Elizabeth Baker, the Story Teller from the charity Equal Arts, was in fine voice, regaling the adults and children with stories of Nature. Whilst she wove her wonderous tales the rest of us worked...
At Harlow Green, we have developed an environment and curriculum which takes children beyond the classroom and places them into their natural environment as well as their community.
Forest School
Harlow Green is different from most schools in that it is a Forest School. The Forest School approach provides a hands-on, practical education in our outdoor environment. This part of the curriculum is managed by a qualified Forest School Leader – Miss Rowe – who continuously maintains and develops her professional practice. Miss Rowe is supported by Mr McMann during Forest School sessions. The Forest Education Community has put together the guiding principles for Forest Schools. These principles were agreed to ensure good practice across the country.
- Forest School is a long-term process of regular sessions, rather than a one-off or infrequent visits; the cycle of planning, observation, adaptation and review links each session.
- It takes place in a woodland or natural environment to support the development of a relationship between the learner and the natural world.
- We use a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning.
- Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.
- It offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.
Our approach at Harlow Green is centred on enabling children to develop a sense of independence and self-motivation, they become more courageous and can learn to realistically assess situations, are more self-reliant and opportunistic. This approach particularly supports the development of self-esteem and self-confidence. The focus in Forest School and Outdoor Learning is on short achievable tasks which then build in complexity based on observations of the children’s needs and interests.
Community Work
Developing children’s understanding about their local community and providing the opportunity to positively impact upon it is essential in developing the future generation. Through the regular curriculum but also through our outdoor curriculum, children are involved in projects which allows them to work within the local community in a variety of ways and to actively engage within it.
Year 1 got creative this week, Journey Sticks are a lovely way of encouraging the children to observe the changes in nature around them. They can be made at any time of the year...
Barter Town is in full swing now, we begin each session with a review about the previous week, a town meeting if you like. What went well, what needs prioritising, what issues can be...
Despite torrential rain our Year 2 children still enjoyed a very busy afternoon in the Forest School. This was a free-play session. Free play allows us see how well children are applying their understanding...
We continue to take part in the Creative Storytelling sessions with the charity Equal Arts and our friends at Angel Court. This week we finished the collage, adding the printed adjectives in strips to...
Our gardening club began this week. Bob showed the children what will need doing in the allotments over the next few weeks. First job to collect the potatoes and turn over the soil, getting...
Reception had the pleasure of meeting our school hens up close this morning. Miss Rowe brought four of the hens into class, Nora, our largest, Silkie, our oldest, Winter, our smallest and the newly...
Forest School this morning for Year 4 and more rain! But that didn’t dampen our spirits, we headed out to put into practice our fire-making skills. Miss Rowe had some help with the main...
So impressive to see two of our newly appointed Outdoor Workers already having the confidence to run some games of Sticky Feet with the Year 1 children. Just getting yourself heard outside in the...
