Forest Schools and Environmental Education

We are a Forest School which means we have been accredited for our work in the outdoors and with nature.  We have beautiful grounds which we use to enhance learning with the children.  We have a large garden where we grow crops and plants to attract bees where the children can learn about growing things and about the minibeasts and bees which live there.  We have a copse area where we can build shelters and explore natural crafts and other activities.  We have a fire pit and learn how to make and use fire safely.  We have a pond and wildlife area and bug hotels to attract minibeasts.  We also have a willow dome, large field and lots of trees.  Our nature trail (which doubles as a running track) goes around the perimeter of our grounds with signs and tasks designed to develop the children’s awareness of nature all around them. The children enjoy lots of learning outdoors with the infants having a weekly forest schools activity linked with our whole school theme.

Caring For Our Environment

We learn about how important it is to care for our planet through our themes, assemblies and just being in nature, both at school and on visits. We learn about the Countryside Code and how important it is not to drop litter and to safely pick up any we see; we are very keen litter-pickers! We recycle as much as we can in addition to the usual collections: soft plastic, batteries and ink cartridges. We also upcycle and reuse much of the packaging that comes into school too. With our bug hotel, bee houses, bird feeders, bat boxes and hedgehog homes, we have lots of wildlife in our grounds and see hedgehogs, birds and rabbits frequently (though the rabbits do sometimes eat the vegetables we grow!)