At D’Eyncourt Primary School, we are really lucky to have our environmental area. It is an excellent and unique resource for the whole school to use.
The Reception class take part in “Forest Schools” activities in the environmental area on a weekly basis. Because it is situated across the field from the classroom, the children enjoy putting on their wellies and going to the
“Secret Garden”.
They take part in activities such as shelter building and knot tying, mud painting, mud pie making, modelling with natural materials, role-play, tree climbing , hunting for minibeast and pond dipping, setting and following trails and other basic woodland skills.
These sorts of activities encourage the children to solve problems, manage risk, use all of their senses for learning, keep active, work as a team, learn to appreciate nature and the outdoors, boost their self-confidence and raise their self-esteem.
The children learn to use natural materials and develop practical and intellectual skills, which can all be linked with the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum.
The Forest School model is suited to people of all ages and has been found to be particularly successful with children and young people who may struggle to achieve in the more formal classroom setting.
We have had our environmental area now for a number of years. It resembles miniature woodland, complete with a wildlife pond.
It is a haven for wildlife and the children regularly see squirrels, frogs, birds and even newts. They enjoy searching for minibeasts and watching the progress of tadpoles in the pond, as well as checking to see if there are any nests in our bird boxes.
Unfortunately due to vandals the area was in great need of maintenance and repair recently. Thanks to the parents of some of our children that volunteered their time on a Saturday, we were able to make it safe and tidy for our children to enjoy once again. This was a really enjoyable day and showed a true sense of community and achievement!
Because of our helpers hard work the children have been busy once again with Forest School activities and curriculum work. Reception have been making seed cakes for the birds to eat, very messy but fun.
While Year 3/4 have been busy looking at the different wild life to be found within the area and their habitats. They found lots of frogs!
Also Reception children have had a lot of fun imaging they are reporter for a newspaper or TV and that they find enormous turnips (large space hoppers) in the Forest School. They enjoyed role play about the story 'The Gigantic Turnip' and reported their story using clipboards, cameras and video cameras!
As part of our new FEI (Forest Education Initiative) Forest School project we have great plans for the environmental area. All the flora and fauna will be catalogued and a continued tidy-up project is planned. We are looking at better ways of securing the site. We have applied to the woodland trust fo more trees and shrubs.
