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:

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.