Forest school

Time to reflect! Think about a childhood experience What do you remember it? Where did it take place? First things first is I would like you to think of an early childhood memory. What do you remember? Where did it take place? How many of you can think of an early memory? Did it involve the outdoors? Outdoor play, with little adult input, shared with your peers. This is exactly what we are trying to recreate for your children, fantastic childhood memories. We want to create a feeling of freedom whilst learning valuable life skills.   Now days there is limited use of the outdoors with children, compared to years ago. Ofcom reported that British children spend more than 17 hours a week or almost two and ½ hours a day watching television which has increased by 12% since 2007. We want to offer the opportunity of safe, but risky, outdoor fun within our sessions.

What is it? An inspirational concept NOT a forest Why outside? An inspirational concept which provides learning opportunities for children through their participation in practical activities. Not a forest but can be any suitable outdoor area that is set up under the forest school ethos to provide children the freedom to explore the outdoors. Why outside? Every time we go outside it is a brand new classroom. A relaxed learning environment. Need an outdoor space. It is child-led, unique equipment and risky play. Inspirational concept which provides learning opportunities for children throughout their participation in practical activities and experiences in an outdoor environment. Does not necessarily need to be a forest itself but can be a suitable area that is set up under the Forest School ethos   This ethos is to provide children with the freedom to explore, touch, smell, listen to and feels what it is like being in the great outdoors. Originated in Scandinavia in the 1950’s where practitioners noticed that children who had regular contact with nature and access to outdoor play become more sociable. Borough of Hounslow: complement the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum particularly well due to the emphasis on the practical, hands on Forest School activities which mirror those of the EYFS child-initiated learning programme within a planned and creative learning environment.

Why? Build self-esteem Enhance independence Develop problem-solving skills Enable children to make decisions Learn to take and manage risks Team work Read points of slide and show video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmSJUTkPqKQ   From watching this video, you can see the children are all developing new skills when working outside. Team work by carrying the crate Developing speaking skills by talking to each other Developing problem solving skills of working out how to get across the dip Making friendships Take risks: would you have stood on the crate?

Risky Play Risky play Children learn when taking risks. The progress of our children is slower when they do not do this. Develop confidence and self-esteem to do this

Health and Safety All the sessions will be led by a Forest school leader within the school who has had intensive training as well as first aid training. They will first undergo a risk assessment before any session. Due to the nature of our environments, they are constantly changing and this is why we undergo a risk assessment before the session.   We will look for hazards which can be anything that can cause harm to the children or the adults and then looking at the risk whether high or low in order to prevent someone being harmed. There are 5 steps we follow. We look for the hazard, decide who is harmed and how, evaluate the risk and decide whether the existing precaution is adequate or if we need something new. If anything does happen we will always record our findings, let you know and review the assessment if necessary. We will always make sure we find the best possible precaution to contain this risk and make it as safe as possible. Once the children have done a couple of sessions, they will start to recognise themselves the risks and remember using their own strategies. To give you a clear idea of how we will keep your children safe, I am going to look at some common hazards. Many of these hazards the children come across everyday and have learnt ways to deal with them. Sometimes we may have to walk to our area and a main hazard would be the road. On our pre-visit, we would find the best place to cross the road and talk to the children about road safety before we leave. Trees can also be a hazard as they can sometimes have branches falling off. We will make sure we would work in a clearing as well as making sure the trees are properly maintained. Stinging nettles are common in the environment and grow very quickly. We would have the area they are growing in coned off. We would talk to the children about stinging nettles and what they do; showing the children an image of what may happen so they are clear. These are low risks as the proper planning has been put into place and have the best possible precaution. You may have heard we use different tools and make fires during sessions. Do not panic as the leaders and assistants have been trained in using these safely. We will not use tools or create fires until we feel the children are ready. We take many precautions and prepare the children over a couple of sessions. An example of this would be using fire. Many children have not seen a real fire and will be very cautious themselves. The first thing we would do is set the 1. 5 metre boundary with the children; the exclusion zone. We would then get them to sit outside of the boundary zone when the fire is lit. A couple of sessions before we light a real fire we would play games where the children would have to get use to not going into the boundary zone. Once we feel the children are ready, we would light the fire and then by invitation only can they come into the boundary zone. There will always be another adult there to help supervise. When using tools like knives, we would first get the children use potato peelers on carrots and then move onto wood. When we feel the children are comfortable, we will introduce knives. Every session has a clear purpose and is all about risky play where children will have the confidence to try something new and begin to take risks. We have a high expectation of the children’s behaviour. All children take part in forest school and we want them to enjoy the experience. Like everyday life, we cannot take away all the risks and this applies to forest school but with well-planned assessments and children having awareness it will be an enjoyable experience.

Activities Activities Low level activities Collecting activities   Activities Low level activities Collecting activities Mud monsters Outdoor mapping Frezzing objects found outside High Level Fire Using tools to create dream catches, whistles, pencil Learning skills when using tools

What can you do to support your child? Make sure the children already have the correct clothing in school Talk to them about their Forest School and what they are doing Come along to a Family Forest School day Don’t worry. The children need to experience the great outdoors. They won’t get cold because they will always be moving and motivated which will keep them warm. Help tidy up the forest and turn into an area the children will love.