Heading Out observed outdoor specialists working directly with two nurseries to find solutions to their limited outdoor provision. One was a nursery that is part of a chain in south-east England with 60 children on its books. The nursery had a small outdoor space with asphalt surface, a fenced boundary and a shed. The second was a sessional setting in the north-east, running morning care for more than 50 children. Their outdoor space consisted of a hard-surfaced yard and a large shared community garden which was barely used.
Gail Ryder-Richardson, senior development officer at LTL, was based at the first nursery. She said, When we arrived, the setting was quite demoralised because they had a better outdoor space taken away from them for business reasons. The attitude and enth'siasm of the staff makes a real difference and, in this case, the staff had lost their confidence. The intervention raised confidence levels and morale with the older staff and supported the new staff to join in.
You don't need vast sums of money to do this. You can do anything on a shoestring if you have the enth'siasm and motivation. We talked about re-organising the storage so the children could access the equipment themselves and then we turned the outdoor shed into a shelter. It's about 'sing what you've already got. The report can be seen at www.ltl.org.uk.