Forest School
Forest School places an emphasis on outdoor, child-led learning, enabling children to expand their knowledge of themselves, others and the environment by taking part in hands-on activities in a safe, natural setting.
We are fortunate to have Nymans Woods (owned by The National Trust) a short walk away from school and fantastic links with their Forest Rangers, Chloe and George. We also have our own Forest School trained leaders, Alex Bondonno and Catherine Aylett, to lead sessions both at Nymans Woods, with the help of Emily O'Brien, and to do whole class Forest School sessions in our school "Meadow," using equipment funded by our wonderful PTA.
Our Year 4 - 6 children have specialised small group sessions in Nymans Woods, to focus on specific forest skills.
Our Year R - 3 sessions, on our school "Meadow," help children to appreciate the natural world and to develop the skills to look after our environment.
Activities vary from group to group and season to season, but sessions might include:
- Learning how to build and light campfires
- Campfire cooking e.g: flat breads, making hot chocolate, campfire pizzas
- Woodland inspired art, craft and woodwork projects
- Team building games
- Den building
- Exploring and playing in the woods
- Developing interests, understanding and respect for the living things around the wood
- Making new friends and working with children from another year group
- Learning to use tools and equipment
- Promoting and developing confidence, self esteem & independence
Alex writes weekly overviews of the activities, any particular highlights/observations and thoughts for subsequent sessions based on children's feedback and input. Here are a few comments he has made recently:
I was amazed at how efficiently the group went about firelighting, looking to get things done. They stacked the fire in a pyramidal style, got cotton wool & Vaseline ready and handed out fire steels. All in the group lit their piece of cotton wool, offering to help one another if anyone was struggling.
