Outdoor Oasis at The Castle Nursery School

New outdoor areas have opened at The Castle Nursery School in Wakefield, with children benefiting from learning in the ‘natural oasis’ spaces.  

   

Councillor Margaret Isherwood, Wakefield Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, and Nathan Heath, The Council’s Service Director for Education, officially opened both the Nursery outdoor area and Forest School area.  

The Castle Nursery School recently invested a large amount of money into developing outdoor play areas for the Nursery and The Garden Room. The Garden Room area has been developed to increase the provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.    

  

The bespoke outdoor areas are carefully tailored to meet the needs and interests of the children attending the school.   

  

These outdoor areas have created ‘natural oasis’ spaces for the children. Both areas have been developed to enable children to be ‘thinkers and doers’ and spark their curiosity, awe, wonder and a love of learning.  

  

 For information: 

   

The Nursery Outdoor Area  

The school wanted to ensure that the new Nursery outdoor area gave the children opportunities to be naturally curious and at the centre of their own learning – being pilots of their own play.   

The Nursery outdoor area has been developed to allow the children the freedom to explore and discover. This could be running, climbing, pottering, making dens or digging in the dirt.  

One of the key areas of focus in the new area is the large ‘beach area’ which provides sand and water play, giving the children opportunities to use and develop their core strength. Some of the children in school have never visited the seaside, so the ‘beach feel’ has been brought to Wakefield.  

 Other provision in the Nursery outdoor area include:  

·         Forest School Area, including fire pit  

·         Investigation station 

·         Growing area – the children will plant, care for and harvest their own vegetables  

·         Swings and hammocks to support children to co and self-regulate  

·         A challenging log climbing structure  

·         A living wall  

·         A large water play area  

·         And coming soon – an outdoor Zen Pod where the children can ‘chill out and rest’ whilst being in the outdoors. 

  

Forest School Area (The Garden Room)   

 At The Castle Nursery School, there is an enhanced SEND provision which offers children access to the Early Years curriculum in a quieter room, with a small number of children and a higher level of staffing. It offers a lower stimulation environment that enables staff to plan activities based around individual interests, at an appropriate pace in order to extend and develop learning further. The quieter room offers a communication-based curriculum and activities to develop children’s attention, listening and social interaction skills.  

The Castle Nursery School was successful in their High Needs Capital Funding bid in Autumn 2023. They were awarded £20,000 to develop a Forest School area to support the early learning and development of children with SEND.  

The new Forest School Area will allow our children with SEND to engage in opportunities such as:   

·         Toasting marshmallows over a fire pit  

·         Cooking over a stove  

·         ‘Getting lost’ in the ‘meadow like’ wildflowers and long grasses  

·         Caring for plants and growing vegetables.  

   

 ENDS