Forest schools takes place nearly every Friday afternoon for children in year 2 to 6 and Wednesday afternoons for those in Reception and Year 1. The older children use the local forest whilst our younger children use the wooded area in the school grounds.
Your child's class teacher will send you regular updates on these via Seesaw.
“Forest School is an inspirational process that offers children and young people opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and self esteem, through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland environment.”
National definition: by Forest School (England) Network
Forest School supports your child’s emotional wellbeing. Emotional well-being has been described as ‘a holistic, subjective state which is present when a range of feelings, among them energy, confidence, openness, enjoyment, happiness, calm, and caring, are combined and balanced."
Other words are used to describe the concept, such as
That schools have a direct influence on the emotional health of their pupils and staff; and that this, in turn, has an impact on academic and other achievement.
'The Best Kind of Classroom’
This is the best kind of classroom,
It’s a journey through time and space,
From the smallest seed to the largest tree,
This is a forest and a learning place.
This is the best kind of classroom,
Where the seasons don’t happen in books.
Where the learning is watching and thinking and talking
And everyone looks.
by Ian MacMillan
Links to Forest School Videos
Forest School Sept 2021