Mama Beech

Firstly - apologies for no blog last weekend! I knew we had a visitor to help conclude a current chapter in our Child Led experience (see last blog ) and wanted to include it.  LAST week was celebration week  which basically means back to back campfires and 400 children loving life on hot chocolate and toasted Marshmallows! No matter what alternatives I offer - the mallows remain the treat of choice! This term was our first time having simultaneous campfires, one in The Copse and one into the Wildlife Garden - or - one in The Copse and one Under The Trees, as all three Forest Schools are up and running and embedded in the timetable now! My colleagues have found their feet, are developing their sites and their practice, and are forging forward. So it was 12 fires across 3 sites in 4 days with no issues at all! THIS week (just gone), was off timetable and there was some time to catch up on admin, check the site, promote the training we're hosting next May AND invite a visitor in...

One of the more difficult aspects of Forest School for most people to come to terms with is the 'Child Led' ethos. School Leaders, parents, any kind of inspector, and even the curious public often question it. Many of us have backgrounds in education before we train to deliver Forest School, so we are already well versed in curriculum areas, learning intentions, and engaging activities... all of which have planned outcomes. To then set children free to explore on their own requires an entire reset on how you've been facilitating learning and what you think it looks like. Being open to this change doesn't mean you don't have to adapt. I assume anyone training is already interested in a different way of helping children explore and understand the world around them. But whether it's a recent grounding in (or several years/decades of) data input via a spreadsheet, it frequently leads to a kind of hybrid approach to planning and assessment for Forest School Sessions...