Spring Term 2023

Our new term has started with lots of ice and frost! We have had some beautiful winter days and this has meant wonderful opportunities for the children: close observation, awe and wonder, exploration, discovery, sensory experiences and lot's of fun! We have collected ice and frost and solved different ways to collect it. This naturally resulted in sensory exploration, ways to break the ice, ways to melt the ice and observing how different and beautiful the trees, plants and even blades of grass looked on our field. Year 4 class enjoyed hot chocolate around the fire.

The children have shown amazing resilience against the cold and wind.

Autumn Term 2022

All the children have made a great start to their new term of regular Forest School activities. It’s been lovely to see how the children have really started to think about what they want to get out of our sessions.

We have spent time fungi hunting, bug spotting, making kites and dens, whittling and using tools.

Through all of these activities they are learning to take responsibility for themselves and the world around them, and to be resourceful and creative, resilient and persevering – life skills that we all need. 

We have enjoyed the beautiful Autumn sunshine and thinking about the changing seasons. We have made conker men using palm drills and talked about the importance of seed dispersal. 

We enjoyed our compass work and using the compass to help make maps only using what we can find on our field!

Spring Term 2022

The Spring weather has surprised us again this term, the sun has tried it's hardest to push through but has had to contend with lashing of rain, wind and the odd flurry of snow! Whatever the weather it does not deter the children from making the most of Forest School. We wrap up warm and embrace and learn about the different seasons.  Reviewing and reflecting is an important part of Forest School and is something I encourage the children to do so they can see their own learning and acknowledge each others achievements. Sometimes really wonderful things come up and during our Forest School poetry week we saw beautiful poems written and inspired by our surroundings and nature. 

 We had great fun spotting all the different birds we could see during Bird Watch Week, all the results were sent through to the RSPB and the woodpigeons retained the top spot for Schools’ Birdwatch for 2022. We made bird feeders to encourage different species onto our field. 

Problem solving skills are developing as children work out how to balance a ball on their structure. They have enjoyed making shelters and using their knot skills to make Easter Crosses which can be seen in our reflection area. The children have built assault courses, 3D shapes and made a Suduko game Forest School style! Our younger years went looking for bugs using magnifying glasses we went looking under logs and in leaf litter to see what we could find, this inspired us to design and make our very own bug.

Have a lovely break!

Autumn Term 2021

Leaves are all around us at the moment, as the trees shed their golden coats to form a wonderful blanket on the floor. The change of colours and textures have been such an amazing supply of natural and fun activities. The children enjoyed collecting leaves in piles and throwing them in the air. It is so satisfying and fun! Seeing and feeling the leaves fall on our heads was such a beautiful thing to do. The children have super fun jumping and rolling in the leaf piles which made such a spectacular festival of colours and laughter!

Year 1 and Year 4 made the Pudsey Bear mascot for Children in Need, Forest School style!

  The weather has been kind and mild so far and the occasional rain makes the conditions extra special to be outdoors.

The field is a blaze of Autumnal colours and we have enjoyed in abundance, building, creating and observing. With the good weather we grabbed the opportunity to light the fire with Year 6.  Thank you Barney, Tom and Rhys from Year 5 for bringing in so many conkers we had great fun using them in many different ways. 

Summer Term 1 2021

What a term it has been! We've had thunder, lightning, hail and rain, sunshine and wind: we've seen it all!

Spring and early summer is such an engaging time of year as our plants and animals are in rebirth, the weather is wild and unpredictable but everything feels fresh and exciting.

This term has been a busy one in Forest School we've been doing what we do best, creating, exploring and learning whatever the weather.

Our new pond arrived and it was exciting to put in the new plants to help keep the water clear. We have made bridges, kites, crime scenes for a teddy bear. We have learnt about water transpiration from trees and looked at different ways to measure trees. Year 3 enjoyed time around the camp fire. All classes have continued to make use of the tools and Year 4 had fun with the billhook. We played the tyre game which was a huge sucess and Year 5 enjoyed the floating stick game after a little practise!

Year 6 had fun taking pictures with the theme being ' up close with nature.' Here are just a few of their stunning photographs.

Spring Term 1 2021

Although the start of the spring term has seen us back in lockdown it's so good to see so many of you getting outside.

Did you know spending time outdoors in nature is good for you? It's true! Being around trees and wildlife can boost your mood and that is something we could all benefit from right now. Getting active outdoors is a great way to improve your fitness too.

If you can, pull on your wellies and enjoy some fresh air.

I am delighted how resourceful you are at home and the pictures you are sending in via the Forest School google classroom are fabulous, it's shown me just how good you are!

At school we are following the same lessons as you at home with one added addition.

We have some exciting news........

In the reflection area we are digging out one of the flower beds to create a wildlife pond, it's at a very early stage as we didn't realise how much soil there was !!!

I am so thrilled as the pond we will be a fantastic Forest School resource for all the children. It will extend the biodiversity we already enjoy at St Peter's.

I will keep you posted with the progress.

               and at school we too are enjoying our

                      Forest School sessions.

Autumn Term 2 2020

Forest School is a sensory joy during the autumn term with crisp leaves scrunching beneath our feet, the leaves are falling like golden snowflakes and we had fun building rainbows before they blew away!

During the sessions the children are developing their den building skills during the last week of term some classes built a nativity set and re-enacted the Christmas story. The children are using a range of forest school tools, we made conker people using knots and lashing to secure the twigs and we built our very own fire circle with many thanks to Paula Dorrell and the PTA for providing the logs.

Sitting around the campfire as a group, learning, listening, toasting marshmallow is a wonderful communal and magical experience for the children. This incredibly ancient tradition still remains mystifying, stimulating the senses by letting you feel the fires warmth and at Forest School we are learning which woods and natural materials burn the best, we looked at the fire triangle – oxygen, fuel and heat - things a fire needs to exist, at all times children learn to respect the fire and practise fire safety.

Autumn Term 1 2020

Trees for climbing, dirt for digging, puddles for splashing in, log stumps for sitting, fallen branches for building.

It might not appear to be much, but this is a classroom. Here, creations are built, discoveries are made, risks are taken, beauty is discovered and wonder is cultivated.

What a fantastic term of Forest School we have had.  To inspire thoughts about transportation considering the environment and conservation issues we built different vehicles

both big and small!

Each year group was given a camera and took pictures of nature which they felt best represented their thoughts of what nature means to them.

We have had lots of fun with many activities, making pressed flower and leaf pendants,

clay fairies, we looked at angles using sticks and our own bodies to make shapes and angles beyond the classic square paper depictions, we had fun finding different natural resources to help us. We are learning how to identify trees and we are learning how to use tools safely.

This was the first experience of Forest School for Year One. Once we had gone through the rules and expectations for Forest School we played games to get used to our surroundings.

In doing this we found all sorts of different plants and some animals and we managed to find some signs that autumn is on its way.

It was very exciting discovering our area and finding out what animals lived in our bushes and trees. We talked about which animals we may find on our field. We went looking for mini beasts after realising they preferred sheltered, dark, damp places, we collected materials to make dens.

The children loved exploring using their senses of touch and smell to discover the different trees and bushes on our field.

A selection of pictures taken by the children themselves during Forest School.

Spring Term 2

We have been greeted with a few shimmers of sunshine this term, giving us more time to use utilise and enjoy the natural resources during our forest school lessons.

Using mathematical concepts we learnt how to read a compass and start to follow a bearing with our partners. We continue to look at trees and how to identify them; we used all our senses which helped us to write some lovely poems. 

During 'Bird Week' in January we helped with conservation and counted the birds in our field. We made bird feeders from old toilet rolls to welcome them!

We also made free-standing structures which were brilliant - with thought given on how to secure them against the elements.

Drawing to the end of what has been a whirlwind of a shortened spring term we would like to take a moment to highlight what we take for granted each and every day within our setting; beautiful interaction, lasting friendships, endless creativity and spending our days outdoors with our            St Peter's family! We hope that each and every one of our families stay safe in the coming weeks ahead and we hope to see you all soon, happy and healthy. 

Spring Term

A New Year brings great fun exploring the field, the weather has brought its challenges, however the children are coping well with the very wet weather!

We are continuing to explore our area and discover new interests. We have seen some great team work; everyone has lots of ideas about what they wanted to do - and not enough time to do it all!

Can't wait until next week!

This week we are starting to learn an important outdoor skill, using a compass. 

We had fun finding an interesting fungi called 'jelly ears', it grows on Elder trees and other hardwood. "It was very soft like jelly"

The children learnt punk wood is rotten, decayed wood. "It feels like sponge"

We just love building shelters!

Autumn Term 2019

Autumn has crept in slowly transforming our green leafy field into a golden wonderland.

All the children have made a great start to their new term of regular Forest School activities. It’s been lovely to see how the children have really started to think about what they want to get out of our sessions and are now regularly arriving with a plan and a purposeful idea for the whole session on the field.

We have spent time fungi hunting, bug spotting, making rope swings and dens, tying knots and putting up tarpaulin shelters.  Through all of these activities they are learning to take responsibility for themselves and the world around them, and to be resourceful and creative, resilient and persevering – life skills that we all need. It will be exciting to see how the children continue to develop their ideas as we move into winter.