Forest School

 

Forest School encourages an appreciation of the natural world and builds self-esteem and confidence. This is achieved through regular visits to special woodland sites. Individuals can master tasks of increasing complexity and learn the associated social skills.

A typical forest school programme involves:

• The Forest School leader talking to the parents/carers, about the programme.

• Finding and ensuring the safety of an appropriate local woodland site.

• The Forest School leaders get to know the participants and gain their confidence before taking them to the woodland.

• The group (typically up to 12) visit the same local woodland site on a regular basis (once a week or fortnightly) ideally throughout the year, except in extreme conditions.

• Tasks such as building a shelter are broken down into smaller sessions such as learning how to tie knots or collecting suitable material for example. Since the sessions are learner led they go at the pace of the learners so that everyone is included and no one is left to fail.

• The Forest School model is suited to people of all ages.

 For further information please contact Anita, Lucy, Sue or find out more via the FEI Cluster Groups.