Supporting Forest School
In the last month the children have engaged and smiled through all kinds of aspects of being outdoors. Much of it with their teachers and some of it with the Forest School Leader. With over 100 children from Reception to Year 6 it has been a challenge to keep up Forest School as a broad scope for exploration and learning.
Squeezing 12 sessions into a four day week leaves little time for changing activity-starters, and no time for planning! Switching from the mindset of instructing 10 year olds' on building a safe structure, straight into Early Years mode with no break in between can make your head spin! The change of pace and needs required can alter drastically depending on the range and experience of the children involved, and this swap 3 or 4 times a day can be demanding!
The school staff, teachers and TAs who have joined in to ensure safe numbers have all adapted too. Many had never been to a Forest School Session before this term and were learning along with the children. Their flexibility and willingness to just join in, or step back and observe, to direct safely and encourage independence, and to support both the children and the Forest School Leader has been wonderful. They are an amazing group of professionals who took the curriculum moving outside with a deep breath and adaptability, and have waded in to Forest School with the freedom and care it needs.
Across all year groups the children continue to explore, ask questions, discover new things, and climb trees! There is the occasional moan from the older children that we have to go over the Forest School Rules AGAIN at the start of every session - but they put up with it! Especially after an 11 year old fell from a tree (no injuries except to their pride) after trying to swing from a very skinny branch...
A nice soft landing on a deep ivy-covered floor, a sheepish admission of 'I know it was skinny but I thought I'd try it', followed by a lot of peer sympathy, then peer jokes, then pride in the war wounds (a few scratches), and a resolve that 'I will make sure it's thicker than my wrist in future'! Judging by the way the entire group climbs now it was a lesson learned by all.
The children's needs have altered each week and delivering support for their questions and discoveries, facilitating their designs and ideas, whilst maintaining and developing the site has been a challenge. At the beginning of last month the vast majority of children just needed to be outside with space to move in and the freedom to move as they wished. Now we are in July the children still need to run and jump and hide and climb and wear themselves out, but this week there was a noticeable change. Fewer children raced about, many that did settled into something calmer after 20 - 30 minutes, the majority responded well to a focused activity of some kind, and some chose to use part of their outdoor time to sit and reflect and just be.
The oldest children are focused on building dens, but in a cluster to create a 'village'. Their enthusiasm has lead us to stealing from the school skip for supplies, dragging pallets across the field and fighting brambles and dog rose bushes to make a safe spaces. They organise themselves, share limited resources, split into groups but help each other out, and come up with some amazing ideas.
The youngest want to create stories. They act out fantasy and realistic narratives as they discover pathways and 'tunnels' through bushes or find low branches they can access and climb. They constantly challenge their balance and grip and push themselves as much as they dare. They work well as a group and dip in and out of each other's tales as the sessions flows.
Having lost Spring to the lockdown, Summer seems to be throwing all it can at us. Everything continues to grow and thrive, thank goodness because the school grounds have never seen such footfall and some areas are going to need a rest and recovery period!
The wildlife has been obliging in it's boldness, and hunting for tiny newts, spotting new bugs, and finding a few tracks has been a revelation to many, and popular with all year groups.
We've had a mini heatwave and torrential rain, thunder and wind - yet very little moaning about the weather!
When it comes to the dominant factor in life at the moment, cross infection and the coronavirus, all we can say is we remain clear. The new lifting of restrictions due this weekend may change that, but that is out of our control. We cannot prevent a pre-symptomatic or Asymptomatic person entering the school, all we can do is reduce the risk of it passing around the building, staff and pupils if it does.
The end of the academic year is looming and it feels surreal to be thinking of 'endings' when an interruption has wiped out more than one season. Nothing about the educational year 2019/20 feels complete. Forest School hasn't really followed a progression of skills in a planned way since mid March. Many skills have been accessed and learned quickly when useful but not repeated and imprinted and mastered.
Getting back to solid sessions, aimed at ability as well as age, following the children's lead, within a structured session may not happen for some time. Hopefully there is a compromise for September where sessions can return to 2 hours and a format that supports outdoor learning and routine will be possible.
but right now we don't know.
And we have no control over what happens next!
Squeezing 12 sessions into a four day week leaves little time for changing activity-starters, and no time for planning! Switching from the mindset of instructing 10 year olds' on building a safe structure, straight into Early Years mode with no break in between can make your head spin! The change of pace and needs required can alter drastically depending on the range and experience of the children involved, and this swap 3 or 4 times a day can be demanding!
The school staff, teachers and TAs who have joined in to ensure safe numbers have all adapted too. Many had never been to a Forest School Session before this term and were learning along with the children. Their flexibility and willingness to just join in, or step back and observe, to direct safely and encourage independence, and to support both the children and the Forest School Leader has been wonderful. They are an amazing group of professionals who took the curriculum moving outside with a deep breath and adaptability, and have waded in to Forest School with the freedom and care it needs.
Across all year groups the children continue to explore, ask questions, discover new things, and climb trees! There is the occasional moan from the older children that we have to go over the Forest School Rules AGAIN at the start of every session - but they put up with it! Especially after an 11 year old fell from a tree (no injuries except to their pride) after trying to swing from a very skinny branch...
A nice soft landing on a deep ivy-covered floor, a sheepish admission of 'I know it was skinny but I thought I'd try it', followed by a lot of peer sympathy, then peer jokes, then pride in the war wounds (a few scratches), and a resolve that 'I will make sure it's thicker than my wrist in future'! Judging by the way the entire group climbs now it was a lesson learned by all.
The children's needs have altered each week and delivering support for their questions and discoveries, facilitating their designs and ideas, whilst maintaining and developing the site has been a challenge. At the beginning of last month the vast majority of children just needed to be outside with space to move in and the freedom to move as they wished. Now we are in July the children still need to run and jump and hide and climb and wear themselves out, but this week there was a noticeable change. Fewer children raced about, many that did settled into something calmer after 20 - 30 minutes, the majority responded well to a focused activity of some kind, and some chose to use part of their outdoor time to sit and reflect and just be.
The oldest children are focused on building dens, but in a cluster to create a 'village'. Their enthusiasm has lead us to stealing from the school skip for supplies, dragging pallets across the field and fighting brambles and dog rose bushes to make a safe spaces. They organise themselves, share limited resources, split into groups but help each other out, and come up with some amazing ideas.The youngest want to create stories. They act out fantasy and realistic narratives as they discover pathways and 'tunnels' through bushes or find low branches they can access and climb. They constantly challenge their balance and grip and push themselves as much as they dare. They work well as a group and dip in and out of each other's tales as the sessions flows.
Having lost Spring to the lockdown, Summer seems to be throwing all it can at us. Everything continues to grow and thrive, thank goodness because the school grounds have never seen such footfall and some areas are going to need a rest and recovery period!
The wildlife has been obliging in it's boldness, and hunting for tiny newts, spotting new bugs, and finding a few tracks has been a revelation to many, and popular with all year groups.
We've had a mini heatwave and torrential rain, thunder and wind - yet very little moaning about the weather!
When it comes to the dominant factor in life at the moment, cross infection and the coronavirus, all we can say is we remain clear. The new lifting of restrictions due this weekend may change that, but that is out of our control. We cannot prevent a pre-symptomatic or Asymptomatic person entering the school, all we can do is reduce the risk of it passing around the building, staff and pupils if it does. The end of the academic year is looming and it feels surreal to be thinking of 'endings' when an interruption has wiped out more than one season. Nothing about the educational year 2019/20 feels complete. Forest School hasn't really followed a progression of skills in a planned way since mid March. Many skills have been accessed and learned quickly when useful but not repeated and imprinted and mastered.
Getting back to solid sessions, aimed at ability as well as age, following the children's lead, within a structured session may not happen for some time. Hopefully there is a compromise for September where sessions can return to 2 hours and a format that supports outdoor learning and routine will be possible.
but right now we don't know.
And we have no control over what happens next!
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