At St Johns, our forest school provision is provided by Hedgehogs Woodland Adventures.

Forest School- Intent, Implementation, Impact

Intent

To provide a nurturing space that supports our children’s wellbeing by providing and implementing positive outdoor, child-led experiences in a natural setting, the impact of which will help foster traits such as resilience, confidence and independence and develop motivation, co-operation, decision-making and social skills.

Respect for the environment and others helps relationships build in a more relaxed atmosphere so enabling and empowering all students to have the opportunity to achieve their complete and full potential

Implementation

Forest School is an inspirational process that offers all learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland (or natural environment with trees).

At Forest School, children run, make a noise, get their hands dirty and learn in a natural space by taking part in seasonal activities that may involve an element of managed risk; by succeeding here, they develop the self-esteem that will support them throughout their lives.

Sessions are linked to curriculum themes therefore enhancing learning that has taken place inside the classroom and giving pupils the opportunity to learn in a different setting.

All pupils are entitled to six consecutive sessions each year, each session lasts for approximately 1.5 hours and is led by the Level 3 Forest School practitioner and at least one other assistant.

Impact

Children are active, take ownership of their learning and develop their self-esteem through a variety of independent tasks. Children develop knowledge of sustainability and respect for their learning environment and the outdoors as a whole. Children develop their teamwork skills and increase their capability to work together to solve problems in a variety of ways, taking into account one another’s ideas. Positive relationships are built through these sessions and children are both enabled and empowered to achieve their holistic potential.

Each class will take part in 3 session a term and gain awards explained below:

Please look at the individual class pages for pictures and more information about forest school specific to each year group.