The Magic of Learning,
An Introduction

Once Upon a Time, we integrated Wildlife & their habitats to one of the most refreshing Theorist approaches to Learning...
Inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner & his approach to Teaching, Learning & Development, both of our children’s rooms are adapted visually to create a beautiful woodland-inspired habitat for extending learning through creativity & the senses, promoting an abundance of messy play. With dedicated areas of learning depicted, with British habitat theming throughout & a sweeping vision of the rainbow from our Bluebell Woodland to our Enchanted Garden. We have the whole spectrum of colours that appeals to different emotions to suit everybody that visits The Fairytale Forest..

Fairytale Forest Day Nursery is Located in Bury, a quaint countryside West Sussex village between Pulborough and Arundel. We are just off the A29 serving great links to Chichester, Littlehampton, Storrington and surrounding areas. The building itself is a converted former Farm Shop, and we are truly fortunate to benefit from such a vast and beautiful outdoor area for children to play in and explore!

Welcome Inside to explore our rooms...

Bear Mountain

~ 6 months to 2 Year Olds ~

Welcome to Bear Mountain, our nurturing, natural environmental themed baby room for little ones aged from 3 months to 23 months. Calming blues and greens fill your senses as you enter into an open plan large space. With a maximum of twelve babies within this room, it has a close-knit team that endeavour to provide highest quality standards of personalised individually tailored care to your baby right the way through their transitions and milestones.
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With our linen cloth tipi for resting & reading, surrounded by comfy blue cushions and a selection of books in context, your little ones will feel cosy and secure with this low arousal space, for the times they need time to relax and take in their surroundings without feeling overwhelmed.
We have a beautiful sage green ball pit and large soft play that the children love to manoeuvre around and creatively learn to cruise & develop their physical, gross & fine motor skills.
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Each child has their own named peg and has everything to fulfil their care and educational needs within close reach. We use a great deal of sensory and messy play, being Steiner-led and the wonder of science experiments & 'have a go to see what might happen,’ form a large part of the children’s day, offering opportunities for children to explore all sorts of textures, colours, sights, sounds, scents along with unhurried time to 'just be' and explore at their own pace to determine their likes, dislikes and develop their individual personalities as a result of this.
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Wooden toys & resources feature heavily throughout our ethos and this starts right from birth, with loose part play, to allow the freedom of imagination and interpretation according to the child’s own interpretation.
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With a love for re-igniting passion for literacy, we use literacy as the underpinning outcome for a great deal of the activities we implement here. For example, reading group and individual stories, looking at words used through poetry, studying rhyming and repetitive qualities in books, and through text in context of the environment. We emphasise the learning of new key words to increase children’s vocabulary & to help them to start establishing connections between objects and vocabulary itself, so that understanding is implemented and reinforced on a regular basis, aiding repetitive learning.
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Cuddles & care routines suited to individual children form much of the routine of this age group, to ensure that secure emotional stability is built upon and to help children when transitioning into Nursery, which we find to be helpful in aiding the settling process, adapting to individual children, especially if this is a first time transition.

The Bluebell Wood

~ 2 to 3 Year Olds ~

With the Steiner ethos promoting the benefits of the woodland environment, that brings with it a love for wooden toys and making the most of bringing learning back to traditional basics alongside using natural resources to enhance the sensory experience. The roots of learning are often forgotten in todays society but we emphasise the importance of this in design aesthetics and the types of resources we use and experiences we offer.
This room is set up for the most important milestones such as potty training especially in mind for this age group, with the room being close by to the miniature toilets, & with a separate nappy changing room next door, so that their urgent and frequent needs are best met to support their development and emotional security. A family of bears live deep in the woods surrounded by a sweeping carpet of beautiful Bluebells. You’ll have to follow the paw prints to find the honeypot at the end of the trail... but spotting the bees might give you a clue!

The Enchanted Garden

~ 3-4 Year Olds ~

Swirling flower garlands & blackberry vines sweep you into a world of imagination and wonder, allowing your creativity to sparkle in a comfortable, safe and beautiful oasis of calm & serenity. With learning inspired by the natural outdoor environments, the Steiner ethos coupled with wildlife habitats will help to enhance your child’s love for the world around us and start learning at an advantage by being visually stimulated, therefore creating the best baseline environment for your child to feel ready and inspired to learn. Toadstools, fairies, acorns, trees, Cottage Garden flowers..all encase this lovely Pre-School room, helping to create the magical feel of The Enchanted Garden. It has a beautiful natural source of light & a real airy feel with sky lights, making children’s imagination drift off, allowing them to feel creative & take ownership in their own approach to learning. With Flower Fairies spreading acts of kindness & a positive approach to tackling tricky tasks, there is an apparent ethos of teaching others values & principles and of manners and friendship. Sharing & turn taking is amongst those taught values as we help children to prepare for their next milestone, that being their transition to Primary School.

The Downlands Meadow

~ Everyone! ~

We're incredibly fortunate with our beautiful countryside location and a wealth of outside areas, nestled in the heart of rural West Sussex with views over the South Downs. In amongst the surrounding native trees, there are endless opportunities for an inspired minds imagination! We have a large all weather area so we can get outside in all seasons. There are planting areas, water play, sand pits, climbing frames and much more, as well as lots of open spaces.
As well as this, and we believe hugely beneficial to a child's development in so many ways are the animals. Caring for animals teaches a respect for nature, an understanding of responsibility and a nurturing quality enhanced by such interactions.

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