Forest School

What is Forest School?

The concept of Forest School in Britain is based on a Scandinavian idea that begun in the 1950’s which focused on children learning about the natural world from a very young age through activities based in the outdoor environment all year round.

This idea was brought to the UK in the mid 1990’s following a visit by nursery nurses and early years representatives to Denmark. They found the effects had a significant impact on the children’s behaviour, confidence, concentration, self-esteem, and health. The idea was then developed in this country with many early year’s professionals, teachers and youth workers undergoing quality training and then reaping the benefits with their own children. 

Who will supervise the children and where?

Forest School sessions are planned and led by qualified level 3 Forest School leaders, who also hold the REC emergency first aid certificate, and will have carried out a full risk assessment of the site/activities/weather conditions. Along with the FS leader there will be an assistant who will be there to assist the leader and the children.

At Peter Pan Nursery, Mrs Johnson, Miss Tanner and Miss Gamble are our qualified Forest school leaders . We use two areas on the common in the woodland around our nursery which allows for sustainability of the sites and the natural resources. A forest school sessions will take place during the morning session with follow up activities at nursery throughout the year. We also offer a parent and child celebration session in the summer term.  During the final term the children become mentors to the next generation of forest schoolers, they show the younger children the areas they have used, tell them about the safety games and our blue rope boundaries and of course where they have had lots of fun and games.

The Type of activities

All sessions have an invisible ‘structure’, which our experienced leaders have identified key skills that the children will learn and experience over the course of the year.  

The children will engage in a group activity which will start to encourage them to move on to choose and play for themselves within the environment. Some activities might include digging, jumping in mud & puddles, bug hunting, den building, treasure hunts, games, art and craft activities, using a variety of tools for a purpose, cutting and carving wood, watching the adults cooking on a fire. As they grow in confidence and experience, they will begin to be able to cook for themselves a variety of food over the fire including the favourite marshmallows, toast, sausages, and many more exciting things .

By attending Forest School for the whole year, the children get to experience the differing seasons enabling children to see and feel the changes each season brings. When we experience a heavy rainfall the cause and effect this has with our ‘Island’ site is fascinating as the water levels rise. The changing look and feel of the woodland in the Autumn and Winter months to that of the Spring and Summer is fabulous. So much to see and learn!

We are so lucky that within our local environment we have ponds which are home to a variety of insects and the great crested newts. We have a variety of leaves and grasses that can be collected, dried, and used with our fire lighting.  We regularly see ducks, deer, squirrels, foxes, pheasants, and many other different birds – including our favourite – Mr Robin.

Forest School sessions are offered to the older children going to school the following September, everyone is offered a place however it is optional. Forest School sessions take place on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This does depend on the number of children who are eligible for Forest School that year. The sessions usually start mid-September through to the end of June. Each session will have up to 8 children and 2 adults. 

Whilst forest school sessions are run during a normal nursery session there is an extra cost involved as the staff ratio is higher for Forest School and we need to employ and extra member of staff to enable us to offer this extra experience to our children.

Children are offered a year of Forest School, one session per week in the year before they start school and this will include an induction programme, and between 4 and 6 weeks per term .

It is an optional extra and the cost is £150 per year per child.

Parents are sent an invitation letter offering a forest school session for their child during September. Parents will be invited to attend an information session where you will see the sites and receive more information about what your child needs to bring and wear for the sessions.   

There is a section on this website  where you can see more about clothing suitable for forest school and how to care for it.

For more information about the Forest School ethos visit The Forest School Association’s (FSA) website http://www.forestschoolassociation.org/

On the FSA website you can also read about the 6 leading principles for good quality Forest School practice which can be found on the link below:

http://www.forestschoolassociation.org/full-principles-and-criteria-for-good-practice/

The other link below is about the National Forest School Day, which is for everyone to share their good practice and stories.

https://forestschoolday.org/

Finally, for anyone interested in Forest School qualification training you can find information on the FSA website and also on the Surrey Wildlife Trust Site below, or you can speak with Mrs Johnson at nursery.

www.surreywildlifetrust.org/what-we-do/outdoor-learning/forest-school-and-outdoor-learning-training-courses