Forest School
IMPACT:
'I believe my child has gained confidence' -Year 4 parent
'He was very proud of his achievements' -Year 4 parent
'He has applied his enthusiasm in the classroom' -Year 3 parent
'When can they do Forest School again?' -Year 3 parent
We have introduced Forest School provision at St Joseph's to help educate and nurture our children to reach their God-given potential.
Using our woodland area our children learn and develop through a range of exciting and adventurous activities. These experiences including: building shelters, hunting for mini-beasts, learning to make and control a fire and using equipment that they might not otherwise be able to use, for example: ropes, saws and mallets.
At Forest School children are able to:
- explore & discover
- experience appropriate risk and challenge
- choose, and to initiate their own learning
- experience success
- develop positive relationships with themselves and other people
- develop a strong, positive relationship with their natural world
- HAVE LOTS OF FUN!
Our Forest School sessions are led by Mrs Campbell or Mrs Astall who have achieved the 'Level 3 Forest Schools Practitioner qualification' and all activities are fully and comprehensively risk-assessed.
How does it work at St Joseph's?
As Forest Schools requires a very low adult to pupil ratio, we select children that we feel will really benefit from this extra-curricular experience to take part in the half-termly Forest School Club. which will begin in the Autumn Term and continue through the school year. These will be small-scaled groups that combine learning about the outdoors with opportunities for developing resilience, improving self-esteem and confidence and problem solving.
However, we want AS MANY CHILDREN AS POSSIBLE to have the experience of Forest Schools so we plan carefully over the course of each year to ensure that opportunities are put in place for. In addition to this, those children that take part in a residential will cover many of the key learning objectives set out in Forest Schools.
