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Building Confidence and Communities at Forest School

As schools return after a well-deserved summer break, Forest School Trainer Danny English reflects on his most recent Forest School programme and the benefits for the learners involved.
A child smiling with his wooden play axe

It’s a warm sunny spring day, the bright yellow sun is beaming down and the children at Forest School are gathered beneath a mature silver birch tree enjoying the dappled shade. It’s the second session of a Forest school programme kindly supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and although these children are used to participating in Forest School sessions, the ones that take place on a Tuesday each week have a slightly different feel to them. It’s a small group of 15 mixed age children from three different classes, Forest School happens for an entire day which includes lunch outdoors and the focus of the session is always play!

From beneath the tree one of the participants is heard saying, “wouldn't it be great if we built a community with tents and shelters, somewhere we can all hang out in the shade and play”.  Another child shouts out, “I’ll be the Mayor!” and together they charge towards the storage shed in search of tarps, tents, ropes and pegs.

A child playing with a make-shift wooden sword

The Forest School Leader takes a step back and observes the rich learning unfolding as the children sink deeper and deeper into their play. The ‘Mayor’ is now directing proceedings as a range of ‘buildings’ are erected. The group’s role play extends as some children begin to take on the role of ‘removals’ bringing in seating logs, tables, blankets and sticks to construct an elaborate living space. As their experience emerges through play the leader observes a whole range of different play types: social play, socio-dramatic play, exploratory play and mastery play; the type of play when a child begins to consider and control the physical ingredients of their environment, on this occasion it’s the wind.

The Mayor has decided that the town is at risk of, “very high winds, we must protect the community”, he is heard shouting. Other children rally around with a windbreak and a wooden mallet and begin to hammer the wooden stakes into the ground. However, they run into a problem as the stakes are blunt and the ground is extremely hard. They persist for a while as the leader stands back and observes, mindful not to interrupt their play. After a while they become frustrated, and their frustration seems to take them away from their play.

A child enjoying forest school with tools on a tree stump

The leader steps forward and asks, “can you see why the poles aren't going in the ground?”

The Mayor replies, “the ground’s too hard”.

“Is there a way of changing that?”, asks the leader.

“No”, the Mayor replies in frustrated tones.

The leader ponders for a second then asks, “could we do something about the posts?”

The Mayor looks at the posts inquisitively, “they need to be sharper”, he calls out.

The leader sees this as an opportunity to invite the child into a deep play experience, one where the learner can experiment with risk and the element of survival.  “Maybe there is something in the tool pit we can use to put a point on them?” the leader asks.

The learner nods in agreement and together they make their way to the tool pit to look. When they arrive, a conversation begins about the right tool for the right job. They ponder the saw, then the knife, then the axe.

The leader holds the axe and says, “this is probably the best tool for the job”.

The Mayor looks worryingly at the axe and says something that will stick with the leader for weeks to come, “An axe!!! Nah, that’s not the tool for me! I’ve never used an axe and it looks really dangerous”.

The leader takes a knee so he is eye level with the learner and says, “What if we work together to find a way that we can use it safely?”

The tent Village at forest school

The Mayor nods and within 15 minutes he has shaped a sharp point onto the end of the wooden pole and he is heading over towards the windbreak. The leader watches from afar as together with the other children they take turns hammering the post into the ground. The Mayor then takes a second pole and holding it by his side runs towards the tool pit, “this one needs a point too”, he shouts excitedly. This continues until every pole has a freshly sharpened point on the end and is buried in the ground holding up the windbreak and protecting the village from strong winds.

The leader observes from a distance with a smile. In this unfolding of events something about the Mayor has changed, if self-esteem could be seen as the colour yellow then the bright sun beaming down from the sky would no longer be the brightest star shining at today's Forest School.

Throughout the proceeding weeks the young learner moved on from his role as ‘Mayor of the Community’ but he did continue to return to the tool pit to use the axe, the tool that he described as ‘not the tool for me’. He created a sword, constructed a three-legged person using stumps and sticks and even crafted a wooden axe of his own that he could take home and proudly show to his Mum.

Thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has been running its Forest School Project since 2015, connecting urban schools in Manchester and Liverpool with nature and the benefits of learning through outdoor play. We are looking forward to working with our next cohort of schools in September and can’t wait to see what our new learners will achieve.

To find out more about our Forest School Project, visit our webpage: Forest School | The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside (lancswt.org.uk)

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