Here we go again...

Next week School and therefore Forest School will be open to all students. 

This weekend the staff of an entire education system will brace themselves for the unknown! It will be great to have smiling faces back in classrooms, but the assessment needed, the short term and long terms plans required to move forward, and the expected spectrum of needs, is going to take a lot of management! 

As of next week 14 classes will be taking shortened Forest School sessions in the 'woods' in an attempt to continue the Outdoor Learning journey some have been aboard all year, and to reintroduce those who have had a break from it. The aim is to use this time to allow space and freedom to follow self-chosen learning for all. Encouraging movement and exercise for those who have been housebound, and an emotional outlet for those who need to connect with nature, can only serve to make the children healthier, and time to talk for those who have things to say can only make them happier.

Once again the focus will return to getting the children outside as much as possible. Not just for Forest School but for any/all outdoor learning sessions that take learning beyond four walls. 

Hopefully Spring will be kind to us weather-wise as it encourages those who aren't keen on learning al fresco to try it! In Forest School the weather is almost irrelevant. Only electrical storms and high winds stop play. Rain makes the digging area and the mud kitchen much more fun. Last month's snow was a glorious experience for the children. In fact unrelenting heat on a clear day can be the most challenging! Keeping kids in the shade and lathered in sunscreen is not easy. Maybe we will see some of those days this year...

Moving forward extending and developing learning within school grounds is moving up the national agenda. It's not easy for schools to do with budgets that were stretched even before the pandemic. Even without spending a fortune on resources, time and planning has to be invested and isn't always possible.

The Early Years skill of repurposing EVERYTHING, checking out every skip you pass and refusing to throw anything out extends into Forest School, and resources can be adjusted and assigned alternate uses within sessions. This 'skill' needs to be drawn upon to improve outdoor spaces and activities, and create learning opportunities outside that merge with the demands of the curriculum.

Similarly, support for regularly bringing the outside in needs to be in place. The basics are there, If there is a class visit to a museum, or a beach, or a theatre, schools are adept at drawing on the experience to start a topic, create art, or write a story. Container gardening in the corner of the playground, a session chalking shadows on the path outside, or 10 minutes cloud watching, can translate into an in-class lesson fairly easily. Starting a project outside the building works just as well as ending it with an outdoor treat! It can be something you build towards, but it can be a powerful starting point for whatever you want to explore too. 

Meanwhile pupils this week enjoyed exploring their environment, the rope swings and climbing trees apparently never get boring! Teamwork rules and digging tunnels half way to Australia is always popular! This week it included creating 'Love Island', which gave me a moment of reflection before Year 3 explained it was a heart shaped island in the dig pit!

The children remember all they did last week in detail and talk about what they want to do in the next.  It always amazes me how much they remember from this time last year, and from two or three years ago, how they use what they learned back then to influence what they do now. They enjoy planning for 'next time' - even if they get distracted before the next session and arrive with different intentions.

Back in the mists of time I remember my own primary school with recollections of trips to the library, and the school garden. Of sports days in a park and annual trips to the seaside. I remember an entire topic on the Tudors because we visited a Tudor Garden, and reading A Christmas Carol because we took the train through the countryside to a Dickens exhibition. These were AMAZING school days - and they weren't in school!

I don't know if the change from the run of the mill 9 - 3.30 (as was) allowed these events such impact. What we now understand about how children respond to being outside in the world, especially in nature, should make it more essential to get them outside at every opportunity. 

Not only do we know that being outside has a positive effect on mental health, but we recognise that the children respond better to lessons when they incorporate the outdoors.

In fact if we recognise a trip out of the class as a 'treat' then we recognise that the highlight of the theme may well lie outside of the classroom, so do it often and do it well and make more learning memorable!

There is often an assumption that getting staff on board will be a struggle. Yes, some people don't enjoy the great outdoors as much as others, but the effect on the pupils usually wins them around. It also allows for hidden talents to shine, as a keen gardener takes on a garden club, or the skip-diving bug spreads and useful items start to arrive!

One of our TAs has been on a mission for over a year, thwarted by lockdowns and school holidays, and life in general, and finally this week arrived with a hand made sign for basecamp!

If you focus on outdoor learning pretty much everyone will find a way to integrate it and enjoy it, whether they are child or adult! 

Involve everyone. 

You never know who has something amazing to contribute!