June 24th 2020
Is there a growing need for Forest School in today's Curriculum?
In recent years there has been growing concern surrounding the pressures that our own children and the children we work with find themselves under to achieve academically at all costs. We live in a rapidly changing and social media-driven society and our children are subsequently having to navigate their way through all kinds of minefields. There is, I believe increasing pressure for them to have, or at least appear to have, the “perfect” life, be the “perfect” person and look “perfect” every moment of the day.
Today's children are subject to more and more assessments and tests to determine how and where they fit into the educational parameters and standardisations of what they should be able to achieve at certain ages. Whilst I fully understand the need for educational assessments of children, we must somehow find a way to strike a balance between these and the ever-increasing pressures that today's children are under and be mindful of the growing levels of stress and anxiety in the younger generation.
Playing in the mud, making dens, climbing trees, discovering nature and being outside are simple pleasures that have defined childhood for generations. That was how many of us were able to grow up and now in older life, it is something we look back on with huge fondness and appreciation. However, such youthful pursuits appear to be dying out as an increasing number of children play computer games instead of being outdoors and are rushed (often by car) from one organised activity to the next. In falling into these traps we forget that it’s in a child’s nature to run around outside and get dirty with their friends, it formulates the very basis of how they begin to learn, to self-regulate, negotiate, assess risks and build their self-esteem and confidence.
At Moulsford our boys are extremely lucky with the huge variety of outdoor pursuits that they have access to and the amazing team of staff whose passion and dedication help to deliver these experiences. We are also very fortunate to have access to an incredible Forest School site that is set in a beautiful mature mixed woodland. Is outdoor learning something that as a school we could further harness as part of our continuing commitment to the boys’ overall development and mental wellbeing? I believe that the answer to this is yes.
The Forest School curriculum is child-directed and play-based. I am aware of numerous examples of boys throughout the school who, during “lockdown” took it upon themselves to drive their own learning forward with some amazing results, going well above and beyond the original remit that was set. Forest School also allows learners the time and space to develop their interests, skills, and understanding through practical, hands-on experiences. Children have the freedom to explore, play, build, create, imagine, and use their senses to experience the outdoor environment and engage with one another. It builds on their “soft” skill set which is a vital component in adult life and one that we know our feeder schools and future employers are keen to see in our boys.
Whilst it may on the first examination seem that such a system is purely directed at younger children, I believe that older boys and teenagers can reap the rewards of such an approach as well. Older children and particularly teenagers are often looking for a place to be inspired, to be tested, to feel free, to avoid the pressures of society, and at times to find themselves, while at other times, be communal. What better place to do this than in a woodland setting where they also have the opportunity to learn and develop new skills such as using knives and tools, setting and cooking on open fires, survival skills, teamwork, and confident communication skills between their peers and the adults with them? As teenagers, straddling the line between childhood and adulthood, they are looking for a balance that is somewhere between youth-driven free-range play and an urge to develop new skills and steer their own learning, thus enabling them to take back an element of control in what can on occasions, feel like a very adult-driven world.
Forest School, regardless of the child's age allows them to explore risk, which is a fundamental part of childhood: by gradually learning what is safe and what is dangerous, especially with regard to their own actions and behaviours, children begin to develop their own ‘risk assessing’ skills. But if children are shielded from any possibility of being in a risky situation, how will they ever know what their safe limits are? In the words of Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield, authors of Nature’s Playground, “Life is full of risk, so the best way to prepare children for life is to ensure they know how to judge risk for themselves”
I have been at Moulsford now for six years and have from the start loved the school’s ethos and approach to learning. This has never been more at the forefront of my mind than in recent weeks with the unprecedented challenges that we along with all the other schools in the country have faced. I believe that the passion for teaching and care and attention to the children shown by all our staff has been inspirational and I am so proud to have been a part of that. We have, as individuals and as a team, been forced to look at how we approach teaching, how our lessons are delivered and how we can continue to inspire the boys. However, one of the things that has become very clear to me over this period is that if we dare to hand back a little bit of control to these children and young people, they have demonstrated that they will take their learning and drive it forward in ways that as adults we may not have foreseen. They have shown they are prepared to persevere and learn from their mistakes, they will take risks, and think outside the box and explore new approaches to old problems. By continuing to build on these skills, it will only improve their confidence and sense of self.
The dedicated Forest School intranet page can be found here, which this week has some amazing videos from Ben PP in Year 5.
