Stormy weather
At the risk of sounding even older than I actually am "We have way more storms than we uses to"! Which may or may not be statistically true, but definitely a lot more have impacted our Forest School since 2021 than before.
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| (Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning!) |
Often, these charge in overnight or at weekends leaving me tip-toeing onto site to see what damage has been done. Frequently they gather pace at 4pm leaving the school day clear for sessions, and sometimes, the gods are smiling and they blow themselves out in the morning before the first class is due on site!
They always make their mark though. Torn parachutes, flapping tarps, tree debris everywhere, litter blown in, on one occasion a 6ft trampolines rolling across the school. Field...
There's the risk assessment required to ensure the site is fit for use, and damage to manage or remove. We're never totally unscathed!
Sitting on a plateau at the edge of the South Downs doesn't help. The wind rushes over the farmland and races up the hill only to find a nice, wide, open field to hurtle across, before slamming into whichever basecamp is in its path!
All 3 of our sites have trees, many of which are mature. We've lost boughs and had trunks up-ended in the past, making readying the space for a session quite difficult!
Independent Forest Schools sometimes have to make the sad but sensible decision to cancel a session. This is disappointing to the children and parents, and the FSL, time and preparation has gone into that day, there is lost revenue and when trying to build a business the last thing you want to do is close.
In school we cannot cancel. We are part of the timetable, the children can't go home, there are few alternatives, and staff are already scheduled elsewhere!
So we bring the session inside.
I've written of Indoor Forest SchoolIndoor Forest School before. I keep some activities in a bag that can help create a nature themed morning/afternoon in a classroom.
This week's forecast is a little alarming. It's a lazy Sunday morning right now, but overnight we have threatened wind speeds gusting at 60mph!
Tomorrow's Safety sweep will be lengthy!
The rest of the week seems to fit around our timetable. With three of us out on and off all week, often with two Forest Schools happening on different sites, monitoring the safety of the environment will be a priority.
Meanwhile, I will be adding to our Indoor Forest School bag, in case the wind doesn't follow the timetable the Met Ofice has issued, or damage makes a site unsafe.
I will be overhauling the indoor plan, ensuring we can still offer independent learning activities in the classroom. Preferably ones we can differentiate easily for eyfs to Yr6! Inside we can focus on knowledge and knots, close observation and creativity, information and discovery, as well as stories and listening skills.
As the week has barely started I have no photos to illustrate what we will do, and I still cling, cross-fingered to the hope that we can go outdoors, so may never get to provide them!
But I can list what we will have available:
- Wildlife photography books 📷
- Information books 📚
- Pictures books 🖼
- Chapter books 📖
- Top trump cards (trees, bugs, UK wildlife) 🌳🐞🦔
- Jigsaw puzzles 🧩
- Animal figures for Storytelling 🐇🐀🐿🦡
- Plastic bugs and habitat 🐌🐜🐝🪲🦗
- Life cycle props 🐛🦋
- Peelers & Yarn 🧶
- Sticks
- Elder beads 📿
- Birdseed & lard 🐦
- Saltdough/clay
- Wordsearch/crosswords ✏️
- Wildlife colouring in 🖍
- Natural objects & magnifiers 🔎
- Toy birds with bird sounds 🎶
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