We have long known that getting children outside is good for their development and mental health. It supports the intrinsic motivation to play and discover and we already welcome many groups of children from schools and youth groups to come and explore the Great Fen through nature-based activities. But we want to do more!

We were, therefore, delighted when the Peatland Progress project gave the chance for Sara Hennessy and I to begin our training as Forest School leaders to increase the diversity of what we can offer to schools and community groups.

The ethos of Forest School is grounded in building a connection to natural world and through that environment being able to discover and understand the world through play. The children are supported to take appropriate risks and to lead the direction of play, which may take us educators out of our usual comfort zone of structured learning, but the benefits to this approach can’t be overstated.

Forest School is an ethos that has long been established in Scandinavian countries and has been proven to support children’s development. It can build a sense of confidence, autonomy and self-motivation which classroom-based formal learning doesn’t always achieve, especially for those not considered academic or for those with special educational needs. By building these skills at Forest School, children can then in turn build resilience to cope with the more formal parts of their education. The holistic and community-based approach has children both learning from and teaching one another, but on an unconscious level through play.

Many pre-school and primary-age settings have adopted a Forest School ethos and it is often offered to children in Key Stage 1, but we would like to see this offered more widely to children in all primary and secondary education. This is a big ambition and one shared across the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants, where some of our colleagues are already Forest School practitioners delivering in their own settings.

Sara and I have been really lucky to be trained by Carol and Elizabeth from Huathe, in a beautiful community woodland in Landbeach. We can’t wait to start delivering official Forest School programmes at Ramsey Heights nature reserve when we have completed our training in 2023.  We’ve been learning both the theory behind Forest School and the practical skills, such as knots, whittling and fire lighting, some of which we already practice, but it has been great to learn new techniques and ways of delivering opportunities for learning and to really understand WHY it works for the children!

We hope to be offering sessions to both primary and secondary settings, home educators and community groups, such cubs, brownies etc. We hope the sessions can provide support to young people in secondary school who may be struggling with poor mental health, young carers or those with special educational needs. We will be working hard during the Peatland Progress project over the next 5 years to build those connections with secondary aged children to then be able to continue this beyond the project with well-established and tried and tested sessions. 

If you would like to know more about Forest School the Huathe website is a great resource or if you would like to enquire about Forest School sessions for your school or community group please contact Sara.Hennessey@wildlifebcn.org