St Anselm'sWe've all got light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are. Sirus Black from Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. J.K. Rowling.
Adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity. If this is true, then 'adventure' is not only crossing deserts and climbing mountains; adventure can be found everywhere, every day, and it is up to us to seek it out. Alastair Humphreys.
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living. David Attenborough.
The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past us, but through us. John Muir.
Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity. Kay Redfield Jamison.
Play is the highest form of research. Albert Einstein.
The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to take care of themselves. Roald Dahl.
Forest School
Forest School
Sessions will provide an opportunity to leave the 4 walls of a classroom to learn about the environment, nature, sustainability and biodiversity. They will be in a practical and hands on learning environment where they will learn new skills such as implementing safe processes for making fires, using traditional hand tools (drills, draw knives, axes, sheath knives etc…), building craft items, improving the FS site and time to play in nature.
The benefits of Forest school are well documented with a positive impact on students’ confidence, social skills, motivation, attendance and behaviour. What is unique at FS is that sessions are student-led where they choose what activities, skills and projects they wish to start and develop, giving them autonomy to enjoy the sessions even more.
Parent Feedback
"XXXX loves doing the forest school, she doesn't think of it as school she see it as fun she loves learning stuff about the outdoors."
" after the first week he looked forward to going, he really enjoyed the cooking activities. He liked the fact that it didn’t feel like he was at school being told what to do, it was more working together.
It was a definite success."
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"XXXX loved it! Usual getting him out of bed in the morning is a chore, but when he was going to forest school never had to get him up. He got him self up and ready to go. It got him off his PS5 and motivated to do something. He would come each week telling me what he had learnt and excited to tell me also. XXXX would really benefit from something like this more regularly...it’s a thumbs up from us. 👍 "
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"He suggested using the tool to hunt and cook birds in future sessions, we discussed how this would only be appropriate in extreme survival situations, but I think he just really enjoyed the wild/outdoorsy feel.
The sessions had a real positive impact on XXXX, and on the way he feels about school, it was relaxed and "chilled" and was nice for him to see and experience school as somewhere that can also be fun.
We felt that XXXX was very safe there with you all and it was nice to have you there because he knows you and you know him, it wasn't just run by people who are new to the children.
Overall a very beneficial experience, thank you!"
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"She really enjoys this way of learning as she is very practical and responds to this active approach far better than classroom learning and she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty!
She said, she really enjoyed the experience of doing something she doesn’t normally get to do- and there was nothing you could have done better!"
Children's feedback:
What I liked was:
"toasting marshmallows because it was something we did together and I was able to light the fire very quickly."
"shelter building because we actually did quite well and probably if I keep on going to forest school we would have finish it."
"planting the trees"
"making the Zip wire because it was fun and everyone can use it plus I like doing them sort of things"
"digging the stairs because it was fun getting muddy."
