5th September 2019
Dear Parents and carers,
Forest School Sessions
As part of the ‘School Starters’ experience we run a six week programme of Forest School sessions during the Autumn and Summer Terms.
What is Forest School? Forest school is a concept of outdoors education pioneered in Britain during the 1990s at Bridgewater Early Excellence Centre, which set up its own Forest school in nearby woodlands. Ideally children spend one day a week at a woodland site, learning about the natural world, how to use tools safely and make useful objects, developing their physical skills, working together as a team and learning to explore their world and their own limits in a safe way. Typical activities in the woods include shelter building, cooking over a campfire, making wooden mallets, nature detective walks, craft activities using natural materials and games like hide and seek!
At Cullompton Pre-School we use our own grounds which have been designed specifically to support our forest school sessions, with one visit off-site to Exeter Outdoor forest school site.
Who will lead Forest School? Melinda Burge of Exeter Outdoors will be running our Forest School sessions here at Cullompton Pre-school. She will be supported by pre-school staff who are level 1 and level 2 forest school trained.
What will my child gain from Forest School?The children gain a huge amount from their forest school experience. They are confident to try this new activity as we are lucky enough to offer it in our own familiar garden with familiar staff. It’s wonderful to hear them all talking about their fun morning, to smell woodsmoke and to see the lovely craft they make and to try the pancakes they make on the campfire. We carried out a research project last year and saw a significant increase in well-being, particularly in quiet, shy children and then how much more involved those children became in all aspects of pre-school. We believe that the outdoor environment increases their self-esteem, confidence, concentration, their enthusiasm for learning and we can see the benefits in all areas of their learning – Forest School fosters active learners and explorers, just what we all want for our children.
How can I find out more?
Look on the web e.g. www.foresteducation.org www.forestschools.org
Speak to Amelia, our Pre-School Leader
If your child is in Group 2, more information about our Forest School sessions will come out to you in the Summer Term.
I hope this answers most of your questions but please do not hesitate to speak to me if you have any further queries.
Mandy Goff
Administration Manager