About Us
We are truly passionate about offering children of all ages all the benefits of outdoor learning and nature connection, the very best of early childhood care, experience and education.
We are a fully outdoor nursery, and we explore and learn and experience our local natural environments, with two private woodlands for daily forest nursery and a wonderfully natural diverse beach for coastal school provision.
We have daily small group excursions where our children and team develop a sense of belonging to the rivers, meadows, streams, heathland, parkland and connect with our local villages through visits to our churches, libraries, museums and more, with indoor spaces to cosy up when we need to.
Little Birds deliver the EYFS through a child led, expert adult extended approach, which draws inspiration from the Reggio Emilia and Swedish Skogsmulle and Forest schools approach.
We are open 52 weeks per year, from 8am - 6pm, with sessional provision.
We can offer full or term time only places, and offer uncomplicated 15 and 30 hours funded provision, which we can stretch over the year for 2,3 and 4 year olds.
We are based at Bury CE School, who share our ethos. We work and learn as part of the community with the school, the village, our parents and our local areas.
We believe all children are confident, capable, resilient and powerful.
We hold the image of the child at our core of our approach.
We offer a strong, long lasting and nurturing bond, with age related small project based groups in the morning and mixed aged group provision in the afternoon.
We have a maximum of 20 spaces per day, and have an extended family approach.
Woodland
Our forest school sites are both in ancient woodland. The forests are an incredible learning environment for our children.
Children learn through play and enquiry based approaches in an ever changing, rich environment, with the opportunity for learning as diverse and magical as the woodland itself
Beach School
Exceptional, qualified educators lead sessions at a very special local beach.
The beach offers not only a special connection to a natural habitat so local to us all, but a wide open, intriguing space where the children investigate, research, create and explore, and where their imagination is as vast as the sea itself
Indoor Space
When the weather turns "uncomfy" we can find sanctuary in our indoor areas.
Beautifully simple, calm yet provocative, our outdoor learning can be extended indoors in a natural, light filled space. A famous Reggio Emilia approach quote is "no space can be too beautiful for children" and we wholeheartedly agree.
Also a space to find treasures for play, our library housing fiction, non fiction, ID guides, reference books, our indoor space is a Narnia of resources for children to rummage through and invariably take outdoors.
Cabins on the field are our 'nest' for our Under 2s to explore, this is their base, and our over 2s have the use of 'School House' to practice gross motor skills or have quiet connection time with each other and their pedagogues, we use this space for them in Winter months.
Our indoor space is our exhibition space too, and you will find evidence of the children's voices, staff documentation and artwork on every surface.
Excursions
Each and every day, children develop their innate curiosity and sense of awe and wonder, by visiting carefully selected venues. Our regular visits are to the river, meadows, heathland, and parks, and our special trips to extend children's learning have included:
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"My First Opera - Meet a Tree" - opera for Under 2s
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Rangers for the day at Queen Elizabeth Country Park,
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Real life working forestry including tree harvesting and planting at various local forestry estates
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Visiting farms such as Charlie's Farm (Southview Dairy),
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Local churches and museums
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RSPB Pulborough Brooks
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Arundel WWT
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National Trust's Petwork Park
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Pallant House Gallery as part of our Nursery In Residence programme
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Chichester Festival Theatre to see The Gruffalo and Oi!Frog
