Milestones

November is a month I have an uneasy relationship with. As we await it's dawning I realise the thought of it hits harder than the actual month!

Over the years I've lost too many people in November so it holds a few poignant anniversaries. My lovely Dad, who fostered my love of nature, had his birthday mid-month, which makes it bittersweet since we lost him, and some of my biggest life changes dawned in one November or another!

Now, I don't view these changes as a bad thing, but they were each a time of life upheaval - even if the choices made were so much for the better! Adjustment takes time, well for me at least! So I always eye up the arrival of the 11th month with a little trepidation... what will it bring this time round?!

One of the more significant alterations November brought to my life was Chartham Primary School. I officially started working there in November 2019, which feels like yesterday and

a lifetime ago in equal measure!

This Primary School on the edges of Canterbury in Kent were losing their TA/FSL and needed a replacement. I applied and got the job. Very quickly I saw the potential the school grounds held, and with the Senior Leadership Team aiming to make Outdoor Learning an important part of the school's ethos, we set off down a path of discovery and development for all things Forest School!

, I took over the 3-afternoon sessions with half classes. 15 children headed off to the swimming baths, and the 15 who remained came out to basecamp with me.

I had been working in a Primary School in London, mostly in Early Years, but over the 25 years I was there I had also been placed in Year 1 a few times and Year 3. I was one of 3 people qualified to deliver Forest School and I mostly did so for the 2 Nursery Classes and the 3 Reception Classes. Over time 3 qualified FSLs became 2, and other priorities meant that sharing the sessions became difficult, it was a selling point for the school, but not a priority. 

However, I had bought a lot of equipment and activities over the years (I qualified in 2013), so when I made the move from a Lewisham School to a Kent School, it all came with me!

This meant I was able to launch into sessions I had done before and was
confident in carrying out, I knew I needed time to get to know the children and the format, as well as the site. No longer was it a small piece of wooded wasteland at the end of the playground, it was 9 acres of assorted environment to figure out how to utilise! This was exciting and daunting in equal measure, and although I volunteered at the school from September to get to understand the site better, by November the goal had altered. It would no longer be 3 days a week but 4, with site time planned in, PPA, and a remit to expand the Outdoor Learning possibilities.

Autumn 2019 was swiftly followed by the global pandemic. From Christmas onwards we all watched the world slowly shut down and it finally caught up with us in the March.
Normal school life ceased. Swimming certainly ceased. Learning went online except for a few children and staff still in school.

When things eased a little in June, we had about half the school back on site, classes were now 'bubbles' and we didn't abandon Forest School we increased it.

Our sixteen 'bubbles' of 15 children each had a 75 minute session outside every week. We had to Risk Assess and analyse the Risk Benefit of everything. We devised ways to ensure 'bubbles' didn't mix and to ensure everyone had access to some Forest School time. It was a crazy time with no site time or planning, just activities and space to be in the fresh air away from the stress we all inevitable felt. We forget now that during that first wave of covid people were dying and we all worried about our families, friends, and the what ifs...

Having the time to lay in the grass and watch clouds, chase butterflies, pond dip, whittle, sit and chat etc, was needed.

When things slowly returned to some semblance of normal we continued with shorter sessions for all. Again - it was hectic, but that recovery period was equally hard going, and while rules, rooms, staff, and life altered around them, Forest School remained a constant.

Once all restrictions were lifted we started to offer Forest School Training. In partnership with FSLI we planned and delivered on-site Level 3 Training to staff from schools across Kent. It feels like there was a huge gap between these events, but January 2021 was a second lockdown, coronavirus still dominated and it was the following academic year that we started supporting training! We followed that up the next academic year - which was just this past May/June, and this year we are offering it twice. The Autumn round completes it's face-to-face this November, and new training will be here in Spring 2024.

In between we have started to provide Forest School Sessions for the Nursery Next door, we have a Stay & Play morning, and have had visiting schools try out OUR sessions before commiting to training staff themselves. We have hosted an Open Day and a Conference, Trained three of our Support Staff to Level 3, developed 3 separate Forest School sites on the school grounds, and have integrated it into the school timetable.

Sessions are over 2 hours long, we cover some of the PPA time for Teachers, and every class in the school has 3 x sets of 6 or more Child-Led sessions per year.

Seeing November slide round again, the darkening nights, the dropping temperature, and all it's personal anniversaries it brings, still doesn't make me hate it! 

There are some great people with November Birthdays to celebrate, I'm a sucker for a pub with an open fire, and I have never grown out of fireworks!

It's a milestone now, of how far we have managed to move Forest School forward, in our school, our community, and more widely.

Through a pandemic, hectic timetables, lockdowns, staff coming, staff going, visiting schools, hosting training, workshops, visitors, networks, and involvement with Kent life more and more, we've made it to the four-year marker. 

And we're pretty happy about that!