Forest School
We are very excited at Lansbury Bridge School to have Forest School on our site! Led by the ideas of HLTA Lisa Williams-Jones, this outdoor resource is going to be loved and used by our pupils for many years to come.
What is Forest School? Quote from The Forest School Association
“Forest School is a child-centred inspirational learning process, that offers opportunities for holistic growth through regular sessions. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration and supported risk taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.”
Forest School began in Scandinavia and arrived in the UK in 1993. It has developed over time, but the fundamental principles have remained throughout they are naturebased learning environments where our Forest School Leader will nurture learner-led exploration and discovery, nurturing meaningful experiences for positive lifelong impacts.
Forest School at Lansbury Bridge
In our onsite woodland environment, learning experiences are based on what activities a child wants to engage in at that particular time. Doing this on their own, supervised by a Forest School Leader, the child builds problem-solving skills, independence, and resilience as they try things out. In a woodland environment, learning experiences are based on what activities a child wants to engage in at that particular time.
Forest school activities include:
- Climbing trees
- Making campfires and cooking
- Woodworking
- Building shelters and dens
- Playing in the mud
- Foraging
- Various social games such as hide and seek
- Using nature for arts and crafts
- Animal spotting and bug hunting
Although making fires or building dens using saws and hammers can be seen as something dangerous that children should not be doing, our highly trained Forest School Leader is constantly encouraging our students to try new opportunities and although some activities come with risks they are well supervised throughout.
At Lansbury Bridge School Forest School is a fantastic opportunity to enhance Outdoor Education in a way that allows all pupils to boost their self-esteem, confidence, and independence in a unique way. It also gives all pupils the ability to develop their knowledge and understanding of the natural environment in a meaningful way. All children have access to Forest School and their individual needs are met by differentiation within tasks. The children are exposed to and involved in a variety of appropriate sensory experiences that encourage them to make sense of the world in which they live. Forest School develops our pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education by helping them to examine the fundamental questions in life by inspiring them to develop an appreciation of the natural world.
These sessions are delivered by Lisa Williams-Jones and she is trained Forest School Lead Practitioner.
This year 2022-2023 has been a busy one in Forest School! We have been working towards achieving our green tree awards and so far, we have gained bronze and silver awards with the Woodland Trust.
In January 2024, we received the Gold Award! We will now be working towards Platinum!
To achieve this, evidence had to be submitted mainly on creating a biodiversity environment. So, through everyone's help during Forest School sessions, we have been creating bird feeders, planting seed bombs and creating wildflower patches, with help from our Caretaker Lol who made some butterfly houses, have planted Jubilee Trees and held assemblies on Green Trees.
All pupils in have been taking part in outdoor activities which have demonstrated their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the natural environment. This has included documenting a variety of forest school activities as well as video, photography, and art projects all of which support a greater understanding of the natural world and our role in its protection.
Evidence was also submitted for everyone working on projects during our Enrichment Week.
During Science week, P13 made amazing natural bug houses which are located within the forest. For the Kings Coronation, everyone was involved in making the school look bright and floral encouraging biodiversity creating areas for bees and butterflies to pollinate.
A massive thank you for celebrating Nature during Arts Week. Pathway 4 in created a forest mural. The whole school created our Hapa Zome prints which I can't wait to see up and everyone made a biodegradable bird feeder. S7 created some unique bird houses which they are researching the best area in the forest to put up. Thank you to everyone involved!
We are now looking forward to taking part in activities to achieve Gold or Platinum Award!
Here are a few photographs of our work and achievements in the forest:
