Forest school is a unique learning experience in the outdoors, in all weathers and with the use of natural materials as resources. Forest School is the name of a specific ethos – a way of working with children in an outdoor natural space. Qualified practitioners carefully facilitate programmes which are uniquely tailored to the needs of the individuals within the group and have the fundamental aim of building participants' self-esteem, confidence, independence and creativity. The name does not refer to an actual place; it refers to the philosophy. 

Forest School philosophy encourages child-initiated learning opportunities, focusing on the process of interest not on what results are achieved.  Studies have proven that a holistic approach enables children to increase self-esteem, learn through senses; movement, social interaction, imagination and further develop language and communication skills.

The embedding of Forest School principles at Worstead means that when a beautiful, but lifeless, garden bird was recently found near one of the classroom windows, the children were not afraid, shocked or disgusted - but instead calmly asked questions and considered deeply where it had come from and where it should go to. This was the stimulus for a fascinating lesson which carried on in class about the nature of life and how animals interact with us in our world and, of course, it could never have been planned.

Forest School is considered an essential part of a Worstead education, particularly as we live in a remote, rural community. It links to and supports science, geography PE and RHSE directly and there are further connections to all kinds of themes the children study e.g. to the concept of spirituality in RE is encountered in the wonder of the natural world. It also exists for its own sake and is not dependent on any other subject area. Skills like safely managing a campfire, wild art, nature and woodland craft, encouraging wildlife, learning about life-cycles of real animals, or simply building resilience and a love of the outdoors are all parts of Forest School. These all support mental and physical health.

We have our own dedicated Forest School area, which we open up to our local Worstead Pre-School to also benefit from. We employ our own Level 3 Forest School teacher, and every child gets a chance to go to Forest School sessions in a termly block every year. They inevitably come home filthy, but it's what we do!

Visit the Forest School Association to find out more about the principles.