Our Forest School leader in school is: Mrs. A. Lakey

What is Forest School?

Our sessions here at Burrow Wood Forest School are paved by our children’s interests and each session is reflected upon to help plan future sessions. There may be activities running during our sessions for the children to join in with or they may choose to follow their own interests in playing, climbing or investigating our area.

Forest school practice has the learner at the heart of their learning experience. Our children have the opportunity to learn tool use, fire lighting and den building amongst lots of other skills.

In forest school the children have the freedom to guide their own learning while they develop skills that are transferable in the classroom.

It is really important to increase the confidence of our children through being challenged through supported risk taking. Our children have the opportunity to experience a positive and rich time within a natural space on our own forest school site. It is crucial that we encourage children to enjoy their time outdoors as this is proven to be beneficial to mental health and well being.

There’s no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing!

Weather

Our sessions will take place come wind, rain or shine and when it is cold. On occasions of high winds or thunderstorms, we use the Met office and BBC weather forecast to decide accordingly if we need to move the session out of the woodland.

Clothing

Appropriate clothing is essential when taking part in sessions, it means that children are protected against the elements and also reduces the likelihood of cuts and scrapes. At Burrow Wood to enable your child to get the most out of each session it’s really important that they bring the right clothing. It’s better to hope for the best but expect the worse. Even bright sunny days can hide a chilly wind. The answer is to include layers in your child’s kit.

Children love mud and it’s fair to say that at some stage your child will get muddy. We strongly advise against sending their best coat or trainers. Dig out old clothes that you don’t mind getting grubby, and let your child know that it’s okay to get their clothes dirty. It’s surprising how many children are worried about being told off for getting dirty.

Here are our clothing suggestions for our sessions:

Winter

· Warm hat

· Gloves (not mittens)

· Vest

· Long sleeve t-shirt

· Jumper/fleece

· Waterproof coat

· Old jogging bottoms/waterproof trousers

· Wellies /walking boots/old trainers

· Warm socks

· Thermal underwear

Spring/Summer

· Any of the above

· No open toe shoes/sandals

· Socks

· Sun cream

Your child will come home in their kit as unfortunately there is not time to change after our sessions.

Thank you for your continued support, if you have any queries or questions please don’t hesitate to contact me via the school office.

Mrs Lakey (Forest School Practitioner)