Our Forest School leads, Lulu and Matt, have developed our woodland into a fully-accredited forest school. Lulu is a level 4 Early Years practitioner and has completed her level 3 qualification for forest school. Matt has qualified teacher status and is also level 3 forest school trained. They are supported by Paul, our level 3 qualified forest school assistant.
All the sessions take place in our very own woodland which sits behind the setting. As a setting we have worked closely with the woodland trust to develop the space that borders with their nature reserve to ensure it is safe for use. During our forest school sessions we learn how to build dens, safely use tools and cook on the open fire, and have a whole lot of fun with ropes and swings.
Forest School is the name for an approach to encourage and support child-initiated play in our free flow woodland environment, once a week. The children will learn new skills and take risks under safe conditions. The knowledge and benefits that are identified from these different experiences and activities can be identified within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS).
We are allowing the free early education funding to be used towards forest school, which is a real opportunity for children in Dover! The same ethos we use in the lambs and lions classrooms is mirrored throughout forest school, but we are just in the great outdoors! Fantastic!
