Back in 2013, having met at the recently closed local preschool in Clophill, Chris, a trained Nursery Nurse and Imogen, a qualified teacher, decided to put their many respective years of experience, their passion for child development and the great outdoors, to the test by opening their own preschool setting. They opened their doors in September 2013 with just two children, one of whom was Imogen’s daughter (now 14!).

With an ethos of learning through real life experiences and centred on not just the teaching and learning but also on the holistic care of each child the setting began to grow rapidly. They began to develop the site, renting unkempt space from the Parish Council and turning it into a bespoke learning environment, reducing the use of toys and plastic and focussing on what nature offers. They created their own allotments and nature garden, took on more staff and the preschool family grew as they brought in chickens too!

In 2017 they got their first Ofsted Outstanding inspection and not just any outstanding but one where the inspector struggled to find an area for development, eventually suggesting exploring the outdoor space further. When Covid hit in 2020, Chris and Imogen decided to make the most of what was an awful situation for all and took preschool fully outdoors. By the time of their next Ofsted inspection in 2023 children arrived every day in full outdoor gear and were out in all weathers learning through real life experiences, embracing challenge, testing their knowledge and skills and developing into well rounded children with a love for learning and an acute awareness of their place in the world and responsibility for its care. And so another Ofsted Outstanding was awarded at the highest level.

The business has grown exponentially since it first opened with just Chris and Imogen and the two children. What has been created is a caring community of children, who, with the support of highly skilled and passionate staff, use their creative curiosity to make connections between all that they learn about, and the skills to be excellent communicators.

We now have a like minded community of educators in Clophill of The Fledglings outdoor education setting and Little Forest childcare, with whom we work closely. This means your child can effectively be cared for from birth to 11 years of age by settings with the same holistic approach and value of nature and the outdoors who focus on children’s mental health and wellbeing as well as excellence in their education.