Within Woodlands School, we aim to establish and develop groups which work together to develop and build team working skills and positive relationships over a long period of time. Sessions at Forest School will be run every week with the same group of pupils and the planning of future sessions will be based on what occurred in the previous session. This will be what went well and reflection on what did not go so well and the reasons why.  The sessions will enable a sense of independence and achievement for pupils.

At Woodlands, giving pupils the opportunity to experience the outdoors and to learn to respect and enjoy nature is something we want. We want to broaden knowledge of nature for our pupils within different environments. Different environments can enable different relationships between staff and pupils. We want to develop relationships with the natural world by doing things like bug hotels, tree ID and respecting nature.

Through developing more focused play and freedom within forest school sessions, pupils will learn by building on their previous sessions. Scaffolding learning will be key, setting up activities that limit failure but are open-ended, like painting or art, and enabling these activities to be completed in many different ways. Also, creating resilience by creating different activities, such as learning to tie knots, using new tools, and using flint and steel. This will then build confidence and more independence from pupils.

Within Forest School sessions, pupils will have the opportunity to take risks, such as tree climbing, using tools, fire lighting and using fire to cook. Pupils will have the opportunity to make rules while in the forest and have discussions as to why rules have been made and how to keep themselves safe while in the forest.