Toddington Childcare 

& Forest School

Toddington Childcare & Forest School is an independent Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered and regulated by Ofsted, and is a member of the Early Years Learning Alliance. 

As a setting, we work closely with our Local Authority Early Years and Childcare Team and our Early Years SEND Advisory and Inclusion Teams for advice and support. Toddington Childcare & Forest School work in partnership with (BESA) Bedfordshire Employment and Skills Academy to support staff training, qualifications and continued professional development. Our staff use the Bedfordshire Safeguarding Board and Central Beds Learning Management System to regularly access and update all relevant Safeguarding, Health and Safety and Food Hygiene training. All of our staff hold full and relevant Paediatric First Aid Training Certificates delivered by our Central Beds Local Authority registered trainer that meets all requirements of First Aid training set out in the Early Years Statutory Framework. 

Our organisation requires a Parent Management Committee to exist and operate, who work closely with the Setting Manager to review and support overall practice, finances and fundraising events. Any additional profit generated from fundraising events, donations and/or grants are utilised to renew resources and equipment for our children, additional staff training events and a wide variety of programmes to complement our broad and varied learning curriculum, including Lift Off to Language, Forest School, Healthy Movers and trips in the local community, so we can continue to provide high quality Early Years childcare and education. 

Our Vision

At Toddington Childcare & Forest School, we aim to provide our children with a fun, safe and stimulating learning environment, which is inclusive for all Early Years children in our care. Our curriculum is adapted to children’s individual needs to ensure all children have equal opportunities to achieve their best possible outcomes in their learning and development. 

We believe that every child is unique and we work in partnership with our children’s parents, carers and families, listening to and gathering information and a shared understanding of their children’s individual needs and interests from the start and offer every family a home visit to meet their Key People with the Setting Manager. This helps to build positive, trusting relationships and supports smooth transitions and settling in. Our nurturing play and learning environment supports our children to be happy, healthy, confident and resilient with growing independence skills and a passion for learning, supporting our children’s readiness for school. 

We pride ourselves on delivering a varied Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, which values the importance of the outdoor environment and promotes our children’s characteristics of effective learning, supporting their play and exploration, active learning, critical thinking and problem solving.