Coxhoe Primary School

Forest School

Mrs Topping - Forest School Lead.

What is Forest School?

Forest School is a child-centred inspirational learning process, that offers opportunities for holistic growth through regular sessions. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration and supported risk taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.

Forest School has a developmental ethos shared by thousands of trained practitioners around the world, who are constantly developing their learning styles and skills to support new and imaginative learners.

The process helps and facilitates more than knowledge-gathering, it helps learners develop socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. It creates a safe, non-judgemental nurturing environment for learners to try stuff out and take risks. Forest School inspires a deep and meaningful connection to the world and an understanding of how a learner fits within it. Our approach to risk means that learners constantly expand on their abilities by solving real-world issues, building self-belief and resilience. We believe that risk is more than just potential for physical harm, but a more holistic thing, there are risks in everything we do, and we grow by overcoming them. Forest School therefore, helps participants to become, healthy, resilient, creative and independent learners.

There is lots of research out there to support the outcomes of Forest School, but we know that it isn’t just the educational outcomes and research that matter, our learners and leaders love it too!

Forest School at Coxhoe Primary School 2023-2024

Rowling Class.

Morpurgo Class.

Walliams Class.

Rowling Class.

Forest School Calendar

Year 2:

Milne:

Week 1 -

Week 2 -

Week 3 -

Dahl:

Week 1 -

Week 2 -

Week 3 -

Useful information:

I have questions about my child's upcoming session, who should I contact?

Mrs Topping is our forest school lead. She is a level 3 qualified Forest School practitioner and a level 5 qualified TA/HLTA, with a paediatric first aid qualification. You can contact the school and she will be happy to help with any queries you may have.

What will my child/children need to wear/bring for my session?

On the day of your child's forest school session, children will need to wear old, warm clothes; preferably waterproof outerwear and a pair of wellies or old trainers. Spare footwear should be brought into school in a separate bag to be changed and and out of before and after sessions.

In hot weather, sun hats and suncream should be brought into school on the day of your session.

Please ensure that all clothing/creams are clearly labelled with your child's name, thank you.

What will my child be learning during their sessions?

All children (with the exception of our current EYFS) have completed their first year of forest school. They have learned how to be safe outdoors, have used tools and natural materials for creative activities and have experienced a fire session. During this session they learned how to be safe and cooked on the fire.

This year our focus is on our local, natural environment. The children will be exploring mini-beasts, flora and fauna and becoming more independent in their approach to risk management. They will also be engaging in activities that encourage them to care for and sustain the natural habitats and environments around them.

My child has thoroughly enjoyed their forest school sessions, how can I incorporate forest school into our home life?

Getting active in nature is a fantastic experience for a child at any time. You can experience the joy of forest school at home by walking in nature and engaging in activities that are free and available to all.

*Create a fairy tree, using natural resources to build and explore.

*See how many different types of leaf you can find and use an iPad/phone to categorise them.

*Explore under rocks and logs and see what mini-beasts you can find!

*Play hide and seek, set boundaries for areas outdoors and encourage safe risks by climbing trees.

Useful resources:

Free Apps

Leafsnap - this app allows you to take a picture of any plant/tree/flower and it will identify it for your.

BIrdnet - this useful app allows you to sit quietly in nature and will listen to the birds in the area. Children love to identify the birds around them.