It is with a heavy heart that we have announced the closure of our Nature Nursery.
We set out to challenge the education system by providing a much-needed alternative to mainstream provision, reconnecting our young people with the natural world and developing a lifelong love of wildlife and a commitment to environmental stewardship.
In the process, we have uncovered many other benefits of a predominantly outdoor early years education, including heightened language development, resilience, emotional intelligence, and self-management of risk.
Unfortunately, there are insurmountable challenges that stand in our way. To continue to provide a safe environment for children, we would need to invest significant new funds into the site, as well as increase the size of the staff team.
Despite hydrological studies of the ground before we opened, we could not have simulated the impact of constant recreation on our hard Essex clay; nor could we have predicted the extreme weather that has rendered our site uninhabitable for periods of the year, which may in fact become more frequent.
As a charity, we are operating in an increasingly difficult economic environment, impacted by rising inflation, the cost-of-living, and increasing competition for funds and resources. We know that these factors are affecting not just us, but nurseries across Essex and elsewhere. The mercurial nature of Government funding and policy make long-term planning extremely difficult and add significant risk to the Trust at a time of already high risk.
The Nature Nursery team, led so ably by Mel Mewton, as well as staff across the Trust, have always approached this as a labour of love, going the extra mile to deliver the highest standard of full-time outdoor education and childcare for the early years, evidenced in the ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted report the nursery recently received.
The Nature Nursery’s last day of operations will be Friday 8 March 2024.
We would have liked to have provided advanced notice, but this is unfortunately not operationally possible. We appreciate that this is likely to be significantly disruptive to those attending the Nature Nursery, aside from the disappointment of the nursery’s closure. We extend our sincerest apologies to those affected by this closure.
It is our intention, and our duty, to continue to tell the story of the Nature Nursery and ensure that the work we have done influences those better equipped financially to continue the outdoor revolution. Essex Wildlife Trust will continue to transform the early years, albeit in a different guise.
We owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the families, parents, and carers who have been our supporters. We believe in the vision for the Nature Nursery more than ever and hope that you will continue to support our work in outdoor learning.