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Green Leaves Forest School
Green Leaves
Forest School
Handbook
A Guide for Students, Parents, Volunteers and
Practitioners
Page
1
Green Leaves Forest School
Contents Page
Forest School Site Information
Page 3
Forest School Principals Page 4
Forest School Ethos
Page
5
Role of the Educator
Page
6
Role of the Child Page 7
Risky Play in Forest School
Page 8
Forest School Essential Agreements
Page 9
Forest School Guidelines
Page
9
Emergency Procedures Page 15
Medical Emergency Procedures Page 15
Parental Consent Form
Page 1
7
Page
2
Green Leaves Forest School
Forest School Site Information
Green Leaves Forest School
is located on the north-west corner of
Lesopark
Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo
. Access to the site is from the North, along the
footpath entrance just before the beaver dam, crossing the small bridge and
following the path up along the fence for 50m until you see the fi rst footpath
left, leading to our site.
The site may also be accessed on foot from the South, entering the park
from Ivankovskoe Shosse
through the northern most gated barrier and
following the paved path for 15m. Turn left on the fi rst foot path and follow
it down the hill for 80m, walking while facing the school. Half-way down the
hill you will see the site’s entrance footpath on the right.
In an emergency, vehicles can access the site from the South Entrance, as
well as through the space in the fence near the site’s entrance along
Ivankovskoe Shosse.
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3
Green Leaves Forest School
Primary Telephone Number: +7 (967) 201-93-95
Secondary Telephone Number: +7 (967) 201-93-83
Anglo-American School of Moscow: +7 (495) 231-44-88
Address of Site: Lesopark
Pokrovskoe-Streshnevo
Pokrovskoe-Streshnevo District
Ivankovskoe Shosse
Moscow, Russia
Forest School
Principles
•
It is run by qualifi ed level 3 practitioners.
•
It is a long term process with regular contact with a local wooded
environment (preferably over the seasons).
•
It follows a child-centred pedagogy where children learn about and
manage risk.
•
It has a high adult:child ratio.
•
Observations of the learners are key to enabling scaffolding of the
learning.
•
Care for the natural world is integrated.
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4
Green Leaves Forest School
Forest School
Ethos
The Forest School approach to learning can be one which puts the child at
the centre of their own learning. It is the child who makes the decision
about which activities to participate in, how to approach and solve problems,
what they need to reflect on, what their strengths are and what they want to
learn next. All this is achieved in the richest of classrooms - the outdoors.
Children have regular and repeated access to the same natural space, as
well as emergent, experiential, inquiry-based, play-based, and place-based
learning (MacEachren, 2013). The defi ning feature of this type of nature-
based education program is that children are provided with opportunities to
build and on-going relationship with the land, to a dedicated educator, to one
another, and to themselves.
Activities that happen in Forest School vary and depend on the season,
climate, landscape, animals or mini-beasts that visit the area, trees that
have blown down, provocations provided by the educator, loose parts found,
the children who are in attendance and how well they know each other, as
well as what interests the children on that particular day.
Page
5
Green Leaves Forest School
Role of the Educator
Forest School educators are people who love natural spaces, who love time
spent outdoors, who want to bring children to those places to play, learn,
and feel inspired by the natural world. The educator’s
role is to move back and forth between actively sparking
children’s interests and quietly observing and planning
future outdoor experiences.
By modelling enthusiasm for nature, the Forest School
educator encourages children who might be nervous or new to outdoor play.
They get dirty, creates, builds, guides, learns, explores alongside the
children that they work with. They provide materials, resources, and
experiences that make the children’s experience richer, supporting children’s
creative, imaginative, and exploratory play.
Once the children are actively exploring, this is the time when the educator
steps back, giving space for children to inquire and play. This is an
opportunity for the Forest School educator to observe what the children are
learning, noticing their interactions, and documenting these experiences.
This documentation will be used for children to reflect on their discoveries,
as well as be used by the educator to plan and enhance future learning.
The Forest School educator’s role is to ensure the physical safety and
comfort of the group. Daily, the children and the educators need to
collaborate to assess the safety of the site, and manage the risk required for
any given activity. The educator also acts as stewards for relationships,
creating and fostering relationships between children, parents, community
around them, and the outdoor space itself.
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6
Green Leaves Forest School
Role of the Child
Children come to Forest School with their own personalities, experiences and
stories. Once immersed into the natural space, children are invited to pull
experience after experience from it, intuiting what to do.
Play is what drives
their learning. Children are encouraged to listen to the natural world with all
of their senses and follow what they desire to do - listen to the birds or the
crunch of snow, feel the warmth of the sun or the coolness of a worm, smell
the trees or the smoke of the fi re.
Forest School often begins with a group meeting, allowing children a voice to
share their ideas for the session, giving momentum, while the educator has
a rough outline for the day in mind built on previous sessions. With plans
made and ideas expressed, the exploring can begin. Each day is different;
tasks and initiatives can span days, weeks, or months depending on where
children lead themselves and the group.
Often, when asked about what they did at
Forest School, children will reply “we don’t
do anything, we just play.” The children,
through their deep immersion in the
experiences of the forest, sometimes don’t
realize the connections they are making with
the natural world. It is through their play
that we can help children view nature as an
extension of themselves, as a critical part of
their lives and world.
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7
Green Leaves Forest School
Risky Play in Forest School
Risky play can make parents worried. Most parents are good at letting
toddlers and babies explore and learn new skills. It isn't until they get a little
older and are running and jumping and want to set themselves new
challenges, like climbing trees, that adults start to worry that we can no
longer keep them safe.
That is where qualifi ed and experienced educators can help. Forest School
educators are trained to risk assess both the environment and the activity.
They constantly look for possible hazards and put control measures in place
to keep the children in our care as safe as possible. Their job is to make the
environment as safe as possible for children to benefi t from risky play and
experience nature in it's truest form. Risky play is not dangerous play. It is
play that the child has been drawn to and the educator has deemed
appropriate (for that child's skill and development) and safe enough to allow.
Children are more likely to flourish when allowed to indulge in “risky play”
outdoors unhindered by excessive adult supervision, a new report
suggests...The report concluded that children were adept at policing
themselves and were more likely to learn from the environment around
them if permitted to play without too much adult interference.
(
The Queens
Wood Forestry Report
)
Managing Risk in Play Provision
Page
8
Green Leaves Forest School
Forest School Essential Agreements
While at Forest School, we agree to:
•
Respect ourselves, respect others, and respect the space that we are in
•
Behave in a manner that will not put ourselves and others at great risk
•
Be mindful of and follow the
Forest School Guidelines
Forest School Guidelines
Safety Ethic
We work to create an environment that is as safe as possible by being
proactive and using sensible, simple guidelines that children and adults can
remember. These safety principals include:
- Constantly assess risk as conditions change (dynamic risk assessment)
- Set up as safe space with boundaries and safety guidelines
- Observe the children’s interactions with each other and with nature
- Spot the children during more challenging physical activity
- Gently guide the children to safer activities if required
If the site as a while is too risky (due to temperature or weather), the
facilitator will call all families, or will go to the location to meet families, to
let them know that the program is cancelled for the day.
Forest School Supplies
Every child requires:
•
A child-sized waterproof backpack containing
•
Water in a spill-proof bottle.
•
Extra socks, gloves, and hat.
Children will be supplied with a safety sash including a whistle, an
emergency blanket, and a tag containing the phone number of the Forest
School Leader and other emergency numbers.
Page
9
Green Leaves Forest School
Warmth and Comfort
The children must come with gear that is appropriate for the weather.
Children who are not adequately dressed will not be able to attend that day.
We recommend wearing:
•
Layers of clothing so children can make adjustments as needed according
to changes in weather and activity levels.
•
Boots or sturdy waterproof shoes with good grips on the bottom are
recommended. Even when it is not raining, children may play in water or
mud. Footwear must be closed-toed.
•
An inner layer of fleece or natural fabrics such as well or silk when it is
rainy or cold. Cotton is to be avoided during cold weather because when
wet it will feel very chilly.
•
An outer shell that is waterproof and windproof.
•
Warm and waterproof hat and gloves that slip on and off easily.
•
An extra pair of warm gloves and warm socks in your child’s bag.
•
During warm weather, it is still recommended to wear long-sleeved shirts
of light cotton, silk, or hemp, as well as long legged, durable pants.
•
Sun protection.
Entering the Forest
We will enter the Forest respectfully and
know that when at Forest School
specifi c
expectations are in place. We will explore,
investigate, learn and play
in a manner that
will not damage our
f
orest environment. We
understand
that we share our Forest School
with plants and animals and that when we
are in our Forest School we are sharing the
environment with them.
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10
