Bredon School has long been a champion of education beyond the classroom. Sport, vocational subjects, clubs and, of course, the School Farm have always played a major part in life in and around Pull Court. But this term an important new element has been introduced with the creation of ‘forest school’.

“The philosophy of forest schools is to encourage, inspire and educate children through positive outdoor experiences,” said teacher Mike Tweddell, who is leading the project.

Bredon School is especially well suited to take advantage of this opportunity: it has approximately 1km of woodland extending west from Pull Court’s north drive right down to the M50 motorway. All children up to Year 9 are involved in the forest school. Each group has a two-hour weekly session, with classes alternating between half a term in the woods and half on the School Farm.

The centre of the forest school area is a newly built wooden cabin. Located about 300m along the track through the woods, the building arrived in sections and was erected by the School’s maintenance department. It has deliberately been built facing out of the wood across open fields to maximise the amount of natural light inside. The beautiful views mean that it could be used in Art for landscape paintings. It also acts as a wind break for children working in the woods behind it.

The cabin’s interior and large outside rear wall also provide space for pupils to display their woodland ‘finds’. It is hoped to give the cabin a ‘living roof’ planted with sedum.

Some teaching will take place inside: the enclosed space is particularly useful when teachers need to ensure for health & safety reasons that they have a group’s undivided attention – when giving instructions on the safe use of cutting tools, for example.

But the forest school is not just about the cabin; it is about the woods around it as well. And it is by no means a fair-weather-only pursuit. Forest school gives children the opportunity to see the English seasons unfold at close hand. Naturally, they are encouraged to wrap up well, while there is plenty of physical activity to keep them warm. There is much to be learned in all conditions: puddles can be measured; animal tracks in snow can be researched. And if rain turns really heavy, the children can always take temporary refuge in the cabin.

“Some of our children may struggle in classroom situations, but they can come down to the woods and learn the same concepts here that they are learning about in their lessons, yet in a very different way,” said Mr Tweddell. “It feels like a break from the normal routine, but they are still learning while they are here.”

One example involving Mathematics would be measuring the age of a tree by a process that starts with you measuring its circumference – tree-hugging! In fact, forest school encompasses many areas of the curriculum – especially Mathematics, Science and Geography – as well as teaching vital life skills, such as teamwork and communication.

Making camp fires, building shelters and examining bugs are among the forest school activities that children have enjoyed in its first term. There’s an emphasis on an environmentally friendly approach. Conservation and recycling are the order of the day. This term, the children have been building a clay oven, using for the base recycled scaffolding planks, a redundant metal water tank and pieces of rubble found around the grounds.

For the older children, the work can count towards the John Muir Awards – environmental awards that have become highly popular at Bredon School in recent years.
 

To see more pictures of forest school and the woods please click on the image and then follow the instructions.