Balance
Everything has its pros and its cons. Every job has good tasks and annoying tasks. Every week has productive days and slow days. Forest School sessions have their ups and downs. This week has been the perfect example of that!
It has been gloriously sunny, that equinox weather that comes twice a year, cold mornings, sometimes even frosty, followed by a clear blue day and rising temperatures that mean you end up carrying half your clothing home in a bag! Layers are the secret to all Forest School dressing!
After a bright and cheerful weekend, I arrived at basecamp on Monday to find we'd had visitors. To use the legal term we'd had trespassers. This happens way too often. Mostly it's very minor disruption. I have to remove their empty alcohol bottles, their food wrappers, stand up all the log stools, put basecamp back into a circle, and check over the site. Obviously, all the time muttering to myself because it eats into my set-up time and makes me nervous about what I might have missed.
This week the large and heavy iron tripod over our fire basket had been pushed over, in falling it had struck our ageing but functional fire basket, it broke off a leg and made a hole in the bowl.
I have a line running above basecamp. it runs around the circle and I hang things the children give me from it. Mostly it's things they make in sessions, or 'treasures' they find such as extra-large pine cones. This had been pulled down and everything was not just on the floor but had been thrown around.
Nothing raises my blood pressure faster! It's more indignation than anger, but it is pretty instant!
I think it's the total lack of respect for the children. This is their space, this is where they explore, where they have fun. And someone somewhere just dismisses that and, through accident or deliberation, destroys part of it.
It is not the best way to start a week!
Year 4 (first session on Monday) were very vocal: "THAT'S ILLEGAL!", "Make them buy a new one!", "Call the police!", "That makes me so sad.", and "What else have they done?!". Then 26 would-be bloodhounds ventured off to see what else they could detect had been disrupted!
As quick as I am to seethe when confronted with the mess to tidy, I calm almost as fast. I have to, I need to tidy, repair, reset, and get back to a blank basecamp before I can do the usual setting up for sessions. The initial hangover from it is disappointment. Whoever clambers in must be local and that is disheartening.
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Usually, it's all dealt with by me, it's logged and we just carry on. This time it meant that our fire pit was unusable and as next week is the last week before the Easter holidays for us, it meant no campfire week, so I felt the weight of 6 class's disappointment and explained what had happened on our Facebook page.
The response was instant and proof that there is way more good in the community than bad. People were as annoyed and sad as we were. By the end of the day, we had a replacement fire basket and residents ready to head in with power tools to repair any damage! Celebration week will include the coveted marshmallows to toast after all!
Events did make Monday feel about a week-long - but didn't impact the sessions that day. The children still enjoyed exploring as usual and were angry but not upset by the intrusion.
Then, to totally balance the week out, Mother Nature went into overdrive! Year 3 went butterfly hunting and found a very calm and friendly Brimstone to see up close. They marvelled at how 'leaf-like' its wings are, how delicate they are, the colour of the fur on its body, how long its 'tongue' is, and they found a patch of daffodils to set it free on. They were amazed at their encounter.
Just to prove the extremes of emotion, the fond farewell to the butterfly was immediately followed by a sobbing child, who didn't know whether to laugh or cry, who had bent down to pick up a stick and a twig on a bush had gone up her nose making it bleed!
The following day Apple Tree and Cherry Tree classes (SEND) came out and I felt I had fallen into an unknown Disney movie!
Before they arrived I was watching a mouse who scurried away as soon as they arrived, I did tell them about it so they turned to look at the patch of ivy it had disappeared into and out it marched! Not only did they get to see it, but some chose to watch it for half an hour as it scampered about between brambles but in full site. One child carefully reached out and managed to gentle touch it before it flitted away! Meanwhile, another child was watching the resident robins darting about between shrubs and the bird table, while two others spotted a squirrel sneaking up to the Book Nook! The sun was out, the birds were singing and it was almost a surreal experience!
Nothing is ever an even keel in life, in education, or in Forest School. There are good days and bad days. Great sessions and sessions where you question your career! School/sites/roles that make you feel like you're achieving something, and others that you need to walk away from. It's about finding a balance, and hopefully tipping that balance towards enjoyment and happiness.
In 4 days I had gone from a moment of irate frustration at 9.30am on Monday, to sitting quietly after the last class left, on Thursday afternoon, with a mouse at my feet, robins on the bird table, squirrels chasing in the trees above, Bumblebees buzzing past, and the blackbird doing flypasts in full song!
It's like the Forest knew...
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