Everything You Need to Know About Forest School

What is Forest School?

Forest School is an exciting learning experience that enables children to explore, play and learn in nature, typically in woodlands or other natural environments.

It focuses on empowering children to lead their own journey, and explore their surroundings with independence, curiosity and critical thinking. By being immersed in nature, experiencing and learning in all seasons and weathers (all year round at Outdoor Owls!) children are in their very own outdoor classroom. Forest School provides children a calm yet an adventurous and challenging space to build confidence, resilience, creativity, empathy and a strong sense of accomplishment. It is joyous! Spending this time in nature also means children develop a long-term connection with the natural world and a sense of wonder.

While being immersed in nature, children partake in safe, risky-play activities including: tree climbing, den building, bow sawing, whittling, drilling and toasting a marshmallow around the camp fire.

Overall, Forest School helps children to flourish and reach their full potential, building ‘life-readiness’ skills. It promotes holistic development which helps support both their cognitive and emotional growth not just for school but for life!

What are the benefits of Forest School?

The benefits of Forest School are truly holistic and positive for children’s bodies, minds and souls. Children benefit from developing healthy bodies and lifestyle and get less sick. The multi-sensory environment provides rich, practical learning opportunities to learn everything they need and more. There are many cognitive benefits and character developing outcomes. It is also a special educational approach for developing social skills, empathy and a long-lasting connection to our planet.

If you want to learn more about the benefits, read our blog on the benefits of forest schools.

What does a Forest School day look like?

Forest School happens in all weathers! When weather is more severe, we utilise shelters which can vary from simple tarpaulins to other outdoor structures such as teepees and yurts. A central component is a fire circle and typically is a focal point to gather to begin and end the day, as well as going to at other transitional times. Typically at the start of the day, the children (learners) will share what they are curious to do and learn about for the day and the structure and flow will develop around those intentions.

The setting will be defined with clear boundaries which is critical, especially for young children to be physically and psychological safe. Within this safe, risk-assessed space children are free to explore, in unstructured play, to interact and test in the environment. For example, there may be different areas including mud kitchen, digging, climbing, arts/crafts, den space and more.

Lots of natural elements in the environment will act as the resources i.e. sticks, leaves, stones, mud, pinecones and water. In other times of the day, with qualified staff structured activities are put on where children can learn to build dens, go on bug hunts, climb trees, cook on the fire, saw, drill and whittle. In this way Forest School is dynamic and flexible, with a perfect blend of free play and structured learning which is important for early years children to learn about rules and boundaries.

How to register my child in a Forest School?

Most Forest Schools will offer information about their programme, sessions or camps online and there can be possibilities to go and visit them to get a feel for what learning is like and to meet the team. Some schools may run short sessions and others full days, either during term-time, school holidays only or all year round. Settings may have minimum requirements on how many sessions or days you are required to sign up for.

At Outdoor Owls we have a minimum of two days a week and we operate all year round. We offer families the chance to come to our site locations for a showaround with a manager or owner to learn about all aspects of our days and what your child and you can expect as a parent at the nursery. We run these weekly or bi-weekly and also offer Open Days in the year for you to bring your family for some free fun.

Once you’ve decided to sign up somewhere there will be an application process for you to read and sign terms and conditions and to share details about your child and contact information. Ahead of starting a first full session there may be a taster session. At Outdoor Owls, we offer two sessions for two hours long each before a child attends a full day so that they take steps to become familiar with the environment and team. Some settings will be organised with you using government funding and tax-free childcare, which Outdoor Owls is set up with all.

At what age can I register my child in a Forest School?

All settings with define which ages they take. For nurseries, Forest Schools typically take from two years up until five. At Outdoor Owls we take from one year up until five and also run holiday camps for children four to eight years. Other settings focus on older age groups from seven to twelve, where activities are more advanced.

What equipment will my child need for forest school?

Forest Schools will provide parents with a suitable and recomended kit list with wearables and items to bring. At Outdoor Owls we provide parents with a kit list guide according to seasons and temperatures, and as part of your registration give your child a fully waterproof, fleeced jacket, body-suit and trousers. Having other warm base layers, hats and gloves are key too, along with items for warmer days. Good footwear is critical, so typical closed cap shoes and goretex boots so that feet don’t get wet, especially in puddle splashing!

Bring a rucksack with a water bottle and spares clothes is essential too. Some settings may ask you to bring bug repellent or sun screen. At Outdoor Owls we have these readily available in our camps so you don’t need to bring them with you but apply ahead of drop off.

Food of course is essential too and many places will ask you to bring a packed lunch. At Outdoor Owls we provide plenty of nutrious food and snacks too all included within our fees.

Typically, it is not advised to bring other toys or items as they can go easily missing in the outdoors.

Are Forest Schools regulated by Ofsted?

Not all Forest Schools are regulated by Ofsted. It will depend on what type of provision it is.

Early Years Settings such as Nurseries or Preschools will be regulated by Ofsted as they will be required to follow the “Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework” (EYFS) — the standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years. Settings registered with Ofsted will be subject to routine inspections.

Other provisions such as After-School Clubs or Forest School programmes may not be regulated by Ofsted. A main factor can be if a setting provides care for more than two hours per day or meets certain other criteria for a childcare setting. Some though may choose to voluntarily register with Ofsted to ensure regulatory practice.

Do Forest Schools follow a curriculum?

Every Forest School is different and some may follow a curriculum more than others. For Early Years settings, core features of a Forest School will be mixed with what Ofsted set out in the “EYFS” framework, which includes seven areas of learning, containing three prime areas and four sub-areas. These include language & communication, physical development, personal, social and emotional development and literacy and maths.

At Outdoor Owls we have a holistic, forest school curriculum that thinks outside the box and focuses on the child’s body, mind and soul. This is the foundation of what we do, and our expert team weaves the EYFS framework into our curriculum. Other themes such as the seasons and celebrations in a calendar year may be focused on.

Forest Schools will have a heavily nature-based learning curriculum given the outdoors environment and also feature learning through play. Other central aspects to activities and learning will be on physical development where climbing, jumping, balancing and motor skills are encourage and also risk and responsibility, to encourage children to navigate situations in a safe way such as learning to climb trees or cut wood.

Are Forest Schools safe?

At the heart of Forest School is safety. As Forest School operates in a natural and sometimes open environement it’s critical to ensure robust safety procedures are in place and risk-assessments are performed. Trees of course are an intergral risk-assessing factor and this is where high winds must be regularly monitored and contingency plans of evacuating to safe shelters must be available. Such risk-assessments should be taken before children arrive for each day or session and also carry out throughout the day as the weather and environment changes. At Outdoor Owls safety comes first and foremost before fun, play and learning.

Every provisions environment is different and those operating in open spaces may require more adult and tighter supervision typically if there is no fence and also if it operates in public areas. At Outdoor Owls, our settings operate on private land and whilst every children’s camp is roped off clearly, there is also a fenced parameter.

The purpose of Forest School in relation to children’s learning and outcomes is that they become risk-aware. Therefore, the environment may have safe, small risks, but nothing that should harm a child rather provide the reward of a learning experience. For example, for young children navigating uneven terrain, this increases the chances they fall compared to an indoor environment, however children are then exposed to more independent thinking and take more decisions each day which helps them not only coordinate their body more but also enhances their self-starter thinking patterns. As a result children learn to navigate such risks and become confident and build self-esteem.

Are Forest School popular in the UK?

Over the last decade Forest Schools have gained popularity in the UK and regulatory bodies and parents are increasingly more keen on ensuring children are spending plenty of times outdoors. Albeit, compared to our Scandinavia counterparts, Forest Schools are still very much the minority in the UK.

Other reasons Forest School is gaining popularity is generally our societal focus currently on wellbeing, both physical and mental. Whilst there are many obvious physical benefits for children spending time outdoors, it provides a calming and exiciting environment for them to grow up in, away from screens which critically helps them to control their emotion, self-regulate and improve their levels of focus.

Among universities in the UK, there is a stronger focus on students learning and researching about the benefits of outdoor education for children and so there continues to be an appetite for educators wishing to apply their theory to practice. At Outdoor Owls, many of our team have studied Early Years degrees and apply just that knowledge in the real world, making children’s lives better!

More schools are prioritising and enhancing their outdoor curriculum and it is being encourage by Ofsted. The Forest School Association (FSA) is also another leading educational body in the UK that is contributing to the increasing popularity.

Outdoor Owls Forest School Nursery

Outdoor Owls Forest School Nursery and Holiday Camps is a ‘real deal’ Forest School, operating in large private woodland spaces, providing your child with green, joyous childhood memories. We are based in London and Surrey. We have Forest School Sites in Guildford and Cobham and for families living in London we have minibus points in Richmond and Putney where team and children aboard our minibus (classroom on wheels) to spend the day at our Cobham, Surrey site.

We run all year round, 51 weeks a year from 8am - 5:45pm, Monday to Friday. We take children from one year up until their fifth birthday for our nurseries and for holiday camps we take children four - seven years during school holidays, outside of school term-times. We have an exciting curriculum delivered by the most passionate educators you can imagine who share the mission for creating owlstanding early years education outdoors.