Group 1

Final trip to Forest School 12/02/25

All the photos today were taken by the children.

We made a quick start to get down to the dene quickly but soon got distracted by all the things we find on the walk down. The first of which were a very cute pair of cats. They kept on popping in and out of the fence until they felt safe enough for the children to pet them. I think a few children would have liked to take them home with them!

We then went to visit all the horses, some were still in bed but we got to say hi to a couple. Since it was the last session I was keen to fit as much of what the children wanted into the session so we had a quick game of cat and mouse hide and seek.

Travelling down into the dene Ii felt a few drops of rain. When we reached the Forest School site I decided to put up a shelter, one of the pupils suggested we put up a side to the shelter. I was sceptical but it turned out a big hit and was a garage and a kitchen in the time that we had in the dene.

I had brought some woodworking tools that Mrs. Newton used with a group. We made a surprise for the new group next week, I wonder if they will find it. I put up the slack line again, which proved a big hit. Some children wanted a hammock and others were happy to play on the slope.

We had our snack and drink before having to return. We had left it a bit late so were rushing back when who came to visit us …….. the cats came out.  Our brisk walk back to school came to an abrupt halt as every child needed to say goodbye to the cats. We made it back to school and were only a smidge late.

Renard Visits Forest School 05/02/25

A lovely day for the dene so we set of lickety spit but soon got distracted by all the things we usually see upon our walk. The horses and ponies proved to be a particular favourite this week and we gave them all names. It turned out to be some of their birthdays too so we had to sing happy birthday to them.

We then fitted in a game of hide and seek - cat and mouse in the bracken. With the advent of spring buds, we will have to stop playing this game as I would not like to be scurrying around the bracken when it gets warmer as the nettles all come out!

As we raced down the hill to the dene we stopped to investigate some holes that we had spotted on a bank. They turned out to be an old fox set. We found the main entrance and the escape hole. When we had got to our Forest School centre what should we find…. but the Forest School puppets. Of course, Renard the fox was there being his usual naughty self. He wanted to eat the other animals up! The children helped to hide the animals in a place they would most likely to be in. The rabbit was in a hole, mole was buried in a pile of leaves, Spike the hedgehog had curled into a ball under a log and Tuffty the squirrel was on top of a log.

After a snack and a drink, we split into groups some children wanted to play with the Oogah Boogah hats others used the hammocks. I put up a slack line to climb on and then some children used the saw to make some wooden artefacts.

The sun came out for our quiet time, what a lovely way to finish our Forest School session.

Terry the Woodlouse has a Party 29/01/25

If we can, it is nice to vary the format of Forest School. That might mean going on an extended walk, using different tools or trying a different site. This week I thought it would be nice to see what the school Forest School site was like. The last time that we had been there it had been in the late summer / autumn of 2023 when the children were in year 1. The biggest change that the children noticed was how bare the place looked. It being the middle of winter and no leaves growing at all the place looks almost empty.

We went to have an explore down at the bottom of the site and then looked at the different trees. I had noticed that one of the oak trees that we have planted was not doing as well as it could. It is getting swamped by a vigorous goat willow. We decided to trim the willow to give the oak a bit more room. The children were worried about nesting birds so I explained that this is why we do any tree work at this time of year as there won’t be any nesting birds now. We used the tree branch to make some crazy wooden lollipops. I should have taken lots of photos of this and in fact had a camera just for this job but the camera stayed in my pocket the whole of the session as it was much more fun using the bow saw and practicing cutting lollipop rounds.

Whilst I was busy wood working Mrs. Newton took a group to explore in the trees down by the dinner hall. We had put some hammocks up for the children and there are some excellent climbing trees there. We had also left out some old pallets that make really good den making materials.

I have said this before; in Forest School it is really important that the activities are led by the children. While I was busy with the tree surgery another group of children took themselves off and went on a bug hunt. They found a huge colony of woodlice. They spent their time making a special home for the woodlouse who they had called Terry. It is these unscripted moments in Forest School that bring the magic into the woods and  make it the special time that it is.

Den Making 22/01/25

It is always great to see the children fully kitted out as it will mean that we can enjoy the whole of the session. I had on two scarves, under gloves, gloves, gilet, coat and a nice woolly hat. I was toasty for the full 2 ½ hours.

We got to see a lovely cat today. I was surprised that the cat came out to greet us as usually they would run away from such a large party but the children let the cat come to them rather than trying to chase it. Made me think I would like a pet cat, although I am not sure what my dogs would say about that! The Horses were not so curious today. I think they were more interested in the hay that they had to eat as they would not come to say hello despite are best horse whisperer efforts.

Since it was nice and cold we could use the bracken for a game of cat and mouse hide and seek. I think my big red coat made it difficult for me to hide as I was always getting caught.

We didn’t go on any exploring expeditions today, instead we played on the slope at the end of the short cut to the bridge. It was good fun. We found a bone of some animal I wonder what it was. We have found badgers there before, it was too big to be a bird bone - a Forest School mystery.

We played some good games when we got tot the Forest School site. The first game we played was find the tree, sounds easy? We did it with blind folds on. We found that there were three trees that we could easily identify: The rough oak, with the bark like an old man’s hand. The smooth beech tree, this tree would often have knots and blemishes on the bark where a branch had been knocked off. Lastly, we found some small hazel trees, these were thin, little things with smooth(ish) bark. The next game we played was Ohggah Boogah – don’t get caught by the monster, oak trees are base. The hazel stand was goal.

We then made dens to have our drink and snack in. Making dens is a difficult business, rope, tarps and trees make things difficult. The only way to make things easier is through good team work. It was the group that worked best together who got their den completed first. Once the other groups saw this we all started working much better together. Everyone enjoyed their den. Just as important as putting it up was packing it down again.

There was just time for reflective time and a song before we had to come back to school for our lunch.

Rope Adventure 15/01/25

What a difference from last week! I did not need the three layers of glove. It was really pleasant and the sun came out at the end of the session to give us the false hope of spring. (We are a long way off that joy.)

This week we found a giant spider in the corner of the shed. I think there are definitely more than the one in there, just going on all the webs. I think spiders must hibernate through the winter months as there can not be much food about. I don’t know for sure, if anyone does I would love to know.

This week I thought it would be great for an explore. The children had been wondering what was over the stream and since the water was low I thought it would be good to go and explore. This provides a fantastic opportunity for children to develop their balance and strength. They also challenge themselves to complete perceived difficulties that is great for self-belief and confidence.

The first but was easy but it soon ramped up as we had to cross the stream. Ropes were deployed so everyone could get down the muddy bank, then another rope was used to help balance across the stream. To make it more fun we then used a fallen down tree to cross the final part to the opposite bank. What an adventure. The other side had a lovely shelving bank that was full of good stones to splash into the water. We found some puff ball fungus that was great fun puffing out the spores.

When it was time to go, instead of just crossing back we decided to climb up the other side and find a different way to the site we use for Forest School. Luckily, I had one rope left to help us up the slope and then we used that to get back down the slope to cross to our centre. I think you can all agree that that was a fine adventure. We were a bit worn out by it all so had our hot drink and snack to re-charge our batteries.

While the hot drink was cooling we put up some hammocks to play in. We also managed to fit in a game of camouflage. We finished our session with a longer quiet time than last week as it was that much warmer. I am looking forward to hearing more bird song as the weather warms but I still heard a blackbird enjoying the sunshine.

Freezing Fun 08/01/25

You can imagine how cold it was today but everyone turned up in lots of layers so no one (not even me) moaned about the cold. Mind, we did keep very busy and I don’t think we really stopped until our reflection time at the end of the session.

We went to the ‘shed’ to put the school clothes ready to get changed into when we came back. While we were there I found some hats for people who had not brought any. Before Christmas I was in the shed and I found a mouse. We saw the evidence of the mouse in the hats with holes in! We looked for the little critter but all we found was a huge spider trying to sleep through the winter months. We put her back as carefully as we could. If anyone has some humane mouse traps that we could borrow it would be appreciated we could call it ‘operation save the hats’!

We travelled along towards the dene. I was feeling inspired by our encounter with the mouse so decided to play a game of hiding mice and the curious cat amongst the bracken. The first try was not so good as the children thought they saw a wolf – how exciting. I was not sure what to expect as I peered through the bushes. I must admit to be quite relieved to find it was a plastic bag in a funny shape so it looked like it had eyes.

We made our way to the Forest School site via the horses, the running slope and the long short cut, just in time for a hot drink and a snack to keep us going. We got out the ropes and played with those for a bit. We had a game like hide and seek called camouflage and before we knew it it was time to come back to school for our lunch.