Forest School
Forest School at Rothbury First School
At Rothbury First School we are VERY lucky to have an incredible forest school area which includes a campfire area, mud kitchen, rockeries, willow, mature trees, hedgerow and woodland. It is a hive of wildlife activity and we are very lucky that we get to learn and play in it as part of our school day.
We enjoy weekly sessions with Toni from ‘Muddy Footprint Adventures’, who is a Level 3 qualified Forest School leader and a qualified teacher.
We also offer a preschool session every other Thursday morning (10-11:30) for babies and toddlers up to school age to attend with an adult.
What is Forest School?
The idea of ‘Forest School’ originated in Denmark but has become increasingly popular in the UK because it has such a positive impact on children's health, wellbeing and learning.
Forest School itself is a specific approach to being outdoors; it is a child centred learning process that offers opportunities for holistic growth across a series of long term sessions. These sessions support children to play, explore, discover and take risks through hands-on experiences in a familiar outdoor woodland environment.
Forest school supports children to develop socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually (all while having LOTS of fun!)
The Benefits of Forest School
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Children develop the ability to take controlled risks and learn to assess risk by themselves.
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Children grow in confidence, independence and self-esteem, There is no right or wrong answer at Forest School!
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Children develop their communication skills and in turn their problem solving skills through team and group activities, challenges and games.
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Children learn about the natural world around them and learn how to take care of it.
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Children learn new skills such as knot tying and tool use.
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It allows children to develop their own interests and use their imagination.
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Forest School is known to have a positive impact on children’s health and wellbeing, by being outdoors and active.
What does my child do at Forest School?
Your child is likely to take part in lots of different activities and learning opportunities which are carefully planned by the Forest School leader. However, a huge part of the ethos behind this type of learning is that the children follow their own interests. Their learning is often completely child initiated through their own discovery. For this reason, our sessions often change ‘direction’. Adults will support carefully planned activities and provide opportunities to learn new skills but the child may choose to follow a different learning path.
Some of the activities they might experience –
Nature hunts and identification, den building, wood carving, whittling with potato peelers/knives, using tools like hammers and saws, playing in the mud kitchen, bug hunts, digging and building, tying knots, making outdoor art, fire lighting and cooking on a campfire.
What does my child need for Forest School?
Your child will wear a waterproof coat and trousers, provided by school. Please make sure your child has warm layers and wellies in school on the day they have Forest School.