As an Outdoor Education Consultant in my previous role, while managing a Forest Kindergarten I was always on the look out for similar-minded practitioners and facilities. I was intrigued by Ardvreck’s rural setting with their ethos of adventurous play and second to none pastoral care, which inspires their pupils to  develop their sense of self while preparing them for their next educational stage.

Discovering  fun and engaging ways to nurture a child’s natural curiosity so that a life-long love of learning is rooted should be at the core to any nursery practise: Ardvreck has this in abundance! Our small, intimate nursery, within Little Ardvreck  has views of nothing else but trees and Ben Chonzie and we use play, inside and out, throughout the day to develop our charges’ skills through tried and tested Forest School principles.

Ms Mackintosh’s recent blog on keeping maths relevant and engaging reminded me of my three part Language of Mathematics article I wrote for the Early Years Alliance. Start them young and the love of maths will remain strong long after they reach Form 3G! You can read all of my perspective here, here and here where I discuss Problem Solving, Project Based Learning and Levels of Sophistication in Play in a nursery environment. These are all practises I am implementing here at our Prep School in Perthshire.

It has been wonderful to see children from all over Perthshire and Stirlingshire take advantage of our school buses in order to attend our nursery in Crieff and we look forward to welcoming more in September.

If you’d like to learn more about Developing Reflective Practice and Leadership skills here is my case study that I wrote before joining Ardvreck School.