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Grounds for success

Beneficiaries of the advice ofLearning Through Landscapes can provide inspiration to other settings who enter this year's Outdoor Challenge, says Gail Ryder Richardson For the fourth year running, Nursery World has teamed up with Learning Through Landscapes to provide you with a fantastic opportunity to improve your setting's outdoor environment.
Beneficiaries of the advice ofLearning Through Landscapes can provide inspiration to other settings who enter this year's Outdoor Challenge, says Gail Ryder Richardson

For the fourth year running, Nursery World has teamed up with Learning Through Landscapes to provide you with a fantastic opportunity to improve your setting's outdoor environment.

Last year's Nursery World Outdoor Challenge inspired a record number of entries and was won, for the first time, by a registered childminder, Kathy Holmes of Acorn Childcare in Spalding, Lincolnshire (see box). As well as winning lots of equipment for the garden, Kathy benefited from a site visit from Learning Through Landscapes to discuss her use of the outdoor area and support her plans for development. Kathy makes very good use of her garden and successfully uses the space to accommodate the needs of her family as well as the requirements of her business.

Learning Through Landscapes offers ongoing support to practitioners around the country through membership of Early Years Outdoors, and delivery of long-term projects, short-term consultancy and site visits. This support is underpinned by three value statements about good quality outdoor play:

* All children have the right to experience and enjoy the essential and special nature of being outdoors

* Young children thrive and their minds and bodies develop best when they have free access to stimulating outdoor environments for learning through play and real experiences

* Knowledgeable and enthusiastic adults are crucial to unlocking the potential of outdoors.

The challenges faced and overcome by early years practitioners working towards achieving these values in their own outdoor space provide a wealth of ideas and imaginative solutions to inspire others.

This week's Nursery World includes an application form for the Nursery World Outdoor Challenge 2006 (see insert). The judging panel will be looking for applications that give succinct answers in each section. They will also look favourably on applications that show evidence and/or a clear intention to involve children, parents and others in the proposed project.

Settings who state in their application how they aim to achieve this involvement will have an advantage. The closing date for applications is 11 April 2006.

Further information

* Learning Through Landscapes is a charity offering support to schools and early years settings. For Early Years Outdoors membership and information call 01962 845811, www.ltl.org.uk.

* Creating a Space to Grow by Gail Ryder Richardson (David Fulton, 16, 1 84312 304 5) features a full step-by-step account of the Kent project. It is available to order from Learning Through Landscapes.

Acorn Childcare

Kathy Holmes, a registered childminder, operates the business from her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire. There are places for 19 children aged from three months to 14 years. Services offered include full daycare, a breakfast club, after-school care and a holiday play scheme.

The garden has been developed during the past five years and provides a wealth of outdoor learning opportunities across the curriculum for all ages. However, it is vital that the outdoor environment takes account of the needs of Kathy's family as well as her business.

The views of Kathy, her staff team, her family, and the families and children attending have informed the garden's development. Consequently, there are high levels of satisfaction among staff, children and the family with regard to the following areas:

* The decked area provides a stimulating environment for imaginative play and for examining pondlife, as well as being a useful place for enjoying outdoor snacks. Older children make good use of the basketball net, while the provision of a moveable gate ensures that different-aged children can be contained if necessary - for example, the younger children can play safely on the decking while the older children play a game of football on the grass.

* The gazebo is a setting for a range of activities. During the day younger children enjoy stories outdoors, while at the end of the day it is used by older children as a quiet homework area. In the summer, the gazebo provides a cool insect-free space for mealtimes.

* The arbour is a haven for children wanting to opt out of active outdoor experiences. Children can sit and watch the world go by. It is also used as a place to bring children for some quiet one-to-one time.

* The swan is a recent addition, presented by Handmade Places as part of Acorn Childcare's Outdoor Challenge prize. It sits near the garden entrance, welcoming children and families. It's a popular place for climbing and sitting.

* The patio covered area allows clothing and footwear to be stored outside and is a good place for children to prepare for going outdoors.

* The 'Beach Hut' is used to store equipment.

Learning Through Landscapes visited Kathy in August 2005 to discuss plans for a barren area of grass under a silver birch tree. There had already been considerable discussion about the use and purpose of this area.

Kathy's family felt that it was an eyesore and wanted it to be a social place. They didn't want honeycomb matting and wanted to consider aesthetics. Older children attending the setting wanted the area to be used for active physical play, while younger children needed a place for physical play equipment and ball games. Staff wanted to ensure safe access to the decked area and the ability to offer all aspects of the curriculum.

It was felt that potential solutions should focus on:

* compatibility with family life

* improving the look of the garden

* maintaining the space

* maintaining access routes

* supporting curriculum delivery and play-based learning.

Learning Through Landscapes supported Acorn Childcare to resolve these issues through the on-site consultation and follow-up advice and information The Early Years Outdoors helpline continues to be available to Kathy if she needs further advice while the plans for this area of the garden take shape.

Space to Grow project

Through the Space to Grow project in Kent (see Further Information), Learning Through Landscapes offer motivation and encouragement to practitioners in the early stages of developing outdoor provision.These include the following.

Bertie's Playgroup, Faversham

The playgroup uses an infant school classroom and has sole use of a fenced area of the playground. Staff and children already made good use of this but recognised that it could be improved.

A vision plan, based on consultations with staff, parents and children, was formed. One emerging priority was to have improved child-accessible storage outdoors. The outdoor area was surveyed to identify the best site for this and it became apparent that a large raised flowerbed would need to be removed.

The playgroup appealed for help in breaking up and removing the flowerbed, and parents and staff offered their labour and tools. The volunteers assembled on a sunny Saturday morning for the task. Several back-breaking hours later, a skip was full and the area cleared and ready to be prepared for a shed base.

After the weekend, the skip's collection was an unexpected highlight for children, who watched it being lifted and taken away.

Sunshine and Showers Nursery, St Mary's Bay

Staff were keen to introduce free-flow access to the outdoors and planned to provide an environment that offered children risk and challenge.

However, they recognised that this would have implications for staffing levels and therefore it needed to be carefully planned and implemented to ensure levels of safety were maintained. They carried out a risk assessment on their outdoor space. Staff also recognised that every parent would have a valuable perspective on the potential risks for their own child, so they invited them to be involved in the assessment.

A parents' information session was held and parents toured the garden with staff to identify areas that could cause unacceptable risk for their child.

Meetings were also held for staff to voice concerns, and the accident record book was used for analysis.

After all the information had been reviewed, the plans progressed smoothly and free-flow access was introduced with full support from the parents. The staff continue to review their procedures, consult with parents, and analyse the accident book to ensure that children benefit from the garden's natural challenges, such as climbing in the bushes, while being protected from unacceptable risk.