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Miss Brocklesby
Forest school leader
Mrs Wells
Forest school leader
Mr Parsons
Forest school volunteer
- Mrs Wells and Miss Brocklesby are our Forest School Teachers. They deliver sessions to our EYFS children every week as we believe that children thrive when learning in the outdoor environment. Children are encouraged to take risk, problem solve and build resilience whilst using all the wonderful natural resources around them. They begin to connect with the world and begin to develop a strong understanding of the world around them. This inevitably will underpin all future learning, in our aim to develop independent life – long learners.
They learn boundaries of behaviour, grow in emotional resilience, confidence, self-esteem and motivation. Setting children achievable tasks and offering appropriate support, provides the foundation for future development.
Forest Schools are most successful when children visit the same natural area on a regular basis. A rich and flexible learning environment enables children to develop mastery which is central for high self-esteem.
Being outside and playing outside is vital to a child’s growth.
Daily exposure to natural settings increases children’s ability to focus and therefore enhances cognitive abilities.
Allows children to play safely and freely while they learn to assess risk and develop the skills to manage new situations.
Supports the development of healthy and active lifestyles.
Opportunities for children to do physical activities, freedom and movement, and promoting a sense of well-being.
Gives children contact with the natural world and offers them experiences that are unique to outdoors – such as weather and the seasons.
Helps children to understand and respect nature, the environment and the interdependence of humans, animals, plants and lifecycles.
Supports children’s problem-solving skills, nutures creativity, developing imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness.
Provides children with space, both upwards and outwards, and places to explore, experiment, discover active and healthy, and to develop their physical capabilities.
- Mrs. Wells and Miss Brocklesby also deliver Forest School sessions to all our classes on rotation. She focuses on:
Developing self-regulation skills.
Coping with and learn from failure.
Building resilience (the skill of coping with risk and failure).
Gaining a sense of achievement.
Increasing motivation and concentration.
Improving problem solving.
- Develop self-regulation skills.
Cope with and learn from failure.
Build resilience (the skill of coping with risk and failure).
Gain a sense of achievement.
Increase motivation and concentration.
Improve problem solving.
Muddy Puddles
The children had the best time making the most of the mud – jumping in muddy puddles, making mud pies and even creating a river along the floor. Some children also made some woodland creations with Mrs Wells.
A couple of children had noticed some mushrooms growing around Forest School and wanted to go on a mushroom hunt and take some pictures of their findings (as well as selfies). The children remembered that they shouldn’t touch mushroom as they can be poisonous, and they didn’t forget that one of our Forest School promises are to only eat what the adults gives to you. They had a very FUNgi time!
Forest School is part of the curriculum at Worsthorne Primary School and accessible for children across all year groups. A sample of the activities the children take part in will include bush crafts, using hand tools, making items from natural materials, games, treasure hunts and campfire activities to name but a few.
Forest school is an opportunity for the children to experience nature and the outdoor environment in a safe, secure and hands on way. Our ’forest’ is the woodland areas located on our school field. Our Forest School currently includes a ‘base camp’ area, a mud pit and a range of tall trees that will enable us to create shelters and build dens. There are old wood piles to attract insects and small mammals. The children are encouraged to investigate and explore but also to respect all living things.
Children learn best from first hand experiences. Exploring, playing and learning using a range of activities (both designed by the Forest School Leader and instigated by the children themselves) is what forest school is all about. Building a sense of independence, high self-esteem and team work are important parts of Forest School, but health and safety considerations are always of paramount importance.
The children absolutely love their time in Forest School (as do the staff!). It is wonderful to see them use their imaginations, create and explore, work together, embrace the mud and rain, and learn to care for their environment and the creatures and animals that live there. We hope they come home after a Forest School session, excited to tell you what they have been up to.
Year 2 came to find a mysterious letter had been left from an explorer named Bruce Parker. Bruce Parker travels all round Europe discovering new artefacts and had a job for the year 2 children. Bruce was in France and found out that there had been new treasure allocated near school and year 2 was set a challenge to find it.
However, it wasn’t as easy as we thought because it was Halloween and that only meant one thing… spooky creatures. We got into teams and followed a map. The map leader guided us through the pumpkin patch, being extra careful past spider city, under the bat cave (avoiding the bats) and finally staying away from being captured by the pirates to find the treasure. The children had an amazing time using their team working skills to safely find the treasure. Bruce Parker will be very proud of you all!
Tree Planting
During last week’s Forest school session, we had a special visit from Neil Ashworth. Neil works at the Ribble Trust and is very knowledgeable about rivers and trees. We are very lucky to have him help us rejuvenate our field and forest school area. The children from year 1 and year 6 really enjoyed working in teams and planting their very own tree. We planted over 60 trees!
Easter Activities
Hop the bunny came to visit the children in reception and year one in this weeks forest school session. Whilst playing on our field Hop lost all his eggs. All the children were EGGcellent at figuring out Hop’s clues and found a special treat hidden in the trees. The children all worked really well together. Hop was very impressed.