Weather

• Wellies with wellie socks
• Warm layers
• Waterproof trousers
• Waterproof winter coat
• Hat
• Gloves