Forest School

With the weather improving, the children have loved hunting for signs of Spring in our forest and school grounds. It has been a busy term learning lots of new skills as well as honing old ones. Year 2 have particularly enjoyed learning how to do 'Nordic Swing Braiding'. This was a tricky skill to master and required excellent teamwork but that wasn't a problem for our determined children. Year 1 and Reception have enjoyed honing their gross and fine motor skills using the nails and hammers to hammer out their initials in wood and then wrap wool around them. The Year 1s and 2s continue to work on perfecting their fire lighting skills and are nearly ready to start helping to light the main fire. A big highlight this term has been the addition of the new tipi. Reception were treated to hot chocolate in the tipi last half term. A massive thank you to the PA for funding the new tipi, it will be an essential part of our FS sessions, especially during the wetter months. With summer came the chance to learn to identify the different trees in our forest. The Reception children enjoyed learning the different tree names and using the different leaves to make a necklace. To celebrate the King’s Coronation, the children made bunting to take home. The children selected leaves and flowers and used a mallet to create prints on their bunting. All of the Pre-Prep children enjoyed making `seed bombs’ to take home with them ready to throw into their gardens and attract the much needed bees and butterflies. The mixture of water, compost and seeds were a hit with the children.

As always, there has been food and hot chocolate galore in the forest, with the pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and of course the occasional treat of marshmallows cooked over the fire. Popcorn over the open fire was especially popular.

Ali Fentiman