Forrest school vs 'normal childcare' vs childminders

[supercalifragilistic2]

Looking at childcare options for ds when he turns 3. He currently goes to childminders a few hours a week and he adores her.
However, I've been thinking about getting him into full time childcare. In our area we can either send him to a Forrest school, the normal type of nursery or alternatively a childminders. (The school
I want him to go to doesn't have a preschool).
I've been round a few nurseries and I wasn't overly keen (all outstanding), he's currently at a childminders and as much as he adores his childminder, I think he would benefit from an alternative setting that isn't someone's home. (Hence me looking at a nursery)
So that leaves us with a Forrest school. It's brand new, and ds loves being outside. It's opposite dp's work and I can drive past to drop off etc. So, what did you use for your dcs and why?

Forest school, and we couldn't have been happier. We couldn't find a childminder with availability when we needed it and would have worried about sickness absence cover anyway. Forest school won hands down over traditional nursery settings for our son because 1. He loves being outdoors and enjoyed the extra space to run, climb etc. 2. The total group size was smaller than a nursery, which suited him as he didn't cope well with too much noise and bustle, but there were still a good number of same age children to play with 3. we liked the fact it ran as a mixed age group, which we felt had benefits both when he was younger (older ones to model social skills etc) and older (being "the big one" and helping others) 4. All settings talk the talk regarding being child led, but the forest school setting truly walked the walk as it's so integral to their philosophy, and the staff were incredibly good and creative at riffing off the children's interests and scaffolding activities from the children's own starting points (obvs many indoor settings are good at that too, but it's very much in the forest school DNA) 5. when he started he had delayed speech and our SLT commented that outdoor settings offered a better acoustic environment than the echoey indoor settings that were our alternatives 6. we thought that forest school would be good for his independence, confidence and problem solving skills, and it really has been 7 we could see from the first day how much fun he was having being outside all the time, he's that sort of child.

I would always go Forest over traditional nursery. Dd is about to start at a wonderful childminders, she has similar values to the local Forest nursery (but is a hell of a lot cheaper!) I think outside and slightly less structured days are so much better for younger children, it gives them an opportunity to use their own minds more. And they love it!