The purpose of Forest Schools is for the students to gain an understanding of the natural environment, whilst developing the Forest Schools ethos, namely, development of self-esteem, confidence and social skills.
During the autumn term the children in year 3 have been travelling around Europe in relation to their topic and have been working hard learning about how different people live in other countries. In Forest School we have:
- Made Russian Pryaniki breads over the campfire
- Whittled wood using tools
- Made a hot air balloon and gondola from natural materials
- Designed tree faces
- Cooked smores
- Played games
During Year 6 enrichment week pupils who stayed at school took part in Forest School activities.
- Made beans on toast around the camp fire
- Built large dens using poles and sheets
- Made bird feeders
- Designed their own dreamcatcher using wood and wool
- Made tree faces using natural materials
During Year 4 enrichment week pupils who stayed at school took part in Roman based activities to enrich their knowledge and help to support their school work.
- Made Roman pizzas over the camp fire
- Made a scented candle from clay, wax and herbs
- Roman camp making
- Made a shield using natural materials and wool
- Made a Roman head piece
For the Year 4 Shipwreck theme each class took part in the following activities to support their class based work
- To learn the three elements needed to create a fire
- To light a fire using a flint and steel
- Make a potato cake and smore over the camp fire
- To build a waterproof shelter
- To follow a map around the Forest School site using a compass
- To make a raft using natural materials
For the Year 3 Stone Age topic during the spring term children have been taking part in the following activities:
- Sourcing writing material from the environment to create stone age cave drawings using symbols
- Making sabretooth tiger necklaces from clay
- The children took part in tracking and followed each other's maps
- We used resources found in Forest School to create a stone age round house
- We made flat breads and vegetable and nettle soup over an open fire and discussed foraging
- We played our deer game and discussed how the stone age man would hunt for food
- We read a story about a woolly mammoth
During the summer term Year 4 will be taking part in activities within Forest School to support their 'Into the Woods' topic, the children will be undertaking:
- Shelter building
- Making flat fruit breads over the fire and baking an apple
- Storytelling and listening to poems
- Tree identification
- Scavenger hunt
- Calculate the ages of trees within our Forest School site
- Make a frame using a square lashing knot to display natural art
- Tree art using shadows and natural materials
- Making smores over the camp fire
- To make their own fire using a flint and steel and wood
- Leaf printing
Forest Schools is child led and has resulted in great teamwork, wonderful imaginative role plays and the development of gross motor skills with bush craft activities.