Happy New Year...?

 Is it me or does this year not feel particularly new?! 

So far 2021 is a hangover of 2020. Not much 'out with the old and in with the new' to celebrate! Where as January is usually filled with the determination (and struggle!) to make changes for the better, this year it's overwhelmed by a want and a need to get back to the norm.

I know for a lot of Forest Schools Lockdown means shut down - and I am so sorry that small businesses offering such a amazing opportunities to children are having to take a step back. I'm also heartbroken at how many children will be missing out on those opportunities.

There are pros and cons to running a Forest School within a Primary School. Working around other peoples timetables and, for some, working with other people's themes and plans can be difficult and frustrating. But many have at least managed to continue to provide sessions because they are based on a school site.

In Lockdown March 2020 we kept minimal staff on site and the rota included the Forest School Leader. When present, there was a Forest School session for the few children that were in. When school reopened in June, we risk assessed and sessions restarted too, and haven't stopped since. 

The pandemic brought with it the need for fresh air, both in the classrooms and as a setting. It highlighted the importance of outdoor learning and how simple it can be to take most learning outside. We aimed to emphasise using our grounds as much as possible. Our version of Forest School Lite was born and all school staff began to think of outdoor learning as part of their weekly if not daily planning.

It quickly became the way of working. Any lesson that could go outside did - and many were planned specifically to be open air. Utilising our space and resources was more a logistical plan of who was where when, than a drive to get all staff on board, or an exercise in how! But that was Summertime, outside had an allure of it's own! Now it's Winter, the weather is not enticing, the short days are not inviting, but the need for fresh air is as important as ever.

With a new Lockdown the rules and regulations have altered again, but we can adapt. Last term 14 classes were accessing Forest School across across 4 days. Now classes are year group bubbles there are only seven classes. The bubbles have halved so the time required has halved. The children in school have the same provision this term as last, and in the time spent away from site, the Forest School Leader can upload activities that families can do on their daily walks or in their garden, as well as support teachers in school with ideas on how to take even more learning outside, and those providing home learning with activities to try and ensure the children at home have the same opportunities as those in school.

Meanwhile, for two days a week it is business as usual, and January so far has provided  wall to wall cloud, chilly breezes, and rain. Lots and lots of rain! Apparently the Inuit has hundreds of words for snow, their language differentiates from those tiny polystyrene-like balls that fall and bounce, to the huge flat flakes that float and settle by name alone. It is a wonder to me that the English language is limited to 'drizzle', 'rain', and 'torrential'! This week the air has been damp, raindrops have hung in the air like mist or fog but without the reduced visibility. They have fallen in huge monsoon-esque droplets that pound foliage, they have constantly and consistently dripped in various sizes and speeds for the first few days of term, which after a term of planting both hedges and an fruit trees, we are grateful for! The by product of this is MUD!

For us the mud magnets are Year 6! All the year groups like to spend time digging, and mixing, and making mud pies. Most of our pupils play for a while and then move on to some whittling, or balancing, or climbing, or something, anything else! 

Our oldest year group love mud just because it is mud. The dig and they mix and they get very, very hands on! Their need for the tactile side of playing with this substance is probably at it's highest now, the pounding of the soil/sand combination to create fairly solid clay-like mud, and the mixing of the water to create a gloop that oozes through their fingers and squelches beneath their feet. The comradery of creating this together, of experiencing it. 

They help each other out of the self made quick sand, they share ideas, they become a team. Despite the cold, clinging mud they literally fill their boots, slip, slide, fall, and splatter themselves. They laugh. They smile. They have fun. They chatter, and yell, and scream, and grumble, and walk away looking like they've exited a battlefield!

This sensory experience certainly lowers anxiety during the activity. This focus can remain for up to an hour, Narratives and ideas change and involve. Classes bubbles are made up of children from the two year group classes, a blended mix of pupils who know each other well but are not usually in the same classroom. These groups will last for at least this term, so hopefully the shared enjoyment will help them bond as a group and look forward to school.

This time last week the entire school community was able to laze at home. The children had a different routine, and were in their own home. For many this was a fun filled time following Christmas, coming back wasn't necessarily something they wanted to do more than stay home in PJs. Having one 'normal' day and then being plunged into a mixed, small class has unsettled a few. Keeping as many of their activities and timetable the same as before Christmas will help the adaptation to their new bubble.

Weekly Forest School will continue with varying numbers of pupils, with a focus on enjoying the outside, wellbeing and nature. Hopefully at some point this year life will start seeming much more familiar. For now it seems we will be working this way for Term 3 and possibly Term 4. 

For Forest School there will be little change, activities will alter because of fewer participants and planning will change accordingly. Our online presence will increase (on facebook) for families to access if they choose and Winter maintenance of the site will commence!

Here's to 2021 being a little LESS insane than 2020!