This term the middle school department have started doing thematic Forest School lessons to enrich learning from inside the classroom, consolidate ideas and vocabulary and a chance to do some physically active learning.
Over the past three weeks it has been our upper key stage 2, semi-formal classes who have been out.
Their current topic includes sharing text ‘the Secret Garden’, and so we went outside to see what we could find in the school gardens. After an initial safety sweep to encourage children to start thinking about how we keep ourselves safe and to begin recognising risks when outside we did activities such as a bird trail, pond dipping, collecting sticks to make a nest for the birds, and digging for worms and other insects to see what else lives on the site.
We shared the names of the different birds and insects, and enjoyed some child-led exploration in line with individual interests and skills. After, we gathered in base camp to share our findings (and bugs!), along with a hot chocolate and a biscuit whilst sharing a story.
The sessions have been a wonderful start to Forest School at Newfield and we look forward to taking the next groups of pupils out over the coming weeks.
