“The best classroom is roofed only by the sky” Margaret McMillan (1919)
‘A Forest School is an innovative educational approach to outdoor play and learning.’
It is a type of outdoor education where children visit a woodland environment on a regular basis and can benefit greatly from the hands on learning opportunities presented there.
In the forest children are able to explore and discover right from the very small to the large, e.g. putting mud in the bucket, transporting it to another area, mixing with a stick, watching tiny creatures in the soil, throwing and swinging on ropes, climbing or building dens to hide.
A natural woodland environment is well resourced therefore children can follow their own lines of enquiry and interests through undirected play. They have an opportunity to go over the same thing again and again allowing them to make full sense of their discoveries.
At Turville we use our own onsite meadow where the forest school sessions are delivered by a qualified forest school leader within safe boundaries that allow our children the flexibility and freedom for child-initiated learning. All our children love being outdoors. They use various tools, play games, learn how to use their own initiative to solve problems and cooperate with others.
Most importantly they enjoy themselves, laugh and have fun, lots of it!
