With our beautiful surroundings we have the wonderful opportunity for each class to have a forest school lesson once a week for 3 half terms over the year. Our Forest School follows the six principles of Forest School. These are set out on the FSA website and provide the scaffolding for the forest school ethos.

The 6 Principles of Forest School

1. Forest School is a long-term process of regular sessions, rather than one-off or infrequent visits. The cycle of planning, observation, adaptation and review links each session.
2. Forest School takes place in a natural or woodland environment to support the development of a lifelong relationship between the learner and the natural world.
3. Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.
4. Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.
5. Forest School is run by qualified Forest School practitioners, who continuously maintain and develop their professional practice.
6. Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for being, development and learning.

Activities available include making flower presses to make bookmarks, elder bracelet and wood cookie pendant making, shelter building, whittling tent pegs and stick people and working with willow to create crowns, hats and story sticks. Children will have the opportunity to learn a variety of knots and lashings, learn how to make a fire safely and use tools to create. Other activities include the mud kitchen, tree climbing and wading in the stream.

Autumn Term

It has been a fabulous autumn term in Forest School and we have enjoyed thinking about seasons and using natural seasonal resources. We have connected to Science learning and we have learnt how to use tools for a purpose. The children have enjoyed free play using the mud kitchen, the stream, tree climbing and the slacklines. They have collaborated to make large shelters. Their play has enabled great social interaction, gross and fine motor skill development and has positively impacted on their perseverance.

KS1 learnt how to use three sticks and string to build a tripod and used them as small shelters. They replicated this in groups on a larger scale to build shelters for themselves. The children made habitats for wildlife in the woodlands, linking to their Science topic. To fatten the local birds before food became scarcer in winter, they make bird feeders.

The children in LKS2 connected to Science learning by building habitats and making bird feeders. They then learnt to use a variety of tools. First they used a palm drill to drill holes in conkers to create a conker keyring. Next they learnt how to use a claw hammer and built on skills resulting in a Christmas holly decoration.

Year 5 learnt how to use a bush craft knife to whittle a stick to a point and used it for the stem of their poppy for Remembrance Day. They used a palm drill to drill holes in conkers to create a conker keyring. The children started to safely use a bush craft knife to make kindling for fires and for whittling.

St. Leonard's Forest School Handbook and Policy