Intent

At Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School, we intend to instil the “St Peter’s and Clifton School Spirit”  in all our children. Our forest school in particular encourages our children to value the importance of:

"Inquisitiveness"

as they explore the world around them in a naturally curious way.

Our intent is:

• To develop positive relationships with themselves and others around them.
• To work harmoniously within a group or independently respecting the views and ideas of others.
• To foster an appreciation of their natural surroundings and develop awareness of environmental issues.
• To learn to respect and care for living organisms in their local environment.
• To be supported and to take risks in a safe and secure environment.
• To develop skills and independence in a variety of outdoor activities.
• To explore a broad and balanced curriculum using a range of interesting resources suitable to their individual needs.
• To have opportunity to explore, grow and nurture plants.

Implementation

At St Peter’s and Clifton, the Forest School Leader will work alongside the class teachers to prepare and plan activities for children in Foundation Stage.  Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of Forest School’s involves the following:

• Teachers will adopt a multi-sensory child-centred approach to learning whereby planning will integrate strategies that will meet all learning styles.
• Foundation stage staff will ensure children are able to participate in Forest School activities as part of a focused adult-led activity or a child-led activity during continuous provision.
• Children will be encouraged to become independent thinkers, creative, imaginative and curious by asking questions about their environment.
• Children will learn to problem solve, share ideas and to respect others thoughts by undertaking a range of fun group work activities team building activities.
• Pupils are encouraged to share their learning through group cooperation and they are given regular feedback, which informs their future learning and ensures that every child has the opportunity to reach their potential.
• Teachers will provide children with a rich and challenging environment, children will be encouraged to freely explore and to think creatively which helps them build their self-esteem and self-confidence

Impact

The hand-on approach at Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School results in a fun, engaging and holistic learning approach whereby children gain understanding of the world around them.  High quality teaching in the outdoor environment ensures children learn through varied and first hand experiences. 

If you and your family would like to get involved in the outdoors, please view these websites :-

Nursery and Reception children have enjoyed working as part of a team creating a nature version of 'Funnybones'.  They did a super job and collected a variety of natural found objects from outside. We talked about the bones in our bodies and discussed who we visit to ensure our bodies are healthy.  We used brilliant vocabulary throughout!

In our outdoor activity, we played a nature game using descriptive cards. We went on a nature hunt in our outdoor area and worked as part of a team to find something that was furry, green, spiky, stripey, spotty, dry, wet, small and big.  We had lots of fun!

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, we discussed the sad loss of her Majesty the Queen. To pay our respects, we laid flowers in honour of her 70 years of service on the throne.  Rest in Peace Ma’am. 

In our outdoor forest school activity, Nursery and Reception children have learned how to care for bees and why they are important.  We made mason bee houses by rolling sugar paper into tubes and placing them in a reused plastic pot. We tied these in our hobbit house area. 

As part of celebrating the Queen's Jubilee, Nursery and Reception children have enjoyed painting recycled tins in blue and red.  We then planted our tomatoes and sunflowers into these.  We can't wait to see what happens over the next couple of weeks

Class Acorns are learning about the life cycle of a frog. In our forest school activity, they visited the pond on our school grounds and observed froglets.  We discussed the term 'camouflage' as we found it difficult to identify the frogs amongst the pond plants.   

As part of Bird Garden Birdwatch this month, class Pear and Apple took on the challenge to make binoculars to observe birds in our environment. We discussed where we may find birds, why we look after our birds and we counted how many we could see! We saw 6 big pigeons in our pine tree!

Class Acorns have enjoyed making apple bird feeders. We collected a stick from our grounds and we poked this through the apple with support. We then pushed sunflower seeds into the apple skin and connected string to hang in our Rowan tree. The children said "Birds needs food in the Winter"  and "Not many worms".

Lower Foundation had lots of fun collecting yellow leaves in our small woodland. They then created Pudsey Bear for Children in Need! They worked as a team by suggesting ideas and helping one another find leaves.

As part of their 'Into the Woods' topic, Lower Foundation went on tree hunt around the school grounds. They compared different trees and their leaves and learned new vocabulary such as bark, trunk, Rowan, berries, Horse Chestnut, conifer, leaves, Autumn, season & path. 

As part of 'World Animal Day' on the 4th October, Lower Foundation designed their very own animal portrait using natural found objects collected from outdoors. We discussed the importance of looking after animals in the woodland and we talked about what animals may need to survive.  The children made bats, butterflies, foxes, hedgehogs and even the Gruffalo!

Upper Foundation have made some fantastic nature art pictures.  We found various leaves, pinecones, and twigs that have fallen from our trees in our outdoor area. The children learned new vocabulary as they explored and discussed their findings. 

The children in Early Years have planted various plants.  We have enjoyed observing the growth of our broad bean plants and we are excited to try them. 

Today the early years children were searching for minibeasts in their local environment.  "We found a snail"  they replied.  We discussed why snails are important in our ecosystem and we learned that birds and other animals rely on them. We then watched the snail leave a slippery trail. "Look at that trail"  a child asked.  We researched why snails produce slime and we found out that it helps them to move around.   

Our Nursery children had a story time session in the Hobbit house and read the story 'Little Red Riding Hood'.  Prior to this, they had designed 'Wanted' posters to help capture the big, bad wolf. They used their posters to help find the wolf that was hiding inside. 

Spring 2021

Spring is finally approaching and our EYFS children have explored seasonal changes. We have observed blossom growing on the trees, flowers blooming, birds singing and how it is beginning to be lighter outside for longer.

We have enjoyed looking closely at trees in our environment and will be checking ‘our tree’ daily in Nursery.  We will be monitoring the changes we will witness as the season changes.  We have also discussed fruit that grow from plants and trees.

Welly Walk

We also went on a welly walk and found two puddles in our outdoor area.  We enjoyed splishing and splashing as we counted the jumps in the puddles.

Winter 2020/21

We have had many wintery days and what fantastic outdoor learning opportunities we have had.  We have explored signs of winter, discussed woodland and nocturnal animals, investigated ice and we have been lucky to explore the properties of snow.  We noticed trees in our Foundation Stage have shed their leaves and the weather has been fairly windy, wet and gloomy.  

Nursery children have enjoyed describing the texture of snow.  The children commented “It’s crunchy when we walk on it”.  We also noticed that the snow was freezing and wet as we investigated it with our hands.