FOREST SCHOOL

FOREST SCHOOL

At Palfrey we deliver Forest School sessions to Nursery and Reception children, we are very lucky to have a small forest area and an Indoor classroom that we are currently developing to enable the children to have real life experiences of the outdoor environment. Our aim is to offer the children experiences throughout the year, however every session is risk assessed before delivery and sessions are cancelled if the weather is too cold/windy or hot.

At Palfrey we provide all the equipment and outdoor clothing for the children. Which include all weather suits for both summer and winter, winter and summer hats, gloves and Wellies, so there is no need for you to buy anything extra for your child.

The Purpose and Aims of Forest School

To provide children with experiences that encourages an appreciation, awareness and knowledge of the natural environment.
To learn to respect and care for their own local environment.
To abide by rules and set standards of behaviour, to work cooperatively in groups and to respect each other.
Develop children’s self-esteem and self-confidence and communication skills through the setting of small achievable tasks.

We provide these opportunities through many different activities and task throughout the year. The children also have their snack time in the forest, having the opportunity to have milk, water and fruit. On the colder days the children have warm milk and chocolate drinks. Each session will be 2 hours and will only consist of 15 children with 2 adults to supervise.

Nursery – Tuesdays - the sessions are delivered to each group on a rota basis so will be every 3^rd week

Reception – Wednesday -The sessions are taught in 4 week blocks, so each class will have 4 consecutive weeks

All lessons are linked to the curriculum enabling the children to build on or enhance their knowledge.

Years 1 and 2 have access to the Forest School all year round. Where appropriate Lessons take place in the forest to enhance certain areas of the curriculum to offer real life experiences, especially in Science and Geography.