Nursery Children Explore The Secret Garden

Nature offers us a sanctuary, a place where we can find peace and wonder. It is much larger and older than we are, and its rhythms resonate deep within us. Nature is where we are from and where we belong, and our survival is intricately linked to its existence. For children, it is the greatest playground of all, with all its diverse structures, smells, textures, its creatures of all shapes and sizes, its abundant plants, some edible, others toxic. Nature offers a myriad of opportunities for risk taking, for a wealth of learning and amazement, and for freedom, separate from the world.

The ethos of Forest School is based on a fundamental respect for children and young people and for their capacity to instigate, test and maintain curiosity in the world around them. It believes in children’s right to play; the right to access the outdoors (and in particular a woodland environment), the right to access risk and the vibrant reality of the natural world; and the right to experience a healthy range of emotions, through all the challenges of social interaction, to build a resilience that will enable continued and creative engagement with their peers and their potential.

Since their return to The Garden, children in the Preschool have been enjoying regular sessions in the Secret Garden. Children have enjoyed exploring their own learning, building relationships with their peers and completing small, achievable tasks. Their self-confidence has grown as they have challenged themselves and taken risks. As they explore they have begun to build life-long learning skills through their exploration of the environment. Time spent in Forest school has enabled the children to reflect and destress, allowing them to display behaviour often discouraged within a classroom environment.

Our Forest School sessions offer children the opportunity to explore the woodland environment, build shelters and dens, explore the mud kitchen and climb trees. We have taken phonics sessions outside, using chalkboards to practise letter sounds and write their names. Children have enjoyed story and snack time and we have had great fun singing around the pretend camp fire.

Mrs Fiona Harvey,
Forest School Leader & Early Years Practitioner

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