Mama Beech

I've often said I don't have a 'Focus Activity' planned for a session. No art or craft with an end product for the children to work on or take home, but that doesn't mean there isn't some kind of specific activity going on! Since Half Term we've been looking at leaves a lot. Some because the children's classes are named after trees and they show an interest in identifying their 'own'. For weeks there has been the opportunity to look, to ID, to draw and, to create with leaves and many children have taken that opportunity, either alone or with friends. This may be one of many activities they do in a session, or it could be something they chose to focus on for a very long time, and it has caught the interest of all the year groups across the Primary School. These have been Child-led activities that may have involved an adult at the child's request. Occasionally it may have been a suggestion by an adult that sparks an idea, or a comment from an a

Like in all practices, in Forest School, how you do things alters over time. Some of it is a slow evolution as your own confidence grows, a lot of it is simple trial and error, and much of it varies between groups you work with. The better you know the children in your sessions, the more you tailor what you are offering to them. For a while, I thought I only aimed what I offered based on the age group I had at Basecamp, but it's become increasingly obvious over the years that it's more to do with the experiences the children bring to sessions. Moving from an urban setting to a significantly more 'rural' one meant some surprising adaptations for me, the main one being how the pupils at school took their trees and open spaces for granted. They could easily be immersed in nature just a block or two from their front doors, but this didn't mean they appreciated it or treated green spaces with respect. In London, the children cherished their time in the woods and were eag

It's been an interesting week! Trying to catch up on a year's worth of admin, making resources, checking over the site, listing what needs to be done, cataloging what is usable and what needs replacing... As always THE most valuable thing any of us possess is TIME! The classes are enjoying their extended sessions. It isn't as rushed and the children are able to take time to explore many more aspects of Forest School as well as enjoy some time with staff to talk, ask questions, and learn a little more. Those children who need to run themselves ragged now get to do so and still have time to settle afterward into a game or activity. The dig pit has actually been empty a couple of times after children created big holes and then went off to do something else. We've had discussions about COP26, about joining a scout group, about what they did in half term. There have been some wishes and suggestions put forward, there have been discoveries and some alliances outdoors between

Change is one of those words that strikes terror into many a heart. We all know change can be good. We've all experienced change being bad. Change for change's sake is often just frustrating... and is the only guarantee we have in education! Covid brought change. We all suddenly had to do things differently, alter our practice, step out of our comfort zones and rearrange our lives. As a school that continued Forest School throughout the last 18 months, there was a lot to navigate to ensure we could provide meaningful sessions safely, and in our case, we extended Forest School to encompass all children weekly instead of weaving it into the curriculum on and off throughout the year. This was very successful in helping to keep a balance of wellbeing in these ongoing crazy times! It was also a crash course for all-year groups on what Forest School could be. Adults started to see how to use it to enhance what goes on inside, and the pupils began to understand responsibility and inde