Intent of St Peter’s Forest School​

Forest School is a unique method of outdoor learning which is based on six guiding principles as set out by the Forest School Association. These principles, which can be found in the next section, underpin our Forest School at St Peter’s. They have been used to guide how we have developed this unique experience and underpin the ethos of each session.​

Our school Forest School is learner centred. There are progressional knowledge,  skills and experiences we plan to offer the children, but the sessions will develop according to the children's interests which often reflect the season, weather and nature around them. Our aim is to encourage and inspire children through positive outdoor experiences, so that children will grow in their love of the natural world alongside growing in their own self-belief, confidence and motivation. ​

During Forest School children will  be in  a safe, non-judgemental, nurturing environment where they feel confident to try new things.  They will learn how to handle risks and most importantly to use their own initiative to solve problems and co-operate with others. The children use tools, play, learn boundaries of behaviour; both physical and social, establish and grow in confidence, self-esteem and self-motivation. We intend that every child will love their time in our ‘forest’ and their time at Forest School will inspire a deep and meaningful connection to the natural world and an understanding of their role within the world. Our school vision underpins our planned Forest School experience:​

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Built upon courage, compassion and respect, excellence in learning and ambition in teaching, our school lights the way to a world of possibilities. ​

With relationships at our core, we nurture every individual. Each unique contribution is valued. ​

 All flourish, making a difference as global citizens and as a beacon in our local community.  ​

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We believe that Forest school will give the children a huge number of possible learning experiences. During their time at Forest School, children will learn  to be a team, a community with relationship at the core of their time in the forest. They will learn new skills, learn to help each other and teach each other. They will keep each other safe and learn to respect the natural environment.  We intend that their experience in nature will result in them all flourishing and developing on a  personal level but that it will also lead to a deep connection with the natural world so that every child realises the difference they can make to our environment  and the world around them. ​

Implementation of our Forest School Curriculum

 

At St Peter’s, Forest School, is part of our timetabled PE curriculum. Forest School takes place in groups of 15 children.

 

The following table shows how Forest School fits into our year group curriculums. ​

Long Term Plan ​ ​	Autumn Term ​	Spring Term ​	Summer Term ​
Mars ​	​	​	Morning 2 hr  ​
Pluto ​	​	Forest school experience day x 1 ​	​
Earth ​	​	​	Afternoon 2 hr ​
Neptune ​	Forest school experience day x 1 ​	​	​
Mercury ​	​	Afternoon 2hr ​	​
Saturn ​	​	​	Forest school experience day x 1 ​
Jupiter ​	Afternoon 2 hr ​	​	​

Children will experience a block of Forest school lessons which will last 6 weeks. They will have four of these 6-week blocks during their time at St Peter’s and each block will be in a different season. The Forest school 6 week clocks run in Mars, Earth, Mercury and Jupiter classes. To ensure children have a Forest school experience every year, Pluto, Neptune and Saturn classes have a Forest school Experience Day where they will have the opportunity to recall and refine the skills, they learnt the previous year. Our curriculum is based on a Spiral model of repetition and recall to ensure knowledge is deeply embedded in long term memory. The experience days ensure Forest school knowledge and skills are embedded and stored in long term memory. ​

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The children arrive at school in the morning in their Forest School clothing and, once the class teacher has checked that all the children are wearing the correct attire (see list or forest school equipment required), the class walks down to the Forest School area. Each session begins around the Fire Circle, where we talk through the safety rules for working outdoors and about respecting each other. For every session there will be a small number of suggested challenges which might include woodwork, working with nature or crafting. The children can choose to move around a variety of activities throughout the afternoon or to freely access the site and explore their own areas of interest. At the start of the session the children will think about what they want to achieve and will PLAN their afternoon, they will then work collaboratively or independently to DO and action their plan, finally, we come together at the end of the session to REVIEW and REFLECT on the session. At this point, children talk about what went well, what they plan to do next time or improve and what they learnt. During this time, the group will be offered a hot chocolate to drink. We end our afternoon by putting out our fire and being thankful for our time in nature. Each child thinks of something they are thankful for and then pour a cup of water over the dying embers of the fire. We talk about returning the site to how we found it and ensuring we have minimal impact on our natural environment.  

Impact of our Forest School Curriculum

For many of our children forest school will have a huge impact on their self-esteem, self-confidence, understanding of social situations  and well-being. In addition to the planned Forest school curriculum, we may use Forest School for some individuals or groups of children on a long term basis, as part of their provision or for a short term intervention.

Impact of Forest school will be measured through pupil surveys, discussion with staff, class provision maps and observations. ​

Forest school involvement and engagement may also be monitored through the use of the Leuven Scale. ​

What is the Leuven Scale?​

The Leuven Scale is a form of assessment created by Ferre Laevers.​

The Leuven Scale is a five-point scale that allows teachers to measure children's emotional well-being and involvement – two critical components of learning, progress and development in children.​

The main advantage of the Leuven Scale is that it is based on observation and puts the children at the centre of learning. Research suggests that observation based instructions serve as the most effective early years teaching resources.​

Ferre Leavers believed that when children are at high levels of well-being, they act like fish in water. Wellbeing refers to being spontaneous, feeling at ease, and free of emotional uncertainties and is crucial to boosting mental health. Well-being is correlated to self-confidence, a higher level of resilience and self-esteem. Comfortable children are eager and confident to explore and experiment. On the other hand, those with lower levels of well-being mostly appear anxious, dependent and frightened, making it difficult for them to unleash their potential and show deep level learning in a sustainable way.​

 

High levels of involvement show 'deep-level' meaningful learning, which is characterised by fascination, curiosity, deep satisfaction and profound interest in whatever children are doing. Involvement generally refers to being engrossed in an activity and is considered to be crucial for a deeper level of learning and development. These indications of a child's 'involvement’ are also directly connected to the elements of effective learning and teaching as laid out by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).​