Forest School Jo

Part of the arrangement for volunteers is pretty much equal time off to time working. Which is always welcome! This year, the couple who are hosting us have extended the vacate date because they do not need the rooms back until next weekend. Work, family, and life commitments mean that we are all drifting back home on different dates, but most of us have an extended stay which we aim to enjoy as much as possible! Sadly, the first of our number, the wonderful Robyn had to leave on Saturday. We all had a very local day as although the storm had passed, the sea was still a little choppy and trips to other islands were not appealing! We all went to the Quay to see her off, if you'd like to see what activities she gets up to, please checkout Spread your Wings with Robyn  on Facebook. We are going to miss her smiley face and drive her nuts with WhatsApp photos of what she's missing!  After that the four remaining volunteers wandered over to the beach to watch her ferry depart. We re...

Many of you will have watched the David Attenborough TV series Wild Isle . A beautiful in-depth exploration of the British Isles and its surrounding seas. It made it clear that the wildlife, ecological balance, and therefore the life led on these islands is facing decimation. Within the school curriculum there are pockets of learning regarding ecosystems, flora, fauna, pollution, and sustainability, which aim to explain what they all are before the class move on to the next subject. However, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and with the current predictions perhaps these lessons need to be a constant.  In Forest School we provide the opportunity for that theory to be seen in practice, week in and week out. Children are exploring and observing the natural world, encountering wildlife, watching life cycles and food chains play out, experiencing season changes, and are encouraged to support and preserve the environment they are in. Sadly, for most child...

We are in a very scenic part of Kent (see the Explore Kent photo below), just within the boundaries of a designated Area Of Outstanding Beauty. It's green rolling hills and stunning cathedral city, Trees and nature all around, birdsong and tractors causing traffic jams on a daily basis! I have no idea how the prolific orchards and vineyards around us manage their land because for us, it's hard work! Every now and then the children rediscover the rocks in the Dig Pit. In all honesty, it's not just at the Dig Pit. We are based on top of a hill which I think is an undiscovered solid flint MOUNTAIN (as that's the only reasonable explanation for the quantity!), and once you strip off the topsoil you hit the rocks! This makes gardening with the children a little fraught, it takes a heavy toll on the digging tools, and opens up a huge world of imagination, history, geography, geology, and interest for the children. Every flint nodule we dig up is a 'tooth'. The specula...

Apologies for the lack of blog this weekend just gone. I usually aim to do it on a Friday afternoon - and it sometimes spills into the weekend, but lately, time has been running away from me! With the last of Summer fading away any sunny day feels like it needs grabbing! My weekends are full of housework, laundry, errands, and chores, and when the sun shines the opportunity to ignore it all is very tempting. Of course, it doesn't actually go anywhere, but ignorance is bliss so I spent Sunday at a Flower Farm and have been playing catch up with the hoover and washing machine ever since! Meanwhile, although the new school year doesn't feel very new anymore, there are still a lot of changes and rearranges to accommodate. Forest School is always a work in progress, so developing sites and practice while getting to know new children means a lot of reworking. My two colleagues new to Forest School know the school well but don't know the classes in Forest School, this is a learnin...

In my experience, September is a weird month. It signals the start of a new school year and a new school term. For independent Forest Schools things change, as some children leave to start school, or move schools, Summer Camps are over and new children start, but the weeks and sessions continue as they have done all year round. In School it's almost the same thing, a whole new EYFS, last year's Year 6's  have moved on, new pupils dotted about across the school, a new timetable, some new staff, and an overgrown Forest School to tame. September means change. For those of us who have done little Forest School over the School Holidays, there is also the slow return to the normal routine. To a different pace of life to that of August. Whether you've had a busy Summer or a lazy Summer the alarms were switched off and choices of how to spend each day were almost endless! Every year FSLs in schools everywhere have to adjust to having breakfast within 30 mins of getting up, to l...

I feel like we should break a bottle of champagne over a fire-basket or something (that's not going to happen, I'm not wasting good wine!), but we are now up and running and have three separate, different, Forest Schools on-site! It's taken a while in the planning, and although I'd like to claim it's all part of some master plan, it has simply evolved as Chartham Primary School has embraced Forest School and made the most of the opportunities that have come our way! The children started back at school this week, and all three sites have had classes for full 2-hour sessions. For those who aren't aware, we are a 2-form entry Primary on the outskirts of Canterbury in Kent. Our building was originally designed as a Secondary school and has been adapted for use. It comes with a huge playing field, a car park, a 'School Garden', raised beds, and a strip of woodland around most of the perimeter. Oh, and there's room for the independent Nursery behind our bu...