Nursery Forest School

Forest school supports all areas of the Early Year Curriculum.

Forest School uses children’s interests and natural resources in woodland or nature areas to stimulate imaginative, creative and investigative activities. It is child led and the activities help children to take risks safely and be responsible of themselves and others. It has structure but at the same time leaves lots of room for personalised learning opportunities.

Our forest school site is located on the school grounds in the nature garden. It will provide a safe and natural environment for the children to explore and expand their learning through multi-sensory exploration.

The children will be encouraged to appreciate the natural world, use materials they find such as puddles, leaves, sticks, logs and stones as well as rope and string.

The sessions will be led by Mrs Vicky Bond, our Forest School Leaders. A leader and another member of staff will work with your child as part of a group. We need parents to volunteer as helpers. Please sign up to volunteer in your child’s class or if your child is in nursery, on the nursery parent notice board.

Your child will get dirty; this can be minimised by wearing the appropriate clothing.

  • Wellington boots
  • Waterproof over trouser (provided by us)
  • Waterproof jacket (provided by us)
  • Old clothes
  • All washable

Please remember to dress your child appropriately on their forest school day, as they may be outside for 2½ hours in all weathers and temperatures. Two suggested clothing lists are enclosed.

We always need parent help on forest school days. We would expect every parent/ grandparent/ aunty/ uncle to help at least once in the academic year.

If you have any further questions please ask your child’s class teacher, Mrs Bond who will happy to answer them.

Forest School Programme will be supporting all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. It will be a valuable resource used regularly by all Foundation children. Research shows that there are many benefits of Forest School, such as building self-esteem, improved language and communication skills, increased motivation and concentration and improved social skills. New research ‘A marvellous opportunity for to children to learn’ by Liz O’Brien of Forest Research and Richard Murray of the new economics foundation shows that Forest Schools can play a critical role in child development.

Learning through positive outdoor experiences