Forest School

From September 2025/26, we will be providing Forest School sessions to all pupils in year 2, 3 and 4 as part of our in-school curriculum. Year 4 will take part in Forest School sessions in Autumn term, Year 3 in Spring term and Year 2 in Summer term. This will mean that pupils get to experience our beautiful woodland at different times of year which will help them explore seasonality and change.

Forest School is a child-centered 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. The process helps learners develop socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. It creates a safe, nurturing environment for learners to take risks.

Forest School inspires a deep and meaningful connection to the world and an understanding of how a learner fits within it. Learners constantly expand on their abilities by solving real-world issues, building self-belief and resilience.

St Mary's Forest School Handbook

St Mary's Progression of Skills - Forest School 2025-2026

Forest School - July 2025

Y4 session 1: 18.9.25

Y4 session 2: 24.9.25

Y4 Session 2: 24.9.25 - We had a great time at Forest School today! We practised team work and knot skills by making tarpaulin shelters over a ridgeline. We continued developing our tool-use skills by sawing wooden discs for our Christmas tree decorations and using a sanding block to then get the wood nice and smooth. We also put up more bug hotels around the orchard and some of us invented a shop game selling bug hotels!

Of course, we enjoyed a hot chocolate and biscuit snack at the end of our session as we thought about what we had enjoyed and the skills we had learned.

Yr 4 Session 3: 8.10.25

Forest School 8.10.25 - Today in Forest School we have used a new tool- the hand drill! We have drilled holes in our wooden discs so that we can attach some twine to hang them from our school Christmas tree at the festival in December.

I also put the children into teams and challenged them to use the tarpaulin and rope resources to make some shelters by themselves- everyone had a really good try and it was great to see the knots we have been practising being put to use!

Some of us then decided to do some mindful colouring inside one of the shelters, which was lovely and peaceful.

We also learnt a new knot- the clove hitch. We practised the 'fish on the dish' method of making this knot and then some children tied some twigs together using this knot to make bug hotels ready to hang in the woodland to help minibeasts as we enter the colder seasons of the year.