Time Well Spent

This week in Forest School we have been readying the Wildlife Garden for Winter. It sounds a little premature, especially after such glorious weather, but as we see the Garden as belonging to the Wildlife, we decided to ensure there were more Hedgehog Houses in the hedges, more Toad Abodes in the Amphibian Village, more nesting material and opportunities for a House for a Mouse, and more feeding stations available for all creatures. 

We've been working flat out to make sure every class has the chance to contribute. We want these things in place for the Chartham Wildlife to acclimatise to before they look to hibernate later in the year. This specific area of our grounds we see as a large Natural Science Area, a chance to link everything in the curriculum regarding life cycles, food chains, hibernation, plants, habitat, care and understanding, teamwork, observation, and seasons (to name just a few curriculum threads) to real life experiences.

Building a terrace of hedgehog homes and creating a cafe was definitely a team effort! As was the two Year 6 classes aiming to create a den big enough for their entire class to fit into!

Linking what we do outside to learning inside is a constant, frequently unplanned occurrence! Teachers will use the outside environment to support these learning outcomes, but often the topic has either already been touched upon via Forest School Activities, or is embedded further by Forest School Sessions later.

The pupils enjoy the actual 'doing', whether it's maintaining the space, learning something new (like covering wildflower seeds to keep the birds off!), and a new skill; hammering in stick pegs to hold down the membrane, or if it's just exercising skills they have, like Year 1 using phonics to make a sign for their den.

Frequently pupils learn 'accidentally' as they participate. As recently reported, childrens' mental health improves with time spent outside in nature (link here), this change in the brain while outside seems to make learning easier to retain.

Way back in March we received three batches of baby trees from The Woodland Trust. In total we had 280 trees to use as stand alone saplings (as they grew), and two lengths of hedge. It started as a lovely activity for the whole school, each class came outside and planted 10 trees. Small groups working with me for RHS awards, and the Junior Forester Certificate helped also, and then mentored their classes when it was their turn. 

The children got to do a little bit of physical work for a purpose, they asked questions, they understood the plan, and they were excited and eager to take part. It was all going well and then suddenly it was lockdown!

There was a bit of a rush to get the last few in the ground before they were abandoned to the elements. It worked out remarkable well considering and most of them thrived over the summer heat, the downpours and now the warm slide into Autumn.

The rewilding efforts were worth it, as this week we discovered a common lizard residing in our log piles!

However, we have approximately 9 acres of mixed land! There is always room for a few more, and a need for extended hedging, and the occasional non-survivor from March that needs replacing....

So this Autumn Chartham Primary School will be giving EVERY pupil the opportunity to plant a tree of their own before Christmas. 

If you read this blog regularly you will know this is not exactly new news! But perhaps how we got to our love of trees isn't as obvious! 

We've been working through the Green Tree Awards and challenges that are set by the Woodland Trust since September 2019. If you are not involved it's something I recommend you have a look at, it helps to give a little structure and progress to the development of outdoor spaces and outdoor learning.

Other schools near by, in particular St Stephen's, have also been working towards awards, with a lot less space, but no less enthusiasm or dedication. Together the schools have noted how outdoor learning has helped focus the learning, even over lockdown:

Nature inspired lockdown achievements at Chartham Primary and St.Stephen’s Infant School.

Teachers from Chartham Primary and St. Stephen’s Infants collectively see the value in outdoor learning for our children. We therefore saw the importance of ensuring that our children continued to engage in their outdoor learning whilst unable to do so at school. Throughout lockdown, teachers from both schools gave our children outdoor learning challenges to complete, from looking for bugs to buildings nests and hotels for them. It was a joy to see and hear of the many children (and their families) engaging with these activities, as well as their own; helping to continue our mission of inspiring our children with nature to enrich their learning opportunities.

Whilst one family from Chartham Primary were busy building their own chicken coop for their new feathery family members, Alice (aged 5) from St. Stephen’s Infant school adopted a tree on the Kingsmead field. This kept her busy during lockdown as each day she has visited her tree and watered it.

Even though Alice is only 5 years old she has noticed the changes to her tree. She said, "I love having a tree to look after and watching it grow. When I adopted it, it didn't have any leaves - now it's getting some!"

Written by Sam Fry (St. Stephen’s Infants) and Fenella Holden (Chartham Primary School)

The interest of pupils in the great outdoors helps direct the curriculum going forward, as well as open up opportunities for community links:

Celebrating the Woodland Trust Award at Chartham Primary and St. Stephen’s Infants.

Since September 2019 the children at both Chartham Primary and St. Stephen’s Infants have been involved in gaining points from The Woodland Trust: these work towards their Green Tree Awards. At Chartham, this involved ordering trees and hedges to plant, and planning where they should go. Towards the end of term 4 every child had the opportunity to plant a tree with their class, complimented by an assembly based around ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’, led by our amazing Miss Munro (EYFS/KS1). The last tree (number 280) went into the ground just before lockdown.

In addition to this, Year 2’s fantastic biodegradable garlands for a Tree Dressing Day helped gain us the Bronze Award; we submitted our Green Travel Plan - the current recycling projects at school - and wrote a report to explain what outdoor learning opportunities we provide; Year 3 compiled two poems about what exploring forest school meant to them, illustrating these with photographs of their experiences; and we looked at our village from different points of view (from up a tree as a bird, and through a microscope as a bug) - our children agreed we need to protect all habitats.

Now School has returned we hope to start work on the Platinum Award with the development of a Wild Trail. We would also like to welcome the community to join us in creating new habitats, some planting, and celebrating our amazing outdoor spaces.

We are very keen to build further links with our community and welcome any new stakeholders. If you believe you could help in any way, please do contact us – we’d love to hear from you, and work more closely with our local community.

Written by Emma Ribbans and Fenella Holden (Chartham Primary School)

The hope at Chartham is that every child can literally look after their own tree over the years. They will get to identify it, label it, and watch it develop throughout their Primary School years. It will be observed, cared for, drawn, written about, photographed, measured, recorded, and monitored until the pupil leaves the school. 

We have space to scale this back for a few years and just plant trees each year with the new intake of pupils. Eventually even our site will start to fill up, the care of the trees can be passed over, maybe with a ceremony, from Year 6 children to Year R, with a new label and the opportunity for a new set of learning.

At the start of this academic year we are just in the planning stage, the trees do not arrive until after the half term holiday, between now and then there is a lot of Forest School happening, at both schools, and lots of Outdoor Learning to develop.

But I can't wait for the new round of planting to start