Forest School is based on the process of learning in the outdoors. It is focussed on ‘how’ to do things rather than ‘what’ to do. Our Forest School sessions follow a brief outline of activities including den building, using tools such as a bowsaw and knife, lighting fires using different tinder, cooking on a fire and others. However, during the sessions, we very much follow the children’s own interests and the children are given encouragement to direct their own learning. We observe how the children play and interact in the outdoors and how well they manage working within a team to reach a shared goal.
At Park Spring we have an enclosed woodland environment that we use for Forest School sessions. This area is a wild area which needs very little maintenance as it must be as overgrown as possible so the children can explore the natural environment around them.
Forest School sessions run throughout the year in six week blocks. This year we are offering Forest School sessions to Years 1, 3 and 5.
