Forest School is an inspiratonal process, that ofers ALL learners

regular opportunites to achieve, develop confdence and

self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland
or natural environment with trees.
Forest School is a specialised learning approach that sits within and
compliments the wider context of outdoor and woodland
educaton.
The Forest School Associaton
Natures Child Forest School
and Woodland Activities



Forest School is a programme developed in Sweden in the 1950s.
It concentrates on delivering educaton in an outdoor
environment. Studies carried out have concluded that children who
experienced learning in an outdoor setng were more balanced, more
socially developed, had deeper concentraton levels and beter
coordinaton. Today, outdoor learning has shown to
increase atainment and atendance levels in students. It is also shown to
increase self esteem, confdence and communicaton skills.
What is Forest School?
Forest School is a practce that gives
young people the opportunity to
develop self learning through natural
play and positve outdoor experiences.
A gradual introducton to learning is
facilitated by trained professionals who
guide young people by way of
experiental learning. Forest Schools
help young people to understand the
importance of nature and the
environment. Young people can learn
about tree and plant life and how to
protect them, fre safety and camp fre
cooking, shelter building, safe use of
tools, woodland crafs and more.
Working with fre and tools allows young people to manage risk and take
responsibility for their learning, themselves and the people around them.
This responsibility in turn leads to young people gaining a greater sense of
self worth, self confdence, self esteem, leadership and communicaton
skills. Forest Schools can be used from early years right up to KS5 and
beyond.
What is the role of the Forest School
Practitioner?
The role of the forest school leader is to ofer a safe and secure learning
environment suitable for the needs of all. Every young person will be
diferent with diferent needs so it is important to be able to make your forest
school area as versatle as possible.

The forest school leader, along with schools, parents, and key workers work
together to identfy the needs of a group and the individuals within the group
and plan a programme that works for all on all levels. Forest school will
tackle all aspects of emotonal and social wellbeing including: self awareness,
social skills, motvaton, empathy and how to manage feelings.
Working in this way will help young people to learn tolerance, compassion
and empathy showing emotonal intelligence and help with developing new
skills, concentraton levels, independence and communicaton showing in-
creased self esteem.








The forest school leader is constantly observing and will be ready to adapt
sessions to meet the needs of the group. The forest school leader is there to
guide, nurture, facilitate, keep safe, encourage and reinforce positve behav-
iour towards each other and the environment.
How can Forest School help with
holistic development?

Forest School can aid holistc development by helping with nonverbal
communicaton, where language may be a barrier, look at emotonal
development by focussing on the care of the environment including animals
and plants, teach a range of skills using tools to help physical development.

Forest School can help with:

Social development being able to build positve relatonships with others
and be a valued part of community.
Physical development using our bodies and muscles to develop, learning
how to use objects such as utensils and drawing materials. Being aware of
and using our senses.
Emotonal Intelligence being aware of oneself and the feelings of others
around us.
Spiritual development understanding what is right and wrong and being
responsible for the consequences of our actons.
Language skills being able to communicate verbally and non-verbally with
peers. Learning communicaton skills.

Forest School can be a liberatng experience full of surprises as young people
discover things about themselves they never knew. All these practces are a
journey which encourages complete holistc development by ofering
alternatve ways to learn, grow and develop by hands on experiences.


If your emotonal abilites arent in hand, if you dont have self-
awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotons, if you
cant have empathy and have efectve relatonships, then no mater how
smart you are, you are not going to get very far.
~ Daniel Goleman ~
How can Forest School encourage
appropriate behaviour and promote
learning and development?
Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a
community for development and learning
A learner-centred pedagogical approach is employed by Forest School
that is responsive to the needs and interests of learners.
The Practtoner models the pedagogy, which they promote during their
programmes through careful planning, appropriate dialogue and
relatonship building.
Play and choice are an integral part of the Forest School learning
process, and play is recognised as vital to learning and development at
Forest School.
Forest School provides a stmulus for all learning preferences and
dispositons.
Refectve practce is a feature of each session to ensure learners and
practtoners can understand their achievements, develop emotonal
intelligence and plan for the future.
Practtoner observaton is an important element of Forest School
pedagogy. Observatons feed into scafolding and tailoring experiences
to learning and development at Forest School.
Forest School Associaton

Forest school allows children and young people to use their initatve, problem
solve and work with others. These skills help develop empathy and respect for
others, respect for the material and tools that are used. It allows young
people to grow and develop at a pace that is right for them: there are no
targets, tmescales with forest school. Small achievable tasks gives young
people a sense of achievement, not failure.
How can forest school help to develop self
esteem and emotional intelligence?

Working with a range of materials and tools helps with concentraton levels,
coordinaton, independence and communicaton. Working with nature helps
develop empathy, creatvity, imaginaton and self awareness. All these skills
will work towards developing increased self esteem and emotonal
intelligence. In working with young people with emotonal and behavioural
difcultes, forest school helps these young people to develop trust by being
allowed to manage themselves appropriately, it enables pride by giving young
people the chance to see progress in themselves.
The importance of play


Artcle 31 of the U.N. Conventon of Rights of the Child states that every child
should have the right to rest, play and leisure and that governments must
promote childrens and young peoples involvement in the arts.
Play is defned as:
Children enjoying themselves
Being creatve, using imaginaton
Being independent
Expressing themselves
Staying healthy and actve
Managing risk and boundaries
Building relatonships
Developing a sense of community.
Outdoor play can help young people get the physical actvity they need and
maintain healthy weight as outlined in the Early Years Framework. Actve play,
including running, jumping and climbing help contribute to the preventon of
obesity, heart disease, diabetes and can also aid mental health problems.
Forest school encapsulates all aspects of free play (in early years), actve play
(primary years) and adventurous play (secondary young adult).
The young of all creatures cannot keep their bodies stll or their tongues
quiet: they are always wantng to move and cry out; some are leaping and
skipping and overfowing with playfulness and pleasure, and others utering
all sorts of cries.
(Plato, 360 BC).

Professionals recognise that every child should have the opportunity to
learn beyond the classroom and that deep level learning comes from when
children feel safe, secure and engaged with the outdoors.
Links to the curriculum

English story telling, learning new words through identfying fora
and fauna, using nature in poetry, developing language through
exploraton, developing communicaton through team work.
Mathematcsmeasuring trees, countng and producing data for
mini beasts, shapes in nature.
Sciencefood chains, pond and woodland mini beasts, life cycles,
methods of creatng fre.
ICTproducing data on fora and fauna, recording project work
Art, design and technologyphotography, natural art, working with
clay and mud, willow sculpture, making dens, camp fre cooking, using
tools, making boats.
Musicmaking instruments, recreatng animal and natural sounds.
Geographymaps, looking at diferent woodlands and environment
and seasonal changes.
Historyhistory of local woodlands and nature areas.
Physical educatonwalking, tree climbing, obstacle courses.

Sessions can be developed for any key stage from early years to KS5.

Where do sessions run from?
Woodland nr Great Chart.
Ham Street wood and Natonal Nature Reserve.
Bull Heath in Lenham.

Who runs the session?
Sessions run by Level 3 practtoner based at the North School.

How long do sessions run for?
12 weeks, 2 hours per session.
Day workshops are also available.

How many children can atend?
Maximum group size 15.
Taster sessions can be arranged and a pre visit to the site is always
recommended. For more informaton or to discuss arranging a Forest
School programme please contact Karen Litle on 07909031034 or email
klitle@north.kent.sch.uk
Forest School in Ashford
It really helped build confdence which will help
with the transiton into secondary school
Teacher, Willesborough Junior School
It was fantastc to see the students in
diferent environments and learn a litle
more about their interests and
motvators...it was so lovely watching
them work together
Teacher, St Nicholas School
I am not afraid to try new things. I am a
lot more confdent
Student, Tenterden Junior School It was awesome, and I learnt that I don't
fail all the tme
Student, Willesborough Junior School
For more informaton or to discuss arranging a Forest School
programme please contact Karen Litle on 07909031034 or email
Karen.litle71@yahoo.co.uk
Our woodlands

We are fortunate to be able to use some beautful local woodland thanks to
or generous working partners. All the woodlands that we use ofer young
people something diferent to learn about and explore. Woodlands can vary
a great deal. Some woodlands are mainly broadleaf or coniferous, some
have streams or lakes, some can have protected species such as crested
newts or wild fowers such as orchids. Each woodland is very diverse and
changes every season.
The map below will show where the woodlands are in relaton to central
Ashford.




Bull Heath lies north of Lenham Heath Road, adjacent to Bull ill. It sits on the
edge of the North Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The
Heath is an important local site representng unusual and increasingly rare
habitats with the potental to support important local species. The site is val-
uable as a wildlife site because of the unusual soil structure which amounts
to bare sand with litle organic mater.
Come of the plants, trees and animals found at Bull Heath include:
Heath spoted orchids
Southern marsh orchids
Sand Martns
Lichens and mosses
Badgers
Chif chaf
Warblers and nightngales
Alder trees
Silver Birch
Bull Heath
Woodland Nr Great
Chart
This idyllic wood is a 100 acre woodland situated near the prety village of
Great Chart near Ashford. The woodland is a mixture of broadleaf and
coniferous trees and in spring is home to wild fowers such as bluebells,
wood anemone and primrose. There is a large lake, stream, camp area,
compost toilets and a range of outbuildings making this a perfect Forest
School site from spring through untl winter. Once used for corporate team
building the woodland has lots of interestng structures making it the
perfect site for a range of outdoor educaton actvites.

Ham Street woods and
National Nature Reserve
Ham Street Woods NNR is a remnant of an ancient forest that once covered
the whole Weald afer the last Ice Age. The 97 hectares of Ham Street
Woods is part of the larger Orlestone Forest, a fragmented area of
woodland that is the remnant of a contnuous oak forest that once covered
the Weald. As well as being one of the frst Natonal Nature Reserves to be
designated in 1952, Ham Street Woods is natonally designated as a Site of
Special Scientfc Interest because it includes a series of broadleaved
woodlands supportng outstanding bird and invertebrate communites.

Star species: Ham Street Woods is home to rare moths (such as the triangle
and silky wave moths), and buterfies (such as the White Admiral);
breeding birds, including rare ones such as the nightngale and hawfnch;
and also to two protected species: the great crested newt and the
dormouse.