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"They're not just playing in nature, they are: learning, creating, sensing, believing, relaxing, exploring, observing, wondering, connecting, discovering, appreciating, understanding, experimenting..."  Penny Whitehouse

 

Forest School is a child-led approach to learning that incorporates children’s right to play, to access the outdoor environment, to enjoy learning and feel success. Forest School is a unique way of building independence and self-esteem in children, exposing them to the natural world at a time where it is vital for children to understand their impact on the environment. At Long Mead, our holistic child-centred programme builds children’s confidence, encourages their imagination and creates a desire to understand and learn.

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Miss Webster, our qualified Forest School leader, takes groups of children outdoors to learn in the natural woodland on our school site. Forest School sessions are a mixture of adult and child-led activities. Adult-led activities are planned to develop skills and include fire lighting, craftwork, den building, tool use and campfire cooking. Child-led activities may be supported by adults but are driven by a child’s interests at that time. This makes the experience more meaningful to the individual, whether it is weaving, bug hunts, digging or mud kitchen play. A strict code of practice for working with children will be followed and all activities will be risk assessed.

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Through regular forest school sessions, children will develop a respect for the natural world in a safe environment where they can succeed and create. The children will be practising all kinds of mathematical, literacy and social skills without even realising it. Through exploration and discovery, the children are able to enjoy and initiate their own learning. This is what forest school is all about.