Little Robins is our stay and play Forest School group for kids aged 0-5 and their 'grown ups' in Tilehurst, Reading. For a taster of our group, watch this short two minute video.
See below for details of our online booking. Spaces are limited, advanced booking is now essential.
Our group meets every Tuesday morning from 10-11.30 am during term time (see this years dates below) in the small woodland area on Sage Road in Tilehurst near Brookfields School & Westwood Farm School (postcode RG31 6GG). Take a look at our location below (the entrance gate is just inside the main access gates of Brookfields SEN School).
We meet to play, explore the nature on site, grow, read a story, cook (some weeks) and sing by the fire side (optional at the end). There are various open 'invitations to play' setup, but our group is otherwise very free and unstructured; your child can dip into what they want with no expectations from us. We usually end with a story or song by the fire side.
Sessions always include tea and fresh coffee for grown ups and some biscuits. It is up to you and your child if you choose to join in the planned activities or enjoy exploring the woods and making your own discoveries. However, your children remain the responsibility of their accompanying adult at all times whilst they are in the woods.
The small private nature reserve is used by both Brookfields SEN School and Westwood Farm Schools throughout the week. Our profits go towards improving and maintaining the site for all of it's users. The woodland has a copse area, a nature pond, mud kitchen, a summer house and an A frame shelter over an open fire area. We are always improving the site and open to new ideas and helpers from the community.
Although you are responsible for your child at all times, as an organisation we actively manage the risks and have policies and procedures in place to minimise unacceptable levels of risk (such as the pond and fire). As a community we all do our best to look out for each other on site and help where we can.
We do not have access to the local school for use of their toileting facilities so we suggest you go before you come. We do have a basic 'toilet shed' with a camping toilet in, contact us if you would like more information about our toileting policy.
We also have nappy changing mats, a potty, picnic rugs and tarps for the ground and a few IKEA highchairs to make life easier.
Our summerhouse has a comfy sofa for feeding in, or if you are more comfortable there are various places to prop yourself around the site.
The site is accessible by wheelchair and buggy however some parts of the site can on occasion get very muddy or uneven in wet weather.
Prices
Prices remain as follows:
£7.50 for the first child per session - This comes to £45 for a term of 6 weekly sessions, available to book as a block on Ticketlab now. We offer Early Bird tickets for the whole term (12 week block) which slightly reduces it further.
£3.50 per additional child per session - This comes to an additional £21 for a term of 6 weekly sessions, available to book as a block on Ticketlab now.
Children under 1 are free!
Booking and payment is made through Ticketlab on the link below (Or just search TicketLab.co.uk for 'Little Robins'.
For new members, a booking form will be emailed to you once we have received your booking through TicketLab.
After running costs (insurance, staff etc), materials and refreshments, profits are reinvested in improving the site for all its users as a part of our Wild City Collective CIC.
It is absolutely critical that no one parks on the Brookfields Special Needs School site during the day due to the restrictions they need to have in place for COVID 19. This is non negotiable. Parking at Brookfields is now heavily controlled to reduce any risk of infection to their vulnerable groups. Please allow enough time to park your car and if not then don't rush, there's no such thing as 'late' with our group! We will see you whenever you make it. We know that little ones sometime have varying schedules.
There is free parking on surrounding residential roads, (such as Knowsley Rd) however we ask all our play group visitors to be considerate of local residents and Brookfields School when choosing where to park. Please do not park on yellow lines, grass verges or blocking driveways and allow yourself good time to park, get your little ones out and waterproofed up. There is no fixed start that you will miss to 'activities', so don't panic if you arrive 30 minutes 'late'!
Dates for next term are:
We break for half term holidays
We finish on 5th December until January 2024 to give everyone space and time to do their Christmas Shopping and hibernate.
All enquiries go through our contact form (below), instagram or facebook.
We try to post photos of the work we do on Instagram and Facebook regularly. You can get a taste of our work by following us on https://www.facebook.com/wildcitycollective/ and www.instagram.com/wildcityforestschool
Feel free to post photos yourself about our sessions and tag us.
Our site is just off Sage Road, look for a large metal gate - tucked inside the entrance to Brookfields SEN school.
The nearest bus stop is the Sky blue 16 - Warley Rise stop.
The group is NOT accessible from Westwood Farm School, so if you arrive there you will need to walk around the entire site to access the entrance. Google maps estimates this takes about 9 minutes on foot via the footpath if you follow directions to:
Westwood Farm Wild Woods, Sage Road, RG31 6GG