Forest Schools and Allotment

What is Forest School?

Children are happier and healthier when they have regular opportunities to learn and play outdoors. We use Forest School as our approach for curriculum linked outdoor learning which helps to ensure positive intellectual, emotional, and social development whilst building the foundations for a lifelong connection with nature and our planet.

Background

In Denmark, Forest Schools have been an integral part of Early Years Education since the 1980's when they were first introduced as part of an expansion of nursery provision. The philosophy of the Forest School was based upon the desire to provide young children with an education which encouraged appreciation of the wide, natural world and which would encourage responsibility for nature conservation in later life.

Building upon the success of Forest School it is now used for children to teenagers and even beyond.

Allotment

In both schools there are designated allotment areas for children to grow vegetables.  

Our curriculum has an emphasis on healthy eating and we believe that getting children involved in growing fruit and vegetables gives them an understanding of where their food comes from and opens their eyes to food production. It’s an exciting way for them to combine this with the practical skills and knowledge of food and nutrition, as well as understand the principle of healthy eating. Children of today are going to be making the choices of what they eat as adults and for their own children. By instilling the healthy lifestyle in them at a young age, it will guide them to making better decisions in the future.