Forest School at Singleton

What is Forest School?

Forest School was originally a Scandinavian concept, created to counter a lack of indoor space for pre-school children. In 1993, a group of Nursery Nurses from Bridgewater College in Somerset visited Denmark to develop an understanding of their early year’s settings. The staff were impressed with the focus on learning outdoors through play and how child centred the activities were.

When the staff returned to England, they started to implement what they had seen into their own setting at the college crèche. The staff noticed the children became more creative and were able to scaffold skills and ideas. The nursery nurses were spurred on from the success and created their own version of Forest School.

Two years later, in 1995 Bridgewater College created its first program and qualification in Forest School. This was popular and specifically offered to Early Years practitioners. Following on from this, popularity grew across The United Kingdom (UK) and in 2000 The Forest School Alliance many local authorities introduced Forest School.

The Ethos of Forest School

The ethos of Forest School is based on a fundamental respect for children and for their capacity to instigate, test and maintain curiosity in the world around them. It believes in children’s right to play; the right to access the outdoors, the right to access risk and the vibrant reality of the natural world.  A wealth of research supports the beliefs and benefits of Forest School for children.

Forest School at Singleton

We are passionate about encouraging outdoor learning and Forest School at Singleton. In the Foundation class Forest School is planned as part of the curriculum and across the rest of the school we teach sessions through ‘Fantastic Friday’ and also run an extra-curricular club The aims of the sessions are to inspire, encourage, motivate and engage children. Sessions are a process which is built upon and should encourage holistic development, confidence and skills, such as risk management and a knowledge of the environment.

We are very fortunate to have two Forest School woodland areas. The Foundation stage class have their own small woodland situated with direct access from their classroom. We also have a larger woodland area which is situated on a piece of land owned by the Richard Dumbreck Trust and accessed via the school playground. The Trust have developed the woodland area and given school full and exclusive access at all times.

Forest School Website

Outdoor Learning and Play Charity | Learning through Landscapes

 Forest School Handbook

For full details of our Forest School Provision – please click on our Forest Schools Handbook below:-