Mama Beech

If you follow the ideals of Forest School then you have to accept that not only do different children take different things away from the experience, but that they require a variety of different experiences to meet their needs. Accepting the 6 principles of Forest School  means you accept the children's freedom to explore whatever they choose to do, even if it seems they make the same choices week in and week out. The main point of children having  TIME,  both in minutes during a session, and in weeks stretched across a year, is to allow them to work through whatever may have them returning to the same behaviour, while offering the opportunity to get involved with many different activities before or after or instead. As I've said before we're running a type of 'Forest School Lite', which has the benefit of allowing the whole school access to Forest School Activities each week, but the disadvantage of only giving some groups about 30 minutes outside. Some time outsid...

T he easing into the new year is over! Our RHS School Challenge zipped past level 1 and 2 since term started because we have raised beds and a poly tunnel to utilise - the children are excited! We have a knowledgeable volunteer and a dedicated teacher eager to expand it's use and some equipment to repurpose! Meanwhile Storm Brendan hit Kent and brought down an old Elder Tree and took up a lot of time managing the crown which was now a tangle of twigs at face level! Now it's prone the children can still climb all over it, and the tree surgeon will look it over next week to see what is salvagable! Some roots are still earth bound so it may survive, plus a fallen trunk provides a home for huge numbers of minibeasts, and any bough that need removing can be repurposed in Forest School! The vehicle built by Year 5 is now attached to the Bug Tower to create what they call 'The Buggy'! A great storytelling prompt alongside a lot of very real insects! ...

The wildlife Garden needs quite a bit of taming one way or another. Despite a lot of it being left to nature the shallow soil and occasional class visit has done little to encourage wildlife into the area. So the Year 4 Forest School Group decided they would like to help build a 'Bug House'. The prep work - lugging large pallets was not their remit - but after that, the design was mainly theirs. The children enjoyed finding things to go in the drawers that we added: feathers and charcoal and pine cones etc. We also downloaded and laminated some information sheets from the Woodland Trust. We aren't keen on adding plastic to the environment but for now it's the only way we can prolong the life of information we want readily available. There are alternatives, and hopefully further along this rewilding journey we can fundraise to supply a more ecologically sound way to display information. We will add to the structure as time goes on. The children had lots of...