Forest School and Outdoor Learning

Year 6- Summer Solstice or Hammering1C39D47A-5B2B-43E1-ADDA-91A4265B983F.jpeg
Intent

At St Oswald's we are blessed with amazing outdoor spaces. Our pond, meadow,nature area, orchard, outdoor theatre, story-telling twigloo, log circles, greenhouse,poly tunnel and planting area are just some of the outdoor spaces we use to enhance our learning experiences. We have a brand new fire pit which includes a brick built area for the fire and a wooden structure which provides shelter and enables us to have a fire whatever the weather.. We have an outdoor classroom called The Lodge which houses our wellies, some equipment and we can work in there if we need a bit of shelter!

Every pupil develops a real passion for the outdoors and celebrates their local, natural environment. We intend that every child develops a knowledge of and a passion for their local habitat, nurturing it with care. We also aim for all our children to embrace the physical and personal challenges that working outside will present. We have a fully qualified Level 3 Forest School leader at St Oswald's.

Through outdoor learning we aim to support this philosophy by

  • Fostering the enjoyment of the outdoors

  • Embrace physical challenges

  • Develop fine and gross motor skills

  • Develop personal and social skills

  • Develop a range of skills such as knot tying, shelter building, fire lighting, lashing, weaving

  • Develop a knowledge of local flora and fauna

  • Fostering an awareness of seasonal change

  • Encouraging children to take risks in a supported, safe environment

  • Using our outdoor spaces to contextualise leaning across the curriculum

  • Ensuring learning is matched to the differing needs of all children as well as specific groups such as Pupil Premium etc.

  • Encouraging children to be active and have a healthy lifestyle

  • Ensuring children develop an understanding of keeping safe

  • Developing problem solving and resilience through practical tasks

  • Encouraging pupils’ personal involvement enabling them to improve their attention span, persistence and commitment

Implementation

All children participate in outdoor learning and some children ,currently mixed groups of Year 1 and 2  children participate in Forest School Sessions. We also provide Forest School sessions for Reception pupils. Activities and sessions happen whatever the weather except for strong winds or heavy snow due to safety. Regular training of teaching and non-teaching staff allows all the children to receive a high quality session and ensures all staff understand the potential learning opportunities the outdoors has to offer. Adult led tasks may involve the teaching and application of practical skills. There will also be child led tasks which will support personal, social and emotional learning or demonstrate the independent application of prior teaching and learning.

Impact

Children will develop their skills in

  • problem solving

  • working in a team

  • shelter building,fire lighting,cooking,knot tying,lashing, weaving

  • fine and gross motor movement

  • creativity

Children will develop their knowledge and understanding of

  • being active and healthy

  • being safe

  • seasonal change

  • local flora and fauna 

  • how outdoor learning links with other learning in the classroom 

Children will develop their attitudes including

  • being resilient

  • being self reliant

  • being self confident

  • taking a risk

  • persevering

Children at St Oswald's will have the opportunity to access our outdoor spaces to enhance all areas of our curriculum. Have a look at our galleries below to see our outdoor learning and Forest School sessions in action.

Galleries

Reception- Summer Solstice

Year 1-Digging

Year 4- Nature Picture Frames

Year 6- Summer Solstice or Hammering

Year 1 -Popcorn

Year 1 - Colour Hunt

Year 6- Campfire Pizzas and Popcorn

Year 4- Outdoor Learning- Rainforest Layers

Year 1- S'mores

Year 2-Boggarts

Year 1-Bug Hunt

Reception- Campfire Quesadillas

Reception- Forest Faces

Year 1-Chocolate Bananas

Reception-Using Hammers

Year 2- Shelters

Year 2- May Crowns

Year 1- May Crowns

Reception-Hapa Zome

Year 1- Stone Challenge

Years 1 and 2-Planting

Years 1 and 2- Forest School-Soup

Years 1 and 2- Forest School- Mud!

Years 1 and 2- Forest School- Nests

Reception

Years 1 and 2 - Noodles

Years 1 and 2- Ice

Years 1 and 2- Bubbles

Years 1 and 2- Nature Area

Years 1 and 2- Christmas Decorations and Hot Chocolate

Years 1 and 2- Clay Faces

Years 1 and 2- Cooking Bread on a Stick

Years 1 and 2- Nature Area

Reception-Tying a Knot

Years 1 and 2- Lashing

Years 1 and 2- Popcorn

Years 1 and 2- Yarn Dolls

Years 1 and 2-Shelter Building

Years 1 and 2- Kelly Kettle

Years 1 and 2- Autumn Mobile

Reception- Leaf Confetti

Years 1 and 2- Roll Up Pizzas

Years 1 and 2- Spinning Jenny Dragonflies

Years 1 and 2- Willow Weaving

Years 1 and 2-Cooking Apples

Years 1 and 2- Leaf Confetti

Years 1 and 2- Forest School- Cooking on a Fire

Years 1 and 2- Outdoor Learning

Years 1 and 2- Forest School-Using Tools

Years 1 and 2-Outdoor Learning-Shadow Faces

Years 1 and 2- Outdoor Learning-Spring Wreaths

Years 1 and 2-Outdoor Learning-Tying Knots in Strawberry Laces

Years 1 and 2-Outdoor Learning-Planting Seeds

Years 1 and 2- Outdoor Learning-Forest Faces

Years 1 and 2- Outdoor Learning-Nature Area

Years 1 and 2-Outdoor Learning-Worry Dolls

Years 1 and 2-Outdoor Learning- Cheerios Bird Feeders

Years 1 and 2 Outdoor Learning-An Icy Week

Years 1 and 2-Outdoor Learning-Hot Chocolate

Our Grounds

Years 1 and 2-Floor Book Pages

Years 1 and 2 Outdoor Learning-Shelters

Years 1 and 2 Outdoor Learning- Bubbles

Years 1 and 2 Outdoor Learning- Obstacle Courses

Years 1 and 2 Outdoor Learning-Floor Book Pages

Year 3-Leaf Art

Wand making in Year 1

Outdoor classroom day

Tree Dressing

Shelter buillding in Year 5

Links

Muddyfaces

Learning through Landscapes

Forest School Association

Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Woodland Trust

Forest Schools Education

The Practical Forest School

Woodland Classroom

Contact Us

St Oswald's Catholic Primary School

Chapel Lane, Longton, Preston, PR4 5EB

T: 01772 613402

E: bursar@longton-st-oswalds.lancs.sch.uk

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