As Year 4 had a historian in school this week to teach them about Anglo Saxon and Viking battles, Miss Rowe thought they might like to try their hand at some mock battling before...
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.
With Autumn now under way and Bonfire Night looming it is a good time to talk to the children about fire safety. We do this in class, where the children can share their experiences...
Before we began work tidying the garden, Miss Rowe and the children brought some of the new hens at Angel Court inside so the residents could enjoy them. Nothing nicer than having a warm,...
For their construction this week Year 6 children were encouraged to see if they could incorporate a moving part. They were asked to think about using the topography of the land and repurposing objects...
This weeks heavy rain meant that it was difficult for our friends at Angel Court to get out into the garden so the children went along to help. They cleaned out the new hens,...
Hatching time came this week and the whole school got involved. It all started with chick number 1, Dave, who arrived promptly. The children took great delight in hearing the tap, tap, tap of...
Reception have continued their topic ‘Explorers Outdoors’ by looking at minibeasts. We began by reading ‘Mad about Minibeasts’ by Giles Andreae and tried to guess which minibeast was being described. They then looked at...
On Tuesday it was time to candle our hatching eggs for the first time. They have been in the incubator for “eggactly” a week so the time had come to see which ones were...
Our final picture as we wait for the bus for home. The children have had an amazing experience and enjoyed every second. Their behaviour has been fantastic and they have been one big team.
