Forest School
Forest School Fridays
Avonwood Forest School Policy: Here
Subject Leaders: Mrs Pritchard
Senior Leadership Team Link: Mr Jackson
Twitter: @AvonwoodForest
At Avonwood, we see it as our moral imperative for all children, regardless of background, to achieve their very best. Forest School Friday is a unique method of Outdoor Education that allows children to develop confidence, independence, self-esteem, and awareness and knowledge of the natural environment. At Avonwood, we believe in developing the whole child. Alongside helping them grow in confidence, outdoor learning is proven to promote the development of good mental health, which will set the children up to have an optimistic quality of life.
This is fully supported by the Framework for Excellence within United Learning which states, “Academic success is very important… But there is more to a good education. We want young people to look back on a joyful schooling which has inspired and challenged them, given them wide opportunity and prepared them for the ups and downs of life.”
The fundamental aims laid out by Forest School are:
- To provide children with experiences that encourage an appreciation, awareness, and knowledge of the natural environment.
- To learn to respect and care for their own local environment.
- To abide by rules and a set standard of behaviour, to work cooperatively in groups and to respect each other.
- To develop children’s self-esteem and self-confidence.
Forest School Fridays are different at Avonwood as they are designed by our Forest School lead Craig Summer (owner of the company ‘Fresh Air Club’) to include links to the curriculum and many sessions have been planned alongside Avonwood staff to enhance the children’s learning, bringing awe and wonder into the classroom, as well as the great outdoors. Our core aim is to remind children that even within this ever-changing, modern world that we live in, we are linked to the natural world around us and it is this knowledge and understanding that will enable children to be active citizens in their future.
