Come and Play the Forest School Way.

A busy week in our Forest School. Reception built dinosaur nests and as you can see they are are moving and handling the wild resources with confidence and maturity. Some other children worked with clay or collected special items for our Forest Museum board. Meanwhile the strawberries were weeded and straw added to protect the fruit as they grow fat and juicy. Next Year 2 took advantage of the rainy weather to play with Papier Mache, they got lovely and messy creating dinosaur eggs. These will be put out next week for our reception children to find in their nests. Year 2 can’t wait to see the Reception children’s faces when they realise we’ve had some prehistoric visitors!

Year 4 continued to create using clay too, this links into their art lessons looking at Greek pottery. They created more tree guardians to delight other children when they come upon them. They also worked really hard in our raised beds, clearing weeds and cutting back the long grass, this allows access for our smaller children.

Using the environment fully like this, linking across classes and working together helps encourage an ownership and responsibility in the children’s play. At first children can be protective about their work, they are shown that by opening themselves and being fluid in their mindset they can actually learn new skills and new ideas. They then see first hand how they impact on others and vice versa. Reflective practice is a feature of each session to ensure children and teachers can understand their achievements, develop emotional intelligence and plan for the future.

6. Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning.

Article 29 – We all have the right to develop our personalities, talents and abilities.