We are lucky at Abberley house Nursery to be able to access our wonderful forest School area on site, where forest school sessions are run by our experienced level 3 forest school leader, Teresa and supported by the nursery staff. 

 

 

 

 

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What is forest school?

Forest school is a wall less class room where the majority of what the children play with and create are from the natural environment they are in. It’s a place where children get to experience first hand the world around them using all their senses, having the opportunity to lead their exploration and learning with practitioners following the children’s interests, to expand their knowledge. 

 

What will the children learn?

Forest school sessions not only supports play, exploration, and personal, social and technical skills, it also provides the opportunity to practice skills across all areas of the children’s learning, as well as see first hand the importance of nature and to build empathy with the world around them. Through the activities and resources provided, the child-centred open ended learning means it is accessible for all. 

The staff also support the children with the risks they take, some times by helping them by talking through ways to problem solve, show them safer ways to do something or offering encouragement to believe in their choices and be able to manage their own risks. This in turn helps them to develop confidence, resilience and self-esteem, all of which creates happy children that want to learn, therefore become successful learners.

 

What to expect?

The children are free to explore the woodland area, accessing resources and activities such as our mud kitchen, digging areas, swing, logs to balance on, a relaxing hammock, log piles to create dens for them selves or for the animals and creatures that might visit us when we are not there. We also have resources to enhance the natural items found by using their imagination to create craft, projects or anything with a purpose. We also have a quiet area to find out about the world around us with non fiction information books, and of course share stories, including ones from our resident authors books which were inspired by forest school.

 

The children will also have the opportunity to participate in cooking on the fire and tool use with 1 to 1 support from our forest school leader. This helps teach the children how to be safe and learn valuable skills for life. 

 

To maximise the children’s learning ,we plan to experience forest school through all the seasons, so we can see first hand the changes all around them. We make sure all the children and staff are dressed appropriately for what ever weather we find to make it an enjoyable experience for all.

 A list of clothes to provide will be given before the children start.

 

Teresa has written about her experience as a forest school leader for a magazine called ‘The outdoor practitioner’ showing the possibilities and the incredible effect that forest school brings to the children, supporting mental health and well being. If you would like to read it please see page 32 of the following link https://muddyfaces.co.uk/outdoor-practitioner/op-issue-4/ .