It Works

Is it me or has this term had at least 47 weeks in it so far? The school holidays are on an ever-present horizon that never seems to get closer! Having said that these last two weeks will now fly by leaving a feeling of incomplete…everything!

The second year interrupted by Covid is ever-so-slowly heading to a close, and somehow, we have made it through again ensuring ALL the children at school get to participate in Forest School. It has been a logistical challenge, timetables have been rewritten... regularly! Staggered starts to the school day, break times altered, and lunchtimes stretched, have meant adaptations to timings for everything. Including the entire school in Forest School every week has meant squeezing in 14 sessions into these rearranged days...

Weirdly, the morning’s feel short with at least 2 sessions in, the afternoons often feel longer, yet with only one session, the collective week can drag with me wondering when the weekend is coming, while at the same time mentally listing everything non-forest that I need to get done! As for months! How did we get through half a calendar year?

It has been amazing. We've loved it, staff and children, but we are all exhausted!

Ensuring the school can fashion some kind of Sports Day, a Year 6 ‘Production’, and acknowledge Leavers while still under covid restrictions has made the end of year timetable rather messy at most schools! Accommodating plenty of transition opportunities for new staff joining as well as for the year groups moving on and up means a straightforward Campfire Week will not work, so providing Celebration Days, to make sure every class ends their term’s sessions with a treat

requires a bit of creative planning!

Chatting to the children they have all enjoyed Forest School this year. One Year 6 child told me ‘it’s the only reason I came in today’, I didn’t ask what other options they felt they had!

For those of us used to Forest School it isn’t really surprising that the children say they like doing sessions, there are a rare few who don’t enjoy every session, but simply observing a class usually reveals a bunch of engaged smiling children. When I started this post however, I was told that many children were not looking forward to it, that either from previous experience or from sibling warnings, there were pupils who expected to be cold and miserable, wet and bored.

We have been outside in hail, snow, and monsoon-like rain. We’ve had gales that peak just short of the speed that cancels Forest School, and 35 oC of heat that made the open spaces almost unbearable and the shade relentlessly humid.
Children have literally body surfed through muddy puddles, created and sat in mud sludge, had snowball fights and made snow angels.
We’ve sheltered at basecamp from pounding rain until we had the courage to go out in it, we’ve watched hail bounce, we’ve shouted above the noise of the wind. We’ve listened to the sounds of weather, we looked for (and found) rainbows, we’ve seen the patterns ice makes on different surfaces, and we’ve watched surfaces steam and the sun dries them off.

We’ve planted trees, and bulbs, and seeds. We’ve dug out flower beds, and built wooden frames. We’ve put up temporary and permanent den structures time and again. We’ve learned which tool is which and how to use them safely, from spades & hoes & garden hoes to palm drills & bow saws.

We have met moths, butterflies and bees. Spiders, beetles, and woodlice. Newts, frogs, and snakes. We’ve glimpsed the white bobbing tail of a rabbit disappearing into long grass and the fox slink by in the shadows. We recognise some birds by sight and sound. We got to hold eggs, find feathers, and see the Dunnocks squabble. The Pheasant complains, the Blue Tits are chatty, and the Robin always hungry.

We watched our caterpillars turn into butterflies, and we nursed a bee until it died.

I’ve championed Forest School and the skill set it encourages many times, not just through hearsay, or through the growing research into its benefits, but because I see it working day in, day out.

I asked the children what they had learned in Forest School:

1.   “I never knew caterpillars turned into liquid in their chrysalis”

2.   “I never stroked a bee before, it’s so furry!”

3.   “I know how to sit next to the fire safely”

4.   “I never saw a snake before”

5.   “I never held a snake before”

6.   “I used to be scared of bugs and now I learned not to be”

7.   “I thought I couldn’t climb trees”

8.   “I didn’t like getting dirty”

9.    “You have to be quiet to see the birds”

10. “It takes ages to catch a newt!”

The Children recognise that although they have gained some ‘knowledge’, facts regarding the natural world, they have also
learned more than that. They’ve noticed themselves getting braver, considering safety, taking some independence, thinking for themselves… Of course a lot of these attributes come with growing older, child development will happen without Forest School, but we can offer the opportunity to practice patience, to observe closely, to follow their interests, to investigate independently, to ask questions, to try something new, to persevere, and to adapt and problem solve.

Skills to take into other learning environments.

To build self-confidence, self-esteem, resilience, curiosity, observation and questioning skills, muscles, dexterity, coordination, independence and wellbeing.

Skills to take into life.

Which is all I ask!

 

,