Forest School
Outdoor Play and Learning
Outdoor Play is an important part of early years’ work with children. There are many benefits for children in spending time outdoors, including physical development and a sense of emotional and cognitive well-being. Outdoors is where children will experience a sense of freedom, engage with the changing seasons and nature, and develop friendships.
For some children, outdoors is where they prefer to be and find it easier to communicate. There is a growing body of research to suggest that children are spending less time outdoors compared to previous generations which makes it even more important for us to provide quality environments and experiences for them in our own outdoor environments and the wider community.
EYFS
EYFS Forest School sessions take place on a Wednesday afternoon at our Worrall Road site with our Forest School Leader Jenny Sanderson. Occasionally the children go to Leigh Woods, but we will let you know when that is the case. Each class attends for two weeks before rotating to the next class to have their turn and would love to have volunteers to support these sessions. It is a great way to see your child interacting with their peers and we welcome not only parents to help but also grandparents, aunties and uncles or even a nanny!
The order of the class rotation will be Cygnets class, then Ducklings and finally Goslings before returning again to Cygnets.
On your child’s Forest school day, they will need to wear their base layers to school and bring their outer layers and wellies in a named carrier bag. We ask that on these days they also leave their book bag at home as they have a lot to carry. Please do remember to put their water bottle in with their outer layers.
Year 1&2
Sessions are devised for each year group and are centred around a story. Sessions respond to the interests of the children as much as possible and include lots of practical skills.
These sessions will take place on Thursday afternoons in block of 8 weeks, they are based at our Worrall Road site and will be run by our Forest School Lead.
There are times, due to exceptional weather, that the forest school site becomes unusable. On these occasions the Forest school leader will either plan Forest school activities off site eg the Downs or at the LRR site. You would be informed of these changes.
Your child will need to wear their Forest School base layers (long trousers, long sleeved top, warm socks) to school on Thursday mornings and bring with them a waterproof coat, waterproof trousers, wellies/snow boots, hat, scarf and gloves. As the weather this term can be very cold we would recommend that the children wear snow boot type shoes that will keep their feet warm and dry. They need all these clothes regardless of the weather, as you know they will get muddy!