Please see the links below for evaluation sheets for each of my 4 sessions. Unfortunately, the 5th session was cancelled due to the weather, and the nursery then closed due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Category: Unit 4
PFSP 4.1/DFSP1.1 Plan initial 6 Forest School programme sessions, showing links to own client groups learning and development objectives and needs
PFSP 3.2 Explain real/possible scenarios at Forest School and describe how you would manage the involved risk, giving due regard to the ethos and approach of Forest Schools
Please see the link below for the Risk-Benefit Analysis for some of the activities we may do at Forest School.
Here is our list of risk assessments:
general welfare and weather risk assessment
activities – blindfold activities
activities – building shelters
activities – collecting natural materials
activities – leaving the ground
activities – using rope or string
I worked together with my colleague to produce these risk assessments as we will be running our Forest School together. Here is the evidence of our working together:
PFSP 3.1 Create a Forest School Handbook containing relevant policies and procedures in line with statutory requirements and good practice specific to own client group and Forest School site
Please see the link below for our Forest School handbook.
I worked together with a colleague to produce this handbook as we will be running our Forest School together. Please see the links below for evidence of our working together.
working together evidence – Behaviour Policy
working together evidence – daily procedures
working together evidence – environmental impact and 3 year plan
working together evidence – first aid policy and emergency action plan
working together evidence – missing child policy
working together evidence – risk assessments
PFSP 2 Understand the ecological impact of a Forest School programme
PFSP 2.1 Assess the ecological impact of running a Forest School programme on own site
Here is our phase one survey, describing our Forest School site, and our impact matrix to assess the ecological effects of our Forest School activities:
PFSP 2.2 Develop a 3 year management plan for the sustainable use of own Forest School area, based on the ecological impact assessment
Here is our 3 year sustainable woodland management plan:
I worked together with my colleague who is also completing her Level 3 portfolio as we run our Forest School together at the same nursery. Here is the evidence of our working together:
PFSP 1.2 Evaluate 2 pieces of research on Forest School practice – 1st piece
For my first piece of Forest School research, I decided to look at “Impacts of Long Term Forest School Programmes on Children’s Resilience, Confidence, and Wellbeing by Sarah Blackwell”. This study can be found here.
Why was this paper written?
The benefits of Forest School on resilience, confidence, and wellbeing are well known but Sarah argues that much of the research is based on short term Forest School studies. She, therefore, collated a number of studies which were a minimum of 9 months long for her paper. She used findings from Forest Schools, early years practitioners, psychologists and educators from around the world.
What methods were used?
The research used a qualitative method, meaning that non-numerical data was used. The data used was based on educators’ opinions which are subjective and may be biased towards Forest School. As it was secondary data from other people’s studies, Sarah had no control over the reliability of the data. However, it would be very difficult to complete a long term study such as this in any other way as there is no numerical data available.
What were the results?
Resilience
The overall result was that long term Forest School programmes improve the resilience of children. The studies compiled were from two nurseries that are running Forest Schools, a Daily Mail article on playing outdoors and a study on the impacts of nature programmes on children. All of the studies agreed that resilience was improved, based on observing the following in children:
- increased confidence
- being more involved
- being more willing to take risks
- stronger self-esteem
- improved regulation of emotions and impulses
- greater empathy
It was suggested that Forest School develops resilience by providing self-directed learning opportunities for children and allowing them to make their own decisions, as well as helping children to develop positive relationships with others.
Confidence
Again, the overall result was that long term Forest School programmes improve the confidence of children. The two studies compiled here were from research studies based on Forest Schools. They both agreed that children’s confidence was improved, based on observing the following in children:
- being more involved
- being more willing to take risks
- initiating their own ideas
- being more independent
- stronger self-belief
- being more interested in learning new skills
Sarah suggested that Forest Schools help with confidence by giving children the freedom to explore and initiate their own activities. The importance of the role of educators was also mentioned. Educators help to build children’s enthusiasm, encourage those who are feeling unsure and then step back when children are fully engrossed in their activities.
Wellbeing
The overall result was that Forest School programmes have positive impacts on the wellbeing of children. Wellbeing was associated with good physical and psychological health. The studies compiled here were a study on Forest School, one from a nursery that was running a Forest School, a study on children’s physical activity, two on the impact of the natural environment on wellbeing, and a study on the impact of nature on children with ADHD. They all agreed that children’s wellbeing was improved with exercise but not all of the studies were about Forest School.
Evaluation
This project confirmed what we all suspected, that long term Forest School Programmes improve children’s resilience, confidence and wellbeing. The findings were similar to what I have noticed in some of the children taking part in our Forest School sessions at our nursery.
The studies that were compiled were all positive studies and it would have been interesting to see if there were any that argued against Forest School programmes for objectivity. It’s possible that not many of these exist but it would have helped to strengthen the arguments Sarah is making for the benefits if she could have mentioned some of the arguments against Forest Schools and tackled them.
As she mentioned in her own evaluation, the next step would be to collect some primary data on long term Forest School programmes rather than collating data from other people’s studies. However, because all Forest Schools, learners and leaders are very different, it is important to look at studies from different places to get a full picture.
PFSP 1 Summarise the history of Forest School, Locally and in the UK
Forest School was first brought to the UK by a group of nursery nurses at Bridgwater college who had visited a nursery in Denmark and came back inspired. They saw how the children were taught about the natural world and described it as:
“Children set their own agenda, cook [on open fires], listen to story-telling, sing songs and explore on their own level. They are able to climb very high into the trees on rope ladders and swings, and sit and whittle sticks with knives, alone.”
The nurses thought this would be beneficial to the children in their care and began their own Forest School, visiting nearby woodlands on a minibus with their children. They observed them closely and worked on scaffolding their skills and ideas. The Forest School was very successful and in 1995 the college developed its own qualification in Forest School and began to offer it to teachers and early years practitioners.
Forest School was welcomed at a time when many educators were concerned that the new National Curriculum which had been introduced in the 1970s and ’80s was eliminating children’s connections with nature and focussing mainly on numeracy and literacy. They looked to countries like Denmark and Finland which had pedagogies called “friluftsliv”, “skogsmulle” and “metsamoori”, based on characters, songs and stories in the outdoors. Forest School also built on different learning theorists, philosophers and naturalists such as Pestalozzi, Froebel, Steiner, the McMillan sisters, Montessori and Susan Isaacs.
From 2000, local authorities across England and Wales were taking up Forest School and delivering training. In 2002 the first definition of Forest School was formulated as:
“An inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults regular opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and self esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a local woodland environment.”
In 2012 a new professional association for Forest School was formed called The Forest School Association. Since then Forest School has continued to grow, with many schools and nurseries now sending their employees to undertake the Level 3 Forest School Leader training and embedding the ethos into their work.
Forest School in Merseyside
In my area, The Wildlife Trust has been delivering Forest School training and sessions since 2017. They work at two sites, Everton Park Nature Garden and Springfield Park in Liverpool. They have also been working with a number of schools, developing their school grounds to make them suitable for Forest School.
Sefton Council has also been offering Forest School since 2017. They were offering a series of six sessions for schools to book. These sessions took place in the woods which I use for my Forest School sessions in Formby and a few schools in Formby and Crosby booked onto them.
References
Play the Forest School Way by Peter Houghton
Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning in the Early Years by Sara Knight
A Brief History of the Roots of Forest School in the UK by Jon Cree and Mel McCree
https://www.lancswt.org.uk/forest-schools-liverpool
https://www.sefton.gov.uk/around-sefton/coast-countryside/forest-beach-school-sessions.aspx
PFSP 4.2. Develop a communication strategy to exchange information with those assisting a Forest School programme and other interested parties
Good communication is the key to a successful Forest School! Below are the strategies I will be using to communicate with other members of staff, parents and other interested parties.
Landowners
We use a woodland owned by The National Trust for our Forest School sessions but we don’t usually see any National Trust staff on our visits. We need communicate with The National Trust particularly during periods of bad weather, to see if the site is safe to use. We also need to be able to report any problems that we find on site. I am in contact with staff from the National Trust through email and phone.
Other Staff Members
When we visit the woods I am assisted by up to 5 other staff members. It is important to communicate with these staff members to share the plan for the session as well as any health and safety issues. It would be beneficial for these staff to have a basic understanding of the ethos of Forest School to ensure that our sessions are consistent. I will therefore be creating a handout for other staff members at the nursery to read so that they understand our sessions. When we are out in the woods it is important to still be in contact with management back at nursery and we can use our mobile phone for this purpose.
Parents
We mainly communicate with parents through our nursery app or in person. I am also creating a Forest School display board in nursery to tell parents about the benefits of our sessions. At the end of each session we do a post on our app with photos and information about what we’ve been up to. During our sessions we have the emergency contact details of each child and parents also have our nursery mobile number so they can contact us.
Other Forest School Practitioners
To keep up my professional development I am a member of a number of Forest School online community groups where we can share best practice. I am also often in contact with my colleagues from my initial Forest School Level 3 training course.
LDFSP 2.6/PFSP 3.2 Explain the process of managing risk and how it applies to Forest School
Many people think of Forest School as a risky and sometimes even dangerous activity. It is true that one of the key parts of the Forest School way of teaching is to encourage children to take risks. There are many activities which we take part in that have elements of risk including tool use and fire. The environment can also have an effect on how risky an activity is due to the constantly changing weather and the conditions of the site. We continue our sessions in all weathers apart from particularly dangerous ones such as thunderstorms and high winds. However, Forest School leaders are well aware of any risks and have procedures, policies and risk assessments in place to manage risks and ensure the safety of participants.
Taking risks is how children learn to understand and manage danger later in life. The document “Managing Risk in Play Provision” talks about the benefits of allowing risky play. It states that “children would never learn to walk, climb stairs or ride a bike unless they were strongly motivated to respond to challenges involving risk of injury.” If we do not allow them to practice their risk-taking skills, they often take it upon themselves to play in uncontrolled environments where the risk is greater and they may be in danger.
In our Forest School sessions, we provide the children with the chance to create uncertainty and unpredictability in their play as well as coming across and overcoming potential hazards. Through these experiences, the children develop resilience as well as enjoying a sense of achievement and responsibility. Of course, as Forest School leaders, we must assess each hazard or risk and weigh it up against the benefit which the children may get from it. This is where the risk-benefit analysis form comes in. Once a risk or hazard has been identified, a risk assessment will be completed which will assess how dangerous the risk is and what actions can be taken to control or limit the risk. Risk management in Forest School, as anywhere else, is continuous and all near misses, accidents, and incidents help to inform future practice. Below is a list of the key vocabulary used in our risk assessments and policies.
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Hazard |
A hazard is anything that has the potential to be dangerous and cause harm. |
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Risk |
Risk is the likelihood of the hazard causing harm to somebody. |
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High Risk |
An action or activity which is very likely to cause harm. |
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Low Risk |
An action or activity which is not very likely to cause harm. |
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Accident |
An unplanned, uncontrolled event that leads to harm. |
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Near Miss |
When an accident is just avoided. These are just as important to record as they can inform future practice. |
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Incident |
An event that occurs when the rules or policies are not adhered to. |
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Safety |
The state of being safe from harm through the use of risk assessments and policies. |
References
Managing risk in play provision – play safety forum (http://www.playengland.org.uk/media/172644/managing-risk-in-play-provision.pdf)
A playworkers guide to risk – play wales (https://issuu.com/playwales/docs/a_playworkers_guide_to_risk)
A Forest School Journey 