In addition to having our own allotment for growing fruit and vegetables, we offer Forest School sessions for our older Toddler and Pre-school children.
The Forest School sessions are taught by a Qualified Forest School Teacher.
The sessions are held at various grounds and woodland areas and accessed using our own nursery minibus.
Forest School is an innovative educational approach, in that it is not to transfer knowledge to a child but to facilitate the child in their own learning. It is play based, child led learning that takes place in the outdoors.
It is a way of stimulating a child’s innate creativity and providing a learning environment that stimulates and utilises the senses of touch, hearing, sight and smell. It is about connecting with the natural world and learning to manage risk. It is letting the children, naturally, through their play, lead the learning in a woodland setting.
The Forest School leader facilitates learning by providing opportunities for children to explore and discover through open-ended activities in woodland space, building upon new understandings as they emerge. The children lead the learning – they move, explore, discover, wonder and use their imaginations.
It provides a place for children to communicate, cooperate, problem solve and construct. Forest School provides a safe and supportive environment wherein children are entrusted to assess risks, to use their own creativity, and to control their own learning.
Through participating in these environments, children often demonstrate increased self-esteem and self-confidence, improved social skills, improved physical motor skills, improved motivation and concentration, and increased knowledge and understanding of the environment. Language and communication skills are also developed through social play.
