Forest School originates in Scandinavia where outdoor living and learning is fully embedded in society. Forest School arrived in the UK in 1993 and has been adopted by hundreds of practitioners who are constantly developing their skills to support and build resilient and imaginative learners.
Ann and Paula are our trained Forest School Leaders, who have been successfully running Forest School for years. Ann and Paula provide lots of opportunities for holistic growth, play, exploration and risk taking. They provide these opportunities through the wide range of resources and activities available at Forest School, for example, mud kitchens, climbing opportunities, outdoor natural music, outdoor cooking and many more.
Forest School is very spacious and surrounded by fields and nature. We use this opportunity to implement some mindfulness with the children. We give the children freedom from the busy world we all live in and encourage them to lay down, stop and be in the moment and take in the surroundings around them. We encourage them to listen to the different sounds they can hear and get them to focus on their breath.
The children experience activities such as den building, bug hunting, mud painting as well as supervised toasting marshmallows on the campfire.
Our recent Ofsted inspection said of Forest School: “Children confidently take measured risks and are eager to try new things. They freely explore their environment, investigating and discovering as they use magnifying glasses to look for bugs. Children excitedly pick up worms and compare lengths and sizes.”
