Mama Beech

Everyone's life is still upside down! School's have to react daily to ongoing changes, many Forest Schools are closed, parents & carers are both working from home and supporting remote learning, and it looks like nothing will change until March 8th... It can be stressful, and despite the fact that we are over 10 months into this fluctuating situation , it's definitely unknown territory to navigate! Throw in a bit of understandable fear about jobs and income, childcare and health, and school life and home life can feel unsettled, even for the children. The only thing that remains constant is their want - and need - to play. As adults we see play as down time. Play is our hobby, it's our leisure, but for children it's their main source of learning, and as necessary as breathing! Grown ups see play as unproductive, even though we may expect colleagues to 'play with that idea' and come back with something productive, it is what we do when NOT working.  For a...

  Is it me or does this year not feel particularly new?!  So far 2021 is a hangover of 2020. Not much 'out with the old and in with the new' to celebrate! Where as January is usually filled with the determination (and struggle!) to make changes for the better, this year it's overwhelmed by a want and a need to get back to the norm. I know for a lot of Forest Schools Lockdown means shut down - and I am so sorry that small businesses offering such a amazing opportunities to children are having to take a step back. I'm also heartbroken at how many children will be missing out on those opportunities. There are pros and cons to running a Forest School within a Primary School. Working around other peoples timetables and, for some, working with other people's themes and plans can be difficult and frustrating. But many have at least managed to continue to provide sessions because they are based on a school site. In Lockdown March 2020 we kept minimal staff on site and the r...

It has taken me weeks to find a way to put this online! In the end I did a screen shot of the PDF so I don't know how well it will enlarge now it is a jpeg - but it does mean it is visible to all After hundreds of requests for it! It is very site specific but we aren't the only site facing these issues I hope it helps! If you think of something that needs adding - tell us in the comment section!  

This month's weather has been the kind I like, as long as I don't have to work! So being a term time Forest School has it's benefits because I can kick back and enjoy the heat!  The sun has been out almost permanently, and on the rare occasion when cloud cover has has arrived, the temperature has dipped - just a little. Storms have been promised, and have raged around the country, in places causing havoc, but no rain evident for Mama Beech ... yet. This is the problem with term time only Forest School: The constant wondering if the newly planted willow is curling up and dying, if the pond is ridiculously low, or if the Woodland Trust baby trees are coping with the heat... Next week I will have the opportunity to go in and check everything over. I live 50 miles away from the site so I have no idea what I will find! This may well be a damage control visit rather than any kind of development planning! And if the storms come between now and then the ravages of a deluge or fou...

I refuse to gleefully announce that 'schools are open' because many including mine never closed. The children who attended had opportunities for both Forest School and other forms of Outdoor Learning throughout. It was possibly the only time these children would've had the chance to explore in such a wide aged ranged group, and their interactions were very positive But now they are back in school with a new timetable and a new agenda and a new way of working and learning and living day-to-day Forest School is adapting as it goes, and a lot of what we normally do has either ceased or is being questioned Meeting the 6 core principles of Quality  Forest School (as listed on the Forest School Association website) may be difficult Quality Forest School is long enough Quality Forest School is   risky enough/safe enough Quality Forest School promotes holistic development Quality Forest School is  natural enough Quality Forest School has learner led outcomes Qu...