Staveley School believes in education in the outdoors

Our forest school is one element of an education that begins with forests school activities in Reception and builds over the years to the John Muir award in Y6. For more information see our Outdoor Education pages here. Children begin forest school when they join us in reception. For many, and especially those who have been to Bobbin's Nursery, this is a continuation to their Forest School activities in pre-school. The children enjoy their forest time one day per week during the year with occasional breaks over the winter if the weather is too bad. We have stocks of waterproof clothing to help make sure that we can get out most days even in winter. The children visit a specially managed area of the extensive school grounds which features wooded areas, bushes, a hill and a woodland basecamp. Thanks to the help of a group of parents and friends we were lucky enough to be able to create the bascamp in a beautiful setting.

The philosophy of Forest Schools is to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through positive outdoor experiences.

 

By participating in engaging, motivating and achievable tasks and activities in a woodland environment each participant has an opportunity to develop intrinsic motivation, sound emotional and social skills. These, through self awareness can be developed to reach personal potential.
So Forest Schools will aim to develop:

• Self Awareness
• Self Regulation
• Intrinsic motivation
• Empathy
• Good social communication skills
• Independence
• A positive mental attitude, self-esteem and confidence

 

Forest Schools has demonstrated success with children of all ages who visit the same local woodlands on a regular basis and through play, who have the opportunity to learn about the natural environment, how to handle risks and most importantly to use their own initiative to solve problems and co-operate with others. Forest School programmes run throughout the year, for about 36 weeks,  going to the woods in all weathers (except for high winds). Children use full sized tools, play, learn boundaries of behaviour; both physical and social, establish and grow in confidence, self-esteem and become self motivated.

Forest School, through its application of Accelerated Learning techniques creates a unique learning vehicle that is used to encourage a range of individuals, community groups and larger organisations to utilise their local open space for interactive play, health, recreation and personal development uses.

Children, and more and more adults, need time to thoroughly explore their thoughts, feelings and relationships.
This time and reflective practice develops understanding of the world, the environment and everything within it through the use of emotions, imagination and senses.

For more information visit the Forest Schools website at

 

Basecamp log seating installed. Thanks to Annie Kent and a team of volunteers from the parents, we now have two sets of log seats in beautiful locations on the hill.

The new log seats	Testing the new seats for the first time.	Hammering the stakes in.
Basecamp takes shape		Annie Hard at work

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO TURNED UP TO HELP !!