Forest School News

Friday 16 January 2026 Holly & Chestnut - Getting into the swing of things Wednesday brought bright, blue skies quickly burning off a milky mist and frosty breath billowing like dragon's breath out of our warm mouths. In contrast, Thursday's grey gloom was harmonised by a melody of raindrops on different woodland instruments.
Friday 5 December 2025 Sparkling Shells & Rainy Days Birch Group were blessed with crisp blue skies to explore pewter casting, using natural shells pressed into clay to create detailed moulds. With care and curiosity, they watched the molten pewter flow into the casts, revealing beautiful shell impressions once cooled. A calm, focused session that blended nature, craftsmanship, and wonder.
Friday 7 November 2025 Birch & Elder - Autumn Awe What a joy it was to step back into the woods with Year 5 this week. Autumn has arrived in full colour, and the forest floor greeted us with a soft carpet of leaves.
Friday 3 October 2025 Butterfly Bakers I am always determined to show the children that, whilst marshmallows might be nice, there are a whole host of exciting and scrumptious treats to cook over a campfire and what better pace to start than — baking bread on a stick!
Friday 26 September 2025 The Forest Jam This week at Forest School, we celebrated the changing season with one of our favorite autumn activities: making blackberry jam over the campfire!
Friday 19 September 2025 Woodchip & Woolly Acorns This week Year One group had a busy and brilliant time in the woods! With autumn in full swing, we spent the morning helping to get the forest floor ready for winter. The children worked incredibly hard spreading woodchip around the paths—perfect for keeping things safe and less muddy as the weather turns colder. They were intrigued by how warm the woodchip pile was under the surface and it prompted lots of theories!! They also enjoyed pulling each other back to the woodchip pile in the trailer. There were lots of exclamations of "It's hard work but really fun hard work" - you heard it here first parents!!
Monday 15 September 2025 Tree Detectives Back in the Woods This week, our Year 1 children had their very first Forest School session of the new school year—and what a magical time it was!
Thursday 17 July 2025 Year 2 S'more Challenge The children have shown a real interest in fire striking this term and so it seemed fitting to set the optional 'Kudu Super S'more Challenge'.
Thursday 17 July 2025 Buddy Day 2025 Broad oak Wood bustled with laughter & sticky fingers, and a little bit of bear magic as our Lions teamed up with Hippos for a very special Teddy Bears' Picnic in the woods.
Sunday 1 June 2025 A Whole Day in the Woods for Our Little Butterflies Ruscksacks on backs, Peacocks and Red Admirals set off through the wildflower meadow towards the Wonderful Woods. They saw butterflies, damselflies, dragonflies and swallows. They heard lots of birds including a noisy pheasant and a persistant chiff-chaff. They knew the way; they knew what to do - the adults were pretty much out of a job!!!
Friday 23 May 2025 Lions' Last Session A forecasted storm might have stopped us going to the woods on Wednesday but it did not stop Beech group from having a whale of a time and proclaiming that 'Forest School fun can be had wherever your outside in nature' - perfectly put! The whole Group had been hard work collecting kindling so Rosehip collected it from the wood and we were able to do Kelly Kettles at school - Yummy!
Friday 16 May 2025 Peacocks & Red Admirals First Forest School
Friday 9 May 2025 Fashion Forward Forest School!! This week at Forest School, we got creative with colour and made our own tie-dye t-shirts using natural dyes! Forget synthetic chemicals — we turned to nature's palette, experimenting with onion skins, avocado stones, and madder root.
Thursday 1 May 2025 Goodbye April - Hello May - Toolwork & Nordic Braiding The sun shone and the children enjoyed the dappled shade of the woodland whilstmaking up their own games including a game of mud cricket! SOme of them also enjoyed experiencing the art of nordic braiding and others set themselves some whittling projects they wanted to complete including a very cool die with the dots lightly drilled into each face.
Wednesday 23 April 2025 Beech & Oak Not in Knots We looked at the knots needed to tie a ridge line
Thursday 27 March 2025 Making Memories: Sunset & Supper The excitement was fever pitch as the two minibuses left school at 3:30. The children bounded down to the woods armed with their packed suppers, cosy layers, torchs and a sense of adventure!As the golden hour approached, the woods came alive with the chatter of excited children eager to make the most of their evening in nature.
Friday 21 March 2025 Dens, Hammocks, Knots & Frogspawn Holly and Sweet Chestnut have had another glorious day in the woods, filled with sunshine and birdsong. This week Sweet Chestnut group were greeted to Broad Oak Wood by a kestrel swooping down to the ground in an attempt to catch something for breakfast! Live learning in action, resulting in some of the children opting to carry out their own independent research into birds of prey.
Friday 14 March 2025 Very Hungry Caterpillars Holly and Sweet Chestnut had a wonderful time in the woods this week. We were treated to some glorious sunshine and impressive hail showers too, four seasons in one day! Holly were personally greeted into Broad Oak Wood by a vivid green Common Frog who was waiting for them at the hazel doorway ! We are all very excited to collect some frogspawn next week to observe the lifecycle of a frog.
Friday 7 March 2025 Colourful Caterpillars and Blazing Birch Bark At Forest School, Holly & Chestnut were welcomed to the woods by the sunshine and the sound of birdsong. The morning began with a game to help them to think like a bird and to find colourful caterpillars hidden around the woods. The children eagerly searched high and low, discovering their unique colourful caterpillars and returning them to their nests in Stump Central. We thought about why some colours were harder to find than others - we decided the light blue ones were the hardest because they were tricky to see against the beautiful blue sky.
Friday 28 February 2025 Making Maps & Mudslide Monsters!! At Forest School, every day is an adventure, full of learning and fun! This week, Holly & Chestnut Groups got to make our own interactive map, turning our outdoor space into a land of discovery. The kids were excited to explore,and set off to find the specially created place names for the key landmarks, like the climbing tree, the lookout, and the hazel doorway. The children then plotted the points on our bespoke Forest School map. It was a wonderful mix of creativity and problem-solving as we charted out our forest world. The map is going to be addded to week on week and become truly personalised to the children's experience. This beautiful resource has been made for us by our talented artist, friend and ex-parent of the school - 'Bramble' Days like this remind us how important it is for kids to connect with nature, explore, and, of course, have fun. Forest School is the best place to do just that!
Thursday 30 January 2025 Sunshine, Sandpaper, Signposts & (Bird) Song here to test out the The remaining 'Whiskers' were sandpapering.
Thursday 23 January 2025 Sticky Skyscrapers Today we plunged the tops of the Christmas trees into the pot and looked at the art and science behind using heat to bend wood. Birch Group welcomed and named Buzzard (Mr Laker) on his first visit to Broad Oak Wood. The Broad Oak Bear Sticky Skyscraper Challenge was taken up with great gusto on both days. To build a free-standing tower out of natural materials (no cutting, chopping or picking of living plants). Points were also available for design and decoration! The reward?..... to cook a marshamllow over the fire.
Friday 17 January 2025 Birch & Elder - Stream reccy & Whisk workout The children have been set a challenge to design a boat/raft before the end of term out of only natural materials. They can work independently, in pairs or in small groups. A few simple criteria were set out and in order to give them a a better idea of the task in had we set of an adventure down to the stream to investigate what the vessel would be up against!!
Thursday 9 January 2025 Birch & Elder - Woodland Wonders & Muddy Escapades A very chilly start to the year. Billowing breath, crunching footsteps and lots of activity to keep warm!
Friday 6 December 2024 Dogwood & Whitebeam - Precious Pewter This week Year 5 sampled a little bit of chemistry in the woods as they learnt about the ancient craft of pewter casting.
Friday 29 November 2024 Dogwood & Whitebeam - Conker Creations & a Bramble Map Dogwood got creative with conkers this week and Whitebeam made a marvelous with Bramble.
Friday 22 November 2024 Kelly Kettles - Yummy Scrummy Fun Last week, we took on the Year 5 ‘Kelly Kettle Challenge’ - this has become somewhat of a tradition for children in Year 5.The children had spent a fortnight learning the features of the perfect kindling and about various natural tinders that could be found in the British woodland. They were ready!
Friday 15 November 2024 Dogwood & Whitebeam - Crab Apples with a Twist This week we were introduced to the wonders of the unassuming crab apple. We discussed its appearance, its uses, its benefits, its symbolism and the folklore surrounding it. We then got to work preparing my favourite Forest School recipe of the year so that we could taste them!!
Friday 8 November 2024 Autumn Art - Dogwood & Whitebeam Mist hovered over the woods creating an air of mystery as Dogwood and Whitebeam arrived back in the woods for their first time since February. The Autumn colours creating a shot of colour through the grey.
Friday 25 October 2024 Rosehip pancakes, fox masks & boney discoveries! Our final week in the woods and Rosehip and rustled up a treat for the children - her annual Rosehip Syrup - not only sweet, sticky & tongue-twistingly tasty but also packed full of goodness!!! Having made the batter and waited patiently fo them to cook voer the fireThe children sampled the sweet syrup

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