2.1- Assignment (Unit 3): Summarise the Forest School approach to learning

ETHOS

Forest Schools is an ethos and made up of principles, it is not structured education, it is not standardised testing, it is adapted every session by the Forest School Leader to enhance each learner's experience within the Forest School session. The forest school leader will use a baseline assessment over a 6 week period to evaluate the learning needs of everyone taking part. By evaluating the learning this makes every session and program unique. 

When thinking about the Forest School approach to learning, we like to base this on the ENERGY model.

E = Everyone - This means that anyone and everyone can be involved in forest school learning, from babies and early years all the way up to grandparents! It should be available to ALL children in any form of education, be it mainstream school, home schooling, and non-schooling.  It can also be opened up to teens, young adults, families, youth offenders etc.  It really is open and beneficial for everyone from any background. 

N = Neuroscience - Over the last few years and still progressing today, the science behind a human brain is more understood today than it ever has been. The understanding of the Forest School approach is that by having a positive learning environment and an opportunity to be independent and build upon prior experiences through repetition, we begin to create more skill, knowledge and understanding. We have learnt that nature can impact the neurotransmitters, chemicals that allow neurons to communicate with each other throughout the body, and calms the mind and helps relieve stress of the body.  By understanding the science behind the symptoms, we can start to understand the cause, therefore, if we can start understanding how an individual child learns and faces challenges, we can adapt our sessions to help them get the most out of their experiences. 

E = Emotional Wealth - Forest school understands that Emotional Wealth is a required skill and without it as humans we can struggle to be happy, content or successful in life. Forest School teaches the ‘Inside of me’ and ‘Outside of me’ aspects of Emotional Wealth as shown below.  By using these aspects, the leader can offer an opportunity for the learner to experience sessions which can allow the learner to recognise their own development and create space for growth. 

R = Relationships - It is important as a leader and a learner to build relationships and secure great social skills within a different setting. This can lead to greater things and helps learners understand the foundations of building a good relationship with their friends and peers.

G = Generation of Ideas - Forest School allows for the children to be put into situations which they will have to solve, using their creativity, determination and any past experiences enabling them to generate ideas. By allowing children to use their creativity and by thinking outside the box, it allows the children to apply this to all of their learning and future choices and hopefully creating better situations.  It is the responsibility of the leader to have a good understanding of the theoretical underpinning processes that may be relevant to the individual learner or group. By creating a space for the children to engage with, with possible loose flowers, twigs, insects etc, this enables the children to explore their surroundings and create their own ‘session’ and challenge their abilities by their creativity, they are able to use the environment as a workspace. 

Y = Yearly - Something I have learnt during this process is that Forest Schools are long term and should be delivered for a minimum of a year and throughout that year, either daily, every other day or a minimum of once a week.   It is important that we do it for a year so that the learners are able to experience the outside space throughout all the seasons, being able to see the different weather conditions and how our surroundings are able to naturally adapt for survival. Studies have shown that by having long term forest school, behaviours can change and growth can be seen in individuals. Emotional wealth and permanence can be developed over the long term.

Forest school principles.

Forest school has been created to offer ALL learners regular opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and build self esteem by being delivered by qualified Forest School leaders who understand the emotional, physical and holistic importance of child-led sessions. 

Forest school allows learners hands-on learning experiences in woodlands or natural environment with a specialised learning approach that compliments the woodlands and teaches children how we are able to use the space whilst respecting the space. 

As we have seen with the ethos, Forest school is a long term process for a year minimum, with having regular visits to our outside space, to do this, it is important we understand the planning, adaption, observation and reviewing of the Forest school and what we may be able to do during our sessions to not redirect nature or even help enhance the surroundings. 

It is important to carry out 6 Baseline assessment sessions to understand the different children you have in your session and how we can plan the programme to help indulge everybody's needs and enhance their learning experience through forest school. 

We use Woodlands, Forests or wild spaces as it is the natural surroundings and loose parts that support the learning. Due to the diversity of the woodlands and forests it is best suited to match the needs of the learners, providing a space and environment to explore and discover different changes throughout the year.

Using woodlands, forests and wild spaces creates natural resources for inspiration to create ideas and encourage motivation. 

It is important for Forest School leaders to constantly monitor the area and think about the ecological impact they may be having during their sessions, this includes the equipment and resources they are using as well as just walking to the site. It is important to work with the site manager and work alongside a sustainable site management plan. 

Forest School promotes holistic development which in turn maximises learning capabilities, by working with as many people within the children's life, we can link experiences at Forest school to home, work or school topics. 

Using 6 baseline assessment sessions we can observe and provide opportunities for development of social, physical, intellectual, creative, communication, emotional and spiritual aspects of the learner. 

The aim for Forest school is creating learner led sessions creating an opportunity for development and learning. As a forest school leader, we do this by being responsive to the needs of the learner, creating a careful plan of appropriate dialogue and relationship building. 

Ensuring that we allow the learners to play and choose, as this is a vital key to forest school learning as it encourages development and learning. Also making sure that all levels and preferences of each learner has been achieved. 

Allowing some reflective time at the end of each session allows the learners and leaders to understand the achievements and develop emotional wealth. By using scaffolding techniques we can tailor and develop each session to achieve program aims. 

It is the role of a Forest school leader to assess the Risk or benefit of a session and manage the session if using tools or fire for example, if this would be beneficial for that particular individual or group and if it would be able to beneficially improve their motivation and therefore their emotional wealth. 

It is important that when quoting the Forest School ethos and running a Forest school, these are lead by qualified Forest School leaders, I have found after a little bit of research that there are a small percentage of people that advertise as ‘forest school based activities’ but are not qualified and follow the ethos without the training.  It is important to have the qualified training so that we can understand all aspects of Forest School sessions and the benefit it has towards learners, leaders and the surrounding environment. 

We must make sure all leaders have up to date first aid qualification, including paediatric and outdoor elements, also holding any relevant documents which contain policies and procedures required for the running of Forest School. 

Resource - Wildly Educated Resource Bank.