Starting Out
This week we have two days of Skill Training before our 18 FSLI students disband. Some are doing their 6 weeks of planning and delivering sessions this term, others in the new school year in order to meet the criteria to qualify.
A small minority of them have only been to a few Forest School Sessions themselves, the majority have attended with their own children or with classes of pupils, but forging forward to finding your own way to run a session can be daunting - even with children/classes you know!
Last week, two of my colleagues on the course delivered their very first Forest School Sessions!
Helen is running sessions with a Year 2 class, while Kalina is working with a class in Year 6.
Having supported me very well for over 60 sessions, Helen still says:
"Preparing for my first session as a Forest School Leader (in training!) provided a few sleepless nights and a little bit of ‘panic planning’.
I had it in my mind that the children might get bored so felt I should give them lots of things to choose from. I had rehearsed the session in my mind several times…
Mostly making sure I didn’t forget any vital parts of the safety talk!"
We are lucky enough to have space to accommodate three separate Forest Schools. This means we can allow each Forest School Leader to design and set up their own area and bring their own strengths and interests to their practice.
As a school, we provide sessions for years R to 6, plus to two satellite SEND classes and being able to offer different aspects of Forest School in different settings should afford us a much greater range of experiences to involve the children in.
On the one hand I feel a little mean giving two brand-new student Forest School Leaders two sites in need of further development, but on the other hand I would've loved a blank canvas when I first qualified!
I have altered the third site at Chartham significantly since I arrived here in response to what the children asked for, showed interest in, and what I could see as a natural.progression from what they already enjoyed.
I will always advise student FSLs to involve the children as much as possible in developing their sessions AND sites.
Ask for ideas, see what works well, what doesn't, what might need adapting.
Get the classes to help 'build' the Forest School with you.
This can also mean actually physically building too. Make it a project that they can enjoy being part of.
Helen, Kalina and I came in at half-term to do some prep work, but both will be developing their sites with the children.
After her introductory session with Year 6 Kalina said:
'The class was really good! They got stuck in and were happy to help and give ideas'
Walking into a basecamp knowing that you are 'in charge' can be a bit overwhelming for all of us. Doing it for the first time, especially when it is part of proving you can do this role, brings a certain amount of stress! Like all training you have to prove you can plan, support, and implement a session almost perfectly! The short cuts and little tricks that come with familiarity of your site, and cohort, cannot come into play while you are demonstrating your knowledge of Forest School pedagogy and practice in action!
Helen says:
"As with all things the thought of doing something outside of the norm always feels far more scary, but the day of my first session arrived along with 28 excited children, and they listened as I introduced the session - eager and excited to explore."
Remember few Forest Schools are able to run a 'pure' session. Not everyone has the environment or the space or the time allocated to immerse children into a model Forest School. While qualifying you need to prove that you fully understand what this formular would be, and only divert from it while embracing the ethos wholeheartedly. This is a pressure that those of us who have run session for years have come to terms with! We run the best sessions we possibly can in the time and space available, often within the parameters set by others, and we've figured out how to make it work as well as possible in our specific circumstances. That compromise comes from time and experience.
Kalina said:
'The children helped me out, they were assisting me as I went along. It's very different to being in class where I am in charge and telling them what they need to do. We explored together and it was teamwork!'
When starting out on your Forest School Leader journey you may have this insight in theory but not in practice, so the idea you need to provide a specific type of Forest School you cannot possibly supply can bring anxiety.
Obviously, there can be a feeling that you are doing it 'wrong', even when there is no other way to run a session! This feeling can come at anytime, an 'off' day, a new mix of children, something significant happening just before a session to set emotions, and especially with a change of job or site.
When you work within a school you frequently have to field off pressure to change Forest School completely, and make compromises around the sessions you provide. Compromise and adaptation can only go so far. It is easy to stray into Outdoor Learning and lose the ethos of child led, independence quite quickly.
There is always the option to move on. I know a few Forest School Leaders who have left their positions because what was being asked of them was just not Forest School!
I explained to a colleague once that if you were asked to go outside and do a cricket lesson, but were told there were no bats and you had to use a soccer ball, suddenly your choices are to invent a new game, or teach football! Teaching cricket is no longer an option!
This is what it feels like when asked to get the children to focus on something specific, to meet a curriculum criteria during a session and to ensure every child does so.
When starting out the pressure to make Forest School something it isn't can be overwhelming.
My own general rules are if it can be done inside - then I'm definitely going to question the activity!
What can I provide that they cannot do elsewhere in their school timetable?
What follows their interests shown in the past?
So, taking into consideration
space available,
environment,
season,
weather,
time,
resources,
support/ratios
remit from employer,
an activity range to develop skills,
whatever nature chooses to drop into the mix,
plus the children's age, ability & experience
to calculate what a session will look like, all the while using the pedagogy as format...
WHY do we do this!!??
Kalina said she had 'so much fun! It was exhausting and it felt busy but the children were happy and I followed what I intended to do. I'm looking forward to next week!'
Helen summed it up as:
"The session flew by, the children played, laughed, and created. It is an amazing feeling to see the joy that Forest School brings them.
She also said:
To know that I helped make that happen fills me with endless joy…
I feel proud, my smile never left my face and I can’t wait to go into next weeks session with that added sprinkle of confidence that todays experience gave me."
And I think that says it all!
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