Forest School Jo

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...

This last week of term has been a week of Campfires and treats. For so long we haven't attempted a fire because of air quality, the increased risk to needing to call emergency services, and because it has been so dry! But rain and an easing of advice from The Fire Service meant that this week all 12 Bubble classes got to pond dip, sit by a fire, eat some treats, and discuss what they like best about Forest School.... Orange Bubble... Discovering newts Watching the frog Holding a water boatman Climbing trees Climbing high Climbing upside down Peeling twigs Whittling wood Building dens Running fast Digging deep Racing on the tyres Lovely treats Butterflies Survival... Purple Bubble Love holding baby newts Playing with friends Making up stories Love Trees Leaf matching Branch climbing Playing all together Having treats 'If the others were here they would be so happy!' R ed Bubble like Making dens Climbing trees Swinging on ropes Exploring in unknown places Whittlin...

Week 1 getting all 12 'bubbles' outside for a reduced form of Forest School was interesting! We are abiding by our own risk assessment and amended rules and procedure as we go. No bubble has more than 15 pupils in and as every school is finding there are hidden difficulties and sudden incidents that make implementing Social Distancing INSIDE the building difficult at times. OUTSIDE I can confirm it is just as fraught! The space is there for them to move around in, there are multiple trees offering climbing opportunities, but children do like to form groups and interact. Trying to stop them is to go against human nature and requires a lot of discussion, reminding, nagging.... I've said before that part of our assessment is the fact that Covid-19 spreads slower outside. The wind and air circulates the virus quickly and UV light from the sun helps destroy it, so based on the current scientific advice, a 9 acre space with sky for a ceiling and no obvious walls is probably t...

Mama Beech sits on the edge of a Forest School site overlooking the copse that hides basecamp. There's a strip of woodland the children explore, a field of space to run, and the huge tree shields the Fairy Glen quiet space. This site is on school grounds, and across the year as many classes as possible in a two-form Primary take part in full 2 hour FS Sessions... Until Lockdown interrupted and Coronavirus changed the rules. Emerging back into school life routines have changed, lessons have altered, classes are no longer the same size, or pupils, and restrictions due to social distancing and cross contamination make even the idea of Forest School Sessions as I know them fraught. So it's time to adapt. We've made the decision that all the children need as much outdoor time as possible. This stems from some children having been cooped up during the lockdown period and needing the space and freedom to move, the assertion that it's harder to catch Covid-19 outside (b...

This week we brought Forest School indoor at school for the children who still attend. It's always a challenge to keep children engaged when the age range runs from 5 - 11, but some things are too much fun not to engage in!  I have said before - I have a large IKEA bag full of activities for children to do inside. It is rarely needed, but if there is high wind or thunderstorms and I need to take the outdoor learning inside, I am prepared! So we started the day allowing the children to look through all the different things available, Insect life cycles, picturebooks with props, Bug Top Trumps, wildlife encyclopedias, photo books, playmobil wildlife, bird toys that tweet.... etc In the morning we read them all Bog Baby A great book about removing a creature from it's habitat. It caused great discussion about why this might not work, and children's own wanderings through bluebell woods and near rivers and ponds with family. It also sparked a discussion about NOT goin...

As inevitable as the current restrictions of movement are it was still difficult to prepare for it or to judge when it would come. I am on a rota to go into work and help with the reduced number of pupils we have now. But I found myself going in when not on rota because there was stuff that needed doing. Was it essential...? Probably not. But I could do all of it in isolation without spending time with the children or other staff and at that point a lockdown had not been called I started the week by attacking the poly tunnel!  Our wonderful volunteer who runs a Garden Club with Year 2 had already ensured that all their hard work was in the Poly Tunnel's Nursery Garden, so I just needed to attend to all the gardening the small groups had been achieving A path needed finishing, we still have some Woodland Trust trees to plant and we have seedlings bursting out that will not survive in seed trays with little opportunity to water them. The children have worked hard and have such...