"The principles of forest schools foster a holistic form of education that encourages children to connect deeply with nature, embrace risk and challenges, and grow into confident, environmentally aware individuals. These principles are essential for cultivating a future generation that values both personal growth and ecological sustainability." Forest School Association

Our Forest School sessions happen every week throughout the 3 years the children are with us, through all the seasons. We try to create a Forest School community where we are each connected to nature and to each other. Our sessions usually start with some social games to get us in the mood; we then move on to the "topic" for that week as well as all the usual activities.  The sessions are child-led, and we explore the world through their interests and curiosity. 

Through our activities we hope to be able to understand and appreciate the natural environment. We focus on weekly identification skills, getting to really know our environment so that we can observe the differences throughout the year. We use fire to celebrate special events, focusing on fire safety and cooking naturally resourced products. We use knives and peelers under supervision to encourage motor skills, concentration and support risk assessing.

We use rope swings to improve balance, upper arm strength and emotional regulation. Climbing trees, exploring the physical feel of the site is incredibly important to brain and muscle development. 

Forest School aims to foster a relationship with nature through regular personal experiences in order to develop long-term, environmentally sustainable attitudes and practices in staff, children and the wider community. We focus heavily on the good practice of caring for our environment and the wider world and how we can support any challenges it may be facing.

To sum it up: we aim to develop, where appropriate, the physical, social, cognitive, linguistic, emotional and spiritual aspects of our children.