Forest School
As I lay in a hammock, looking up at the beautiful blue sky, gently swaying side to side and watching the high branches of the trees surrounding me dance in the breeze, I have never felt more grateful for this being my job.
Spending two weeks in the woods, learning how to be a forest school leader was without doubt the most inspiring training I have done in my 16 years working with children. The next 10 months of research, a pilot project, many observations and the final evaluation, have changed my practice so much and the impact we have seen at Landbeach has been incredible.
So, what is Forest School? It has links to the way children have been raised for the entirety of humanity. All through time, children would have spent their days outside, with a strong nature connection. They would have had a lot of freedom to play and learn intrinsically. This was the way children learnt right up until mainstream education became more common. At this point children were bought into classrooms and made to sit at desks. In the 1980’s the national curriculum became mandatory. I find it interesting to think of the pressure that is put on teachers and children, learning everything that is in this curriculum when up until very recently in our history as humans, we never had this and everyone made it through their life just fine!
The term ‘Forest School’ was coined in the 1990’s. In 1993 a group of lecturers from Bridgewater College in Somerset visited Denmark. This is where the Scandinavian roots of Forest School began. After observing the ‘friluftsliv’ culture (free open-air life) they were enthusiastic to bring this back to the UK and ‘Forest School’ began.
It is comprised of six principles:
The long-term principle – there is no pressure to achieve anything in the short term. Forest School is all about visiting a space over a long time period, creating a relationship and respect for the space, observing the seasons and having time to grow and develop at their own pace. Also, the sessions we do are two hours long. This means that children have the time to become fully engrossed in deep, rich play. It also gives them a chance to come back to an activity if they were nervous about it in the beginning of the session, after seeing their peers engage in it first.
The nature principle – one of the most important parts of Forest School is raising children who have a strong nature connection. These future generations will care for our planet and the flora and fauna that inhabit it. We are curious about looking at things in a finer detail – think looking at fungi with a microscope, finding out what calls each bird that visits our Orchard makes, how do those birds build a nest? What materials do they use?
The community principle – we come together in a different way in our Forest School sessions. The sense of community is always so strong, we work together to create our own songs while sat around the campfire, we all create ink from charcoal from the fire or elder leaves, we play games as a group. We all have a joint interest in Forest School! The children are always thrilled when they find out it is a Forest School Day!
The risk principle – it is so important to raise children who know how to risk assess and manage their own healthyrisks. We teach children how to find which log is safe to balance on, “I wonder if this log is wobbly? Is this one sturdier? I wonder if the rain might have made the logs slippery today?“ The children thrive on the additional physical challenges that Forest School has to offer – climbing trees, rope ladders, bridges and swings etc. and all of this is possible because we have a high staff ratio to ensure we are on hand to prompt these risk assessing questions and support where needed.
The holistic learning principle – I quickly noticed when doing deep observations during my training that even though the children are left to lead their own learning, the nature of a forest school session, how it is planned and the opportunities available mean that either all or almost all seven areas of learning are covered in every session by every child. This is brilliant as it shows that intrinsically, children seek out these learning opportunities and will naturally thrive in forest school.
The leadership principle – this is about having a qualified forest school leader. Someone who understands the values that make forest school, the learning theories, has a knowledge of how to promote nature connection and plan sessions that ensure the children’s development. Following a planning cycle that means it is tailored to the children and their interests and development. At Landbeach we are lucky enough to have four forest school leaders!
A typical Forest School session looks like this:
First, we gather around the gate to the Orchard. While a member of staff risk assesses the site, the Forest School leader will chat to the children about something they have observed in the Orchard, this could be a robin landing on the activities as they were being set up, or a chiff-chaff singing as we are waiting, it could be an observation on changes in the Orchard aligning with the seasons.
When we enter the Orchard, our first stop is our ‘Grandmother Tree’ This is the walnut tree that was the last tree the couple who made the Orchard planted so it is a special one. The Grandmother Tree allows us to enter the Orchard and we show her respect, observe her changing and sing to her when we come in. We have various nature connection songs we love to sing to her.
Next up is a game. These can be used to bring the children together as a community, to warm them up in the colder months or just for good fun! This could be sardines, the floor is lava, 1, 2, 3 where are you? (A twist on hide and seek!) Our nature connections and understanding of the seasons grows through these games too – it is much easier to hide in the summer than winter!
I will then show the children what is on offer for the session. This could be a craft activity, a new rope bridge, ladder or swing, something exciting added into the mud kitchen, a letter left by the fairies in their den, nature ID books with magnifying glasses and a microscope or much more!
This time is where the slow pace of Forest School comes into its own. The children have a prolonged period to lead their own learning; they can choose to do the same thing each session if they want to. It means they can have rich, deep play that is meaningful for them. For example, when I was observing a child through my pilot sessions, they went straight to a bird book in our nature ID books every session. They carried this book around with them for the whole of each session, getting to know the different birds inside, choosing their favourite bird, finding out my favourite bird and showing it to me every session! Widening their vocabulary, spotting birds in the Orchard or finding feathers and searching through the book to work out which birds they came from. This child is still loving this book almost a year later and is still learning new things from it.
Towards the end of the session, we ‘come on in’ to share a nature themed book. The children will vote to choose which one they would like to read. This shows them a sense of democracy, that everyone’s opinions matter and that we respect the views of others.
After our book, we will pass around the talking stick. When we hold it, it is our turn to talk. If we aren’t holding it, it is our turn to listen. Again, this is teaching the children that everyone values their voice and wants to hear what they have to say. We share what our favourite thing was from the session, this gives the forest school leader information to inform planning for the next session but also builds confidence in the children so much. Seeing the change over time is fantastic.
Finally, we say goodbye and thank you to the Grandmother Tree for allowing us in and we line up ready to go back to nursery.
The thing that I have noticed the most since starting these sessions is just how happy everyone is about Forest School!
There is nothing better for wellbeing than being fully immersed in nature. Feeling the sun on your skin, listening to the birds, feeling the breeze, smelling smoke from a campfire, being part of a strong community. This is an amazing experience for children and adults alike, but on top of that for the children to have the freedom and time to explore and learn at their own pace is special. I feel so grateful that I get to be part of providing these rich childhood experiences and I hope that many core memories have been made that will last a lifetime.
