Forest Schools

Weaver Primary School Forest School Ethos

At Weaver Primary School, during a Forest School session, you will see all children exploring, making choices, initiating their own learning and taking risks through hands-on practical experiences in the natural world around them.

Whilst outside the children can be seen being creative and self-motivated through inspirational activities that promote confidence, self esteem, team work and independence.

Adults will support and help to facilitate inquiry, investigation and understanding, thus enabling all children to have a sense of fulfilment and achievement.

The children see Forest School learning as a way of having fun, being happy, feeling calm, being equal to their peers in a supportive environment, whilst developing new skills and knowledge.

Weaver Primary School creatively provides the freedom to learn in the forest, where children’s minds

 ‘can run wild outside!’

Forest Schools originated in Europe in the early 20th century as a way of teaching about the natural world. By the 1980s it became part of the Danish early years programme.

The Forest School model originates in Scandinavia and involves participants journeying by foot (if possible) to a local woodland environment to learn outdoors on a regular sustained basis. It is a long-term client/child-led, educational process that promotes, observes and explicitly supports the social, emotional and physical development of children, young people and adults in an outdoor, preferably woodland, environment.