Brookland Infant and Nursery School

We are very excited to be starting Forest School with each year group this academic year. Over the summer we have been very busy preparing ‘Elmwood Forest’ ready for your children to start exploring!

What is Forest School?

Forest Schools is all about getting out into the woods to explore and learn. It was developed in Scandinavia in the 1950s using a woodland setting as an ‘outdoor classroom’ as a way of helping young people learn about the natural world.

Forest school is an opportunity for your child to experience nature and the outdoor environment in a safe, secure and hands on way. Children are encouraged to develop their independence, improve their decision making skills, and raise their self-esteem through small achievable tasks and new learning opportunities that require perseverance and team work. The activities help children to take risks safely, take care of themselves and others and take responsibility.

What happens in Forest School?

Forest school sessions will take place in ‘Elmwood Forest’ which is situated on the school site (to the left of the driveway into the site). This is a private forest area which is accessible only to the Infant School.

Each class will have a forest school session once a fortnight which will be led by Mr Pritchard, who is Forest School Level 3 trained, and supported by classroom Teaching Assistants and Learning Support Assistants.

The children will begin each session in our story circle area where the activities for the session will be explained to them. Activities might include den building, tree / minibeast identification, team games, fire building, crafts such as clay sculptures, making willow crowns as well as stories and sharing. The session will end back at the story circle where the children will be able to reflect on their learning.

Forest School aims for children: