about
Forest School
Forest school offers a specialised learning approach that sits within and, complements the wider context of outdoor and woodland education.
Forest school inspires learners by giving regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland or natural environment with trees.
The forest school association have developed a set of principles for all forest schools to abide by these are:
- That forest school is a long-term process of regular sessions, rather than one-off or infrequent visits. The cycle of planning, observation, adaptation and review links each session together
- That forest school takes place in a woodland or natural environment to support the development of a relationship between the learner and the natural world
- That forest school uses a range of learner-centered processes to create a community for being, development and learning
- That forest school aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners
- That forest school offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves
- That forest school is run by qualified Forest School Practitioners who continuously maintain and develop their professional practice
At forest school all participants are viewed as:
- Equal, unique and valuable
- Competent to explore & discover
- Entitled to experience appropriate risk and challenge
- Entitled to choose, and to initiate and drive their own learning and development
- Entitled to experience regular success
- Entitled to develop positive relationships with themselves and other people
- Entitled to develop a strong, positive relationship with their natural world
Our forest school supports and enables the above principles to be met. For more information about our forest school please see the other pages in the ‘About’ section of our website.