Frequently Asked Questions
Below are common questions from parents, please have a read through these before you contact us with a query as the answer may be below.
You can view our other FAQ pages by clicking on the following links - Waiting List FAQs and Holiday Camp FAQs
HOW DO I SIGN UP?
To find out how our waiting list works or to sign up to one of our waiting lists please click here. For future news and updates please join our mailing list or follow the links below to learn more about each of our nurseries.
See more information in our Waiting list FAQs and our admissions policy.
If you have any enquiries or wish to update us about your ideal start date, preferred sessions or siblings, please email the back office at info@littleforestfolk.com. To help us find you on the waiting list please include the following information: nursery location, child's name and date of birth.
IS THERE A MINIMUM ATTENDANCE YOU REQUIRE?
In order to give children the best learning opportunities and the quickest settling in process we ask for a minimum of two days attendance per week to all locations except for our Wimbledon location where we require a minimum of three days attendance per week.
can I visit a nursery?
Absolutely! It’s not a requirement that you visit our nurseries before joining the waiting list but we encourage all prospective parents to come and visit us. We announce site tours when they become available and all families on the waiting list will be sent an invitation to book. You can also sign up to our site tours mailing list to receive details of how to book.
How do waiting lists work?
Please click here to see our Waiting List FAQs.
how do government funded child places work?
Your child is able to access 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year from the term after their third birthday. Little Forest Folk offer this funding applied across the school terms or stretched to cover a longer period of the year. For more details on each individual borough and how you sign up please check the fees pages for each location:
What do you do when it rains and is cold?
Play!! Remaining warm and dry is the most important element to create happiness and creative play regardless of the weather. Whilst the woods themselves afford shelter, we also have large, lightweight tarps that we rig up to provide wind-breaks and extra protection when we don’t want to let a sudden downpour disrupt our games. We find that as long as children have good outdoor clothing, are out of any biting wind and that their hands are warm, they are happy to play outdoors regardless of the weather.
At most of our locations we have a fire available at snack time on cold days, and will often have a hot drink. We are also fortunate to have skilled educators who are quickly able to put up cosy shelters, especially for the wettest and coldest conditions. If nurseries and primary schools in Scandinavia can spend the majority of their time playing in the woods in their challenging climate, we can certainly manage it in South West London!
HOW DOES THE WATERPROOF SYSTEM WORK?
For our 2024 intakes onwards we will provide you with a set of ROARSOME Summer/Winter waterproofs as part of your registration fee. You will be required to ensure your child is dressed in these waterproofs every day they are in attendance to follow our safeguarding procedure. These waterproofs are yours to keep so feel free to use on weekends, holidays etc in addition to your time at Little Forest Folk. If you wish to purchase more than one set of waterproofs in the same size to avoid having to wash so often, these are available from us at £120.00. Roarsome's innovative design has a cosy thermal layer that easily snaps in to place for Winter, but can be removed to create a lightweight but still waterproof Summer set, plus the fleece layer can also be worn as a layer on their own!
What about severe storms?
Our aim is to be outdoors in rain, wind, or shine but in severe storms, where safety could be compromised, we will return to or remain in our indoor facility for the day and use the outdoor space there to ensure we are still getting some fresh air!
What happens in case of an accident?
Children who are used to playing outdoors are far less likely to injure themselves. They have developed a natural risk assessment process and are more stable and understanding of their capabilities than children who do not often spend time in such an environment.
For minor bumps, scrapes & scratches your child will be looked after by one of the members of the nursery team, who are all paediatric first aid trained. An accident form will be completed on Famly & you will be notified once this is uploaded - we ask families to please read & acknowledge these. Please note that in the unlikely event of a head bump, parents are always notified by telephone as soon as is possible.
In the unlikely event of a more serious accident, a first aider will attend to your child whilst another member of staff will go to meet medical staff to bring them to the site. Parents will be contacted immediately to advise them of the situation and if necessary we would stay with your child until you are able to attend.
Please find our full accident policy here.
What about toileting?
We have a specified area in the woods where we erect a special toilet tent to offer shelter and privacy for toileting. Children not used to toileting outside quickly adapt and staff are on hand to assist as needed. We provide warm water and soap for hand washing after toileting and before snack-time.
For children still in nappies, we have a special nappy changing area within the toilet tents and at the indoor locations. We will provide nappies and fragrance free wet wipes, unless you have a particular brand you would like your children to use, in which case please feel free to provide. We take all of our nappies out of the forest with us and dispose of them appropriately.
Napping children
For those children who are still sleeping during the day, we provide cosy tents for sleep time. All that fresh air usually encourages great sleeps!
Please note that we are unable to accommodate napping at our Fulham nursery.
FOR DROP-OFF AND PICKUP IS THERE ANY PARKING AVAILABLE?
Chiswick
Our indoor space is based at the Hogarth Centre, where Full Day children are dropped off each morning. There is some parking on local roads, but check signs for hours when residents permits are required. Please note that the bottom of Duke Road is a designated School Street & there are certain hours when you are not permitted to drive down this road - please check local signage for more information, or the Hounslow website.
Drop off for Sessional children is in the Chiswick House & Gardens Car Park, which has pay and display parking.
Fulham
There is metered parking on Bishop's Avenue, SW6 and it's usually quite easy to find a space here!
We are also a short walk away from Putney Bridge Underground station, on the District Line.
Morden
For dropping off at our Morden nursery we are closely located to the bus stop on Cannon Hill Lane. We recommend finding free parking on the road or there are limited parking spaces at the end of the driveway.
putney heath
For drop offs at Putney Heath nursery there is access via car for drop off at the site, parking spaces are limited so we encourage walking to drop off and pick up where possible.
For sessional, or holiday camp drop off, there are parking spaces available along Telegraph Road, or Wildcroft Road.
Twickenham
There are a limited number of car parking spaces at Heatham House for pick up and drop off. Our site is also very closely located to Twickenham train station for easy access to public transport.
Wimbledon village
For drop offs at our indoor location there is limited parking available opposite the Golf Club. Please ask the team if you are not sure where to park.
For sessional drop off in the forest, our meet point is adjacent to Springwell Car Park, which is located at the end of Sunset Road. Please note that this car park can get full during busy periods.
Wimbledon
There is some parking available directly outside the 19th Wimbledon Scout Hut, or in the nearby streets. Please be considerate of the neighbours in this residential area.
There is a car park available at the end of Barham road, SW20 0ET for all day parking at our forest site meeting point.
How will my children be transported to the forest site?
For those nurseries with outdoor spaces located further away Little Forest Folk has safe and robust Ford Transit minibuses, specially fitted with safe car seats. Children will be placed in these age and weight appropriate car seats and securely strapped in. They are transported to the forest site with a ratio of 1 member of staff for every four children, plus the driver. The driver possesses a full clean driving licence and an enhanced DBS check.
WHY DON’T YOU SEPARATE THE CHILDREN BY AGE GROUPS LIKE OTHER NURSERIES
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.
Opportunity to nurture
When we ask a four year old to be tolerant of a two year old’s first fumbling efforts to put on his or her jacket, we are teaching them the beginnings of parent education. Our children need real contexts in which their dispositions to be nurturing can be manifested and strengthened. Furthermore, the young children who are encouraged, comforted and nurtured by older children will be able to emulate their older classmates when they themselves become the older ones in a group. Children need opportunities not only to observe and imitate a wide range of competencies, but also to find companions among their peers who match, complement, or supplement their interests in different ways.
Ways of learning
Single-age groups seem to create enormous normative pressures on the children and the teacher to expect all the children to possess the same knowledge and skills. There is a tendency in a homogeneous age group to penalise the children who fail to meet normative expectations. There is no evidence to show that a group of children who are all within a twelve-month age range can be expected to learn the same things, in the same way, on the same day, at the same time. The wide range of knowledge and skills that exists among children within a single-age group suggests that whole-group instruction, if overused, may not best serve children's learning.
On the other hand, the wider the age span in a group, the wider the range of behaviour and performance likely to be accepted and tolerated by not just the adults but the children themselves. In a mixed-age group, an adult is more likely to address differences, not only between children but within each individual child.
Research on social benefits indicates that children very early associate different expectations with different age groups. Experiments have shown that even a three-year-old, when shown pictures of older and younger children in hypothetical situations, will assign different kinds of behaviour to an older child than to a younger child. For instance, younger children assign to older children instructive, leadership, helpful, and sympathising roles, whereas older children assign to younger children the need for help and instruction. Thus in the mixed-age group, younger children perceive the older ones as being able to contribute something, and the older children see the younger ones as in need of their contributions. These mutually reinforcing perceptions create a climate of expected cooperation beneficial to the children.
Social participation
In a mixed-age group, younger children are capable of participating and contributing to far more complex activities than they could initiate if they were by themselves. Once the older ones set up the activity, the younger ones can participate, even if they could not have initiated it.
Research indicates that mixed-age groups can provide a therapeutic environment for children who are socially immature. Younger children will less quickly rebuff an older immature child than the child's same-age friends.
Why isn’t your outdoor area fenced? How is the safety of my child safeguarded?
Safeguarding is of paramount importance to our practitioners.
At our Morden, Wimbledon and Twickenham sites we operate in a fully fenced site. At Chiswick, Fulham, Putney Heath and Wimbledon Village we offer a nomadic forest experience, primarily due to the limited exclusive green space on offer in the city. However, these spaces have the benefit of being unrestricted and so offer a wider diversity of play options and learning experiences to our children. 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 or 1:13 for those settings employing highly qualified teachers as we do). In addition to this your waterproofs provided are brightly coloured and children also wear high vis jackets which are very bright and have defined colours per age. With one practitioner for every four children the children are always within immediate line of sight and proximity to a staff member, always within our boundary.
Further to this, a key safeguarding practice is the games we regularly play with the children such as ‘one-two-three where are you’ or ‘one-two-three run to me’, both of which encourage the children through play and therefore without feeling trepidation to understand the importance of staying within our boundaries and family groupings.
How do you stop dog walkers and members of the public accessing your forest site?
At our unfenced sites we put signs up to show where the nursery is in operation on that particular day and dog walkers respect this space. Our staff are always on hand in the event that we may have a visit from an inquisitive dog and the children are taught to stay still and not cause any excitement.
See our dog policy for more information.
WHAT WILL MY CHILD EAT?
We see a big part of our role in our children’s lives is to promote the importance of a healthy lifestyle. An essential element of this is providing nutritious, energy giving snacks and meals to the children. We change our menus seasonally to allow us to enjoy the best ingredients available to us. Our current menu is available on our website and most dietary requirements can be catered for.
What about holiday camps?
Holiday camps are run during the school holidays only and are available for enrolled nursery families for two to five-year-olds and for the general public from three to seven-year-olds. Priority booking is offered to nursery families then any remaining availability is offered to the public.
Click here to see our holiday camp FAQs.
have any more questions?
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us via info@littleforestfolk.com or on 07707 545 913 and we will be happy to help.