Forest School

Leader – Vanessa Hollingworth

Forest School’s core principles are centred on the holistic development of the child – the physical, emotional, social, and personal development of the child. Through spending time outside in our wonderful forest area, the children are active, they have the freedom to explore, play, create and make decisions as independently as possible. The children develop a connection with nature, they have time to explore and develop their curiosities, they build resilience and they have the opportunity to develop responsible risk-taking.

We believe that this freedom has a positive effect on a child’s mental and physical well-being and provides the children with skills which can be carried through into school life and at home.

Our Level 3 qualified Forest School leaders make sure that the environment is a safe space for the children to explore and enjoy. They set boundaries and routines for health and safety purposes and they plan and enable activities the children can choose to take part in, if they wish to.

Our Forest School area has trees, shrubs, flora and fauna providing a small but varied environment for the children to explore, enjoy and learn about. The children have opportunities to climb, play in mud, build shelters, explore, use a range of tools and play on rope swings and rope bridges. There is also the opportunity to create natural art and crafts, collect, sort, and, of course, engage in lots of imaginative play. Many of the activities will cover much of the curriculum including mathematics, English, science, geography, design and technology, and art without formal teaching and is led by the children’s interests.

The Forest School, here at St Mark’s, runs all through the year, so the children get to experience time in the area throughout the different seasons and different weather! Each session has a maximum of fifteen children and a minimum of three adults (1:5 ratio). The children attending will be from our Year 1 class for the Autumn Term, then EYFS for Spring and Summer Term. The classes will be split and each child will have a 1 ¾ to 2-hour session once a fortnight.