Forest School Dartford
Covering South East England, Forest School Dartford provides curriculum based activities, within the Enchanted Woodland, for children aged from 5 to 11 years.
Forest School in the Enchanted Woodland
Grants from a variety of charitable organisations have provided funding to run a series of 10 week Forest School Programmes through to 2012 - giving the twelve children per programme an exciting opportunity to learn and play in a safe open environment.
Our inspirational Forest School Programmes are offered, free of charge, to local primary schools from a ten mile radius – that covers the East End, South East London, Kent and Essex!
Kyle’s Fungi Village – The Bridge School, Dartford.
Rosherville School’s Tree Artist, Ally Meen.
Booking now for Autumn and Spring Terms 2011/2012 – contact us quickly though, if you are interested, as places are filling fast.
Forest School - a classroom without walls
Forest School, originally a Scandinavian concept, builds on the natural instinct to learn that everybody is born with. It offers opportunities to make choices, initiate learning and take risks, encouraging positive attitudes and behaviour.
Forest School children are given the opportunity to learn and play in the Enchanted Woodland. Our flexible programmes of learning promote self awareness and self confidence. Activities and free play give the child space with which to explore, being in touch with themselves, promoting enjoyment without restraints which leads to relaxation, vitality and a true sense of well being. Forest School Programmes are practical and fun, building on personal responsibility and citizenship. Learnt skills feed back positively into other areas of the child’s life.
Through regular sessions in the same area of woodland, with trained Forest School Leaders, children and young people develop:
- Personal confidence and self esteem.
- Communication and social skills.
- A wider range of physical skills than developed indoors.
- A deeper understanding about their own environment.
- Increased knowledge about wider environmental issues.
- Their innate motivation and positive attitudes to learning.
Forest School provides ways for meeting Foundation Stage - National Curriculum learning objectives whilst developing practical life skills and encouraging child-initiated learning, which is observed and assessed. In depth assessment covers areas such as mood, confidence, language, body language, self awareness, regulation and motivation of self, social skills, empathy, engagement and well being.
Questions, Questions
To find the answers to some of your questions see Forest School - FAQs.
For more information on Forest Schools, and their approach across the UK, follow the links below:-
http://www.foresteducation.org/cluster_group/kent_fei_cluster_group/downloads/ - and download the attachment for the Forest Education Initiative Kent Cluster Group
http://www.forestschools.com/ - for the Archimedes Forest School training site
http://www.forestschoolwales.org.uk/ - a really informative site, crammed full of Forest School details
