Forest School
Subject Leader- Mrs Murrell
Mrs Murrell has recently completed her Level 3 Forest School Training which has allowed us to begin weekly sessions with the children. Our woodland area on the school grounds has provided the perfect environment to carry out the activities- thankyou very much to everyone who kindly donated pallets, pots and pans and kitchen utensils to help it get up and running!
We invited another fully-qualified and extremely experienced Forest School enthusiast to visit on Friday 29th September. This is what she said...
"Your Forest school is a beautiful area, which with dedication, has clearly been enhanced. The Year Six pupils came to their session and immediately went to their starting point, silent and ready to get started. They were then quickly set off to work on focused or more open ended tasks. Pupils worked expertly and independently with knives, cutters and other sharp implements. It was clear that the rules and high expectations had been clearly established in other sessions because now they were embedded.I asked a group , who were independently and creatively working with clay, if they liked Forest school. They all immediately replied ‘yes’. So I asked why they liked it: adding to each other’s comments they quickly replied ‘It’s calm, peaceful and inspiring.’ They felt it helped them stay focused in class earlier in the week.Thank you to Mrs Murrell and Liz (Mrs Duncan-Jameson).
I loved being with you all." Mrs J Fitzpatrick, Forest School Practitioner & vice Chair of Governors at St Mary's, Lea Town.
Barlow Class were the first to have their block of six sessions in the woods. We had a fantastic few weeks learning how to whittle and split wood, use loppers and secateurs and toast marshmallows on a campfire. The children have grown in confidence and their love for the outdoors has been wonderful to observe. Thankyou for providing them with suitable clothing each week and for washing it all when it gets muddy!
Beesley Class were next to take part in their Forest School sessions. They were extremely well behaved and it was a pleasure to take them each week. During the sessions we went on an egg hunt, made flower crowns, learnt how to use a bow saw to chop wood and used the campfire to make hot chocolates and toast marshmallows. It's clear to see we had lots of fun by the photos below!