You can join our waiting list here.

Waiting list times vary based on many different factors; the age of child and how many sessions you would like. For example, somebody wanting three or four days a week will have priority of a place over someone only requiring one day a week with us. Our admissions policy outlines details on waiting list priority.

It costs £10 to join the waiting list. We aim to provide families with 12 to 16 weeks notice of a place.

You can join our waiting list here.

We accept children from 2 years old. If your child is starting in the winter (December, January, February), we may advise they are at least 2 1/2 years old before joining us.

We believe that offering two to five year olds the opportunity to play together rather than separating them into different age groups and ‘rooms’ offers the best opportunities for all age ranges.

Our main intakes will be in September, January and April. From time to time places do open up mid-term, for example, when children move away, and in these situations we will offer a place to the next suitable child on our waiting list.

If your child is starting with us in the winter, we usually advise that they are 2 ½ years old. Be mindful of how your little one copes in the chillier weather, you may want to do a few outings with them to prepare them for being outdoors more often.

You can find our fees here. Please see our admissions policy for more information, including how much funding we use and what the remaining charges are.

Please see our admissions policy for details on how we use the government funding.

No we do not.

Both our Kingston Blount and Upton settings are open Monday-Friday from 8.15am-4.30pm.

In order to give children the best learning opportunities we ask for a minimum of one session per week. We operate five days a week at both of our settings. A full day session is 8.15am - 4.30pm, we no longer offer half day sessions.

Before joining The Little Firefly, we would encourage you to come and visit us. Please contact us to arrange popping by for a tour and possibly a hot chocolate!

We provide a nutritious morning snack, usually fruit and rice/oat cakes.

We ask parents to provide a packed lunch - we recommend a thermos flask of food in the colder months and sending lunch with a cool pack in the warmer months.

We provide tea, this could either be cold or a cooked tea on our fire!

It varies per season! We have a whole page dedicated to clothing so you'll find our kit list and some recommended clothing here.

We are very lucky to have a composting toilet cubicle at both our settings. This works just like a normal toilet but without the flush. Composting loos are environmentally friendly, clean and easy to use. We provide running water and soap for hand washing after toileting.

For children in nappies, we have a nappy changing area. Please provide us with enough nappies, wipes and nappy bags to last the session. We take all of the nappies away with us and dispose of them appropriately. We ask that you provide nappies and not pull-ups as these are much easier for changing children wearing lots of layers.

For the little ones that would like a nap during the day, we have a sheltered hammock area and four-season sleeping bags at both settings. Children napping in hammocks go off to sleep very easily and sleeping outdoors is proven to be beneficial for our children as well as giving a deeper level of sleep.

We are lucky enough to have a parking area at both settings. We want to ensure that our neighbours aren't caused too much inconvenience, so it's important for parents to be considerate, drive safely and follow the speed limits (especially at Kingston Blount as you will be driving through a working farm).

Where possible, please try to walk, cycle or lift-share with other parents. This will reduce traffic and our carbon footprint.

Safeguarding is our first priority in everything we do.

Our staff

All staff members are required to have a valid and up-to-date DBS (police check). We train our staff in safeguarding, first aid and more.

Our environment

We operate on private land, that the public does not have access to, with a gate between the site and the road. To ensure safety, our staff work upon a strict ratio of one teacher to four children (as opposed to the standard nursery ratios of 1:8). When venturing outside of the forest school site, children will be provided with a high visibility vest to wear at all times.

Reporting safeguarding concerns

Any safeguarding concerns are taken extremely seriously and must be reported to one of our designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) in the first instance. You can contact our lead DSL, Georgie Adams, here.

We have a comprehensive set of policies and procedures for our forest school, which you can find here.

As long as the children are dressed appropriately to be outdoors (see our recommended kit list), then we stay outdoors. We won't let the cold stop us from running around and playing!

At Upton we have a lovely tipi with a log burning fire, as well as a polytunnel that provides shelter. At Kingston Blount, we have our cosy log cabin, plus our sheltered fire circle. At both sites we also have large, lightweight tarps that can provide additional shelter from any heavy rain or biting winds. We will often have a fire burning outside too.

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Don't forget, nurseries in Scandinavia will allow children to play outdoors until it hits -10 degrees!

Severe weather could include a severe storm with high winds, large amounts of snow or extremely high temperatures. We endeavour to stay open where possible but sometimes we may have to close early or for the day to ensure the safety of our children and staff.

Our adverse weather policy explains more.

We operate a comprehensive SEND policy as well as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy. Our founder and nursery manager is a qualified and experienced SENDCo. We will work collaboratively with parents and other professionals to put individual play plans in place to ensure your child's needs are met.

We are proud to have a 1:4 ratio of staff to children, for all ages and at all points of the day - this ensures the highest standards of safety, care and education for the children at our forest school settings. This is higher than the required ratio, which is 1:5 for two-year-olds and 1:13 for children aged three and over.

All of our outdoor nursery educators are paediatric first aid trained. In case of a serious accident, the first aider will attend to your child whilst another member of staff will call the emergency services and the parents. Alternatively, for less serious situations, we will treat your child with first aid and call you to check you are happy for them to stay for the rest of the day or be collected early. You will receive an accident/injury report form.

Please be reassured that we have a comprehensive set of risk assessments in place for our forest school’s activities and our practitioners are always dynamically risk assessing the environment and your child’s capabilities and limits.

View our risk assessment policy

View our emergency evacuation plan

The full address and directions will be provided to parents when their child is enrolled.

Kingston Blount

Kingston Blount Farm, OX39 4SA

Upton

Starveall Farm, HP17 8PZ