Forest School News

• 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
• Friday 25 October 2024 Whilst Year One were away A reminder that Broad Oak Wood is a haven for many wonderful mammals. Watch how they move. How many different animals can you count?
• Friday 18 October 2024 Young Ornithologists This week we were extremely lucky to have a visit from an ornithologist. Ray Morris studies birds - his particular field of expertise is turtledoves and as a former teacher he certainly knew how to inspire a new generation of ornithologists (people who study birds).
• Friday 11 October 2024 Bread Winners If you've got jam you need something to spread it on so this week the children all had the opportunity to cook over the fire. All the children rolled and wrapped their own challah dough toasting stick and then knelt by the fire to cook their bread. They patiently watched and twisted their hazel sticks and observed the dough gradually expand and change from white to golden brown. "Stick on the brick; Eyes on the prize" Once their pread passed the flick test and was cooked through they carefully twisted it of the stick and filled it with their choice of topping. The verdict? "Scrumptions"' "100 out of 10", "All my fingers and toes delicious". "The bestest thing EVER", "I made this - it was worth the wait" "Oooh I wish I could have another one?" "Can I have the recipe?"....Yes you can I have attached it.
• Thursday 3 October 2024 We made Jam! Jam day had finally arrived. The children brought in their frozen, foraged blackeberries and off we went! After checking we had our fire safety features in place the children all gave a little 'sneezy dragon' encouragement to help light the fire and then it was off to the kitchen. The children set about peeling, squeezing, measuring, chopping, pouring, estimating, washing and drying. They worked together really well: listening and sharing jobs so I can happily say it was a case of 'many hands make light work' not 'too many cooks spoil the broth'!!
• Friday 27 September 2024 Dorodangos, Downpours & i-Dentfication! This week's weather meant that mud was the order of play!! And both groups were introduced to the Japanese art form of Dorodango.
• Friday 20 September 2024 An Elephant in the Woods Meadow Browns & Speckled Woods arrived at the woods for the their first full day with a spring in their step and helping hands ready to carry the resources.
• Friday 28 June 2024 Mastering the Marshmallow Melter Challenge Practice, patience and perseverance paid off! This week, Holly & Chestnut Group took on making their own fires for toasting marshmallows.
• Monday 24 June 2024 Deerly Beloved.... Look who popped into the woods! By the clock on the trail cam it looks like this deer likes to pop in at around 9pm and 7am whereas the badger came at 1am. As for the fox, he was hoping to catch the squirrel who has just scurried off stage left!
• Friday 21 June 2024 Midsummer - Flowers & Fires and crocheted creativity This week, Chestnut Group took an alternative route home from Forest School and Holly Group took an alternative route to Forest School this week which allowed us to see a whole host of wildflowers that have grown up around an area of wasteland. There was teasel, mallow, giant viper's bugloss, sainfoin, mayweed and a mound of ruby red poppies to name just a few! We saw some young great tits pecking at insects on the security fence. On the edge of the field there were scarlet pimpernels underfoot and thistles covered in aphids which were providing a tasty breakfast for some seven-spotted ladybirds. We also saw a huge dragonfly helicopter over our heads. An exciting change of scene!!
• Friday 14 June 2024 Elderflower Forage & Feast Today we dived into the wonderful world of elderflower! We looked, we sniffed, we touched and we tasted Rosehip's delicious elderflower cordial and then sampled freshly fried elderflower fritters made over the campfire! Everybody agreed that elderflower is AWESOME!
• Friday 7 June 2024 Dragonflies, Daisies & Dog Roses The wait between Year 1 & Year 2s Forest School sessions is the longest in their entire journey through our school. It is fair to say that Holly & Chestnut Group were bubbling with excitement as they boarded the minibus.
• Friday 29 March 2024 A Visit from the Broad Oak Rainbow Bird & Thank You Moley The Rainbow Bird comes but once a year to Broad Oak and if you are lucky you may see a flash of its technicolour plumage or come across one of its shiny colourful eggs...Birch Group & Elder Group certainly were lucky enough to do just that!
• Friday 22 March 2024 Cooking up a Sting! It was nettle week this week. We learnt about the fabulous powers and uses over the ages of the mighty nettle. Then we set of 'a foraging'!
• Friday 15 March 2024 Mud, Mud Glorious Mud Ooze, squelch, gloop - there was some great onomatopoeic language in the woods today and A LOT of mud! Luckily - the children saw this as a VERY good thing!
• Friday 8 March 2024 Orange Ovens Brilliant baking and super scooping this week! The children enjoyed the fruit (juice) of their labours having created oven and baked chocolate orange brownies in the embers of the campfire.
• Friday 1 March 2024 Highways & Byways & Fiery Fungi The children edged the footpaths today to help ensure that people didn't venture over into the fast growing expanse of bluebells that they want to protect from being squashed. They also made good use of the ID books to research the fabulous fungi that they found. They are loving explroing the woods and having more freedom. During the afternoons we did some fire striking and Birch Group had a look at how King Alfred's Cake get's the nickname Tinder Fungus.
• Friday 23 February 2024 Birch & Elder - Year 3 Signs of Spring Birch were able to explore the bigger boundaries of Broad Oak available to them now they have reached the dizzy heights of year two. They also were set the challenge of looking for signs of spring as they needed to work out which areas they should steer clear of in order to let the beautiful bluebells to grow. Due to high winds Elder Group had to stay at school for their session and even though it POURED with rain they did not let the weather dampen their spirits. We visited the Glebe field looking for signs of spring and differentiating between wild and

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