Mama Beech

We're going to have an Open Day! There is a steady flow of visitor requests across the year and we're happy to accommodate. It does take time out of the day (but never sessions) so we're trialing a day for visitors when the Forest School Lead has no other commitments! Different visitors want to see different things. Sometimes it's part of a School Leadership Team wanting to see how we run. Sometimes it's people who want to train and have questions about Forest School. Sometimes it's a Forest School Leader who just wants to be nosy! In my days of working INSIDE classrooms, nothing was more useful or fun than looking around other peoples' classrooms! How they created displays, what their book corner looked like, how they used all those things you never knew you wanted in the IKEA Market area! It's the same with any outdoor space. How big is it, what's the environment, what do you use, how is it set up...? We all love a good rummage around someone else...

Education is full of contradictions. We want free thinkers but the curriculum is prescribed. We want independent learners but everything has a planned outcome. We want each child to be curious and engaged but every child has the same activity. We want children to take risks but we remove almost all of them. We want curious, independent, able, children who can self-regulate, behave responsibly, and think for themselves, yet nothing in the curriculum teaches them how to do this! It's written as a one-size-fits-all document and teachers try to weave their magic by opening it up as much as they can, making it as inclusive as possible, within the small time frame the termly schedule allows.  Forest School, on the other hand, is based on 6 fundamental principles: Long Term Event Set in Nature Holistic Approach Learner centred Risk Benefits Qualified staff These foundations in every practice will look different. For us, it looks like all Primary School Classes outside for a minimum of 90 ...

Seeing a whole new batch of enthusiastic students onsite never ceases to remind me how much I love Forest School. It's not that I forget exactly, but once in the swing of site maintenance, planning, delivering sessions to a timetable, plus dealing with whatever else School life decides to challenge me with, I often end up in overseer mode and miss opportunities to simply enjoy Forest School along with the children! In the last few months, the season and weather have meant I was able to focus on activities rather than the environment. But Spring is here with a vengeance and now places need taming, areas need clearing, and everywhere needs monitoring! I've been using my site time, PPA, Lunchtimes, and gaps between sessions to get some work underway on the Copse Site. The poisonous perennials are breaking through the grassy areas, all the ropes holding up tyres and swings need checking, and the 1000+ trees we've planted since 2019 need an individual  inspection!  Basecamp is k...