Guest Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Hi My setting has small private bluebell woodland literally a few yards from our front door. We have increased the times we use this and now spend half the session down there regularly. As we are increasing our use I am in unfamiliar territory and cannot afford forest school training which would be a big help. Has anyone out there any advice on books or articles that would help me ensure I am getting the most out of sessions. Also I need some research or something so I can state the value of this time and just what the children are learning to ensure I can justify these sessions to parents and Ofsted! Any advice and help would be much appreciated. Sally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 this looks good forest schools reasonable price too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Thanks for that Cait - yes it looks like a great book - not out yet but have placed an order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 yeah me too! They do other forest school kind of titles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 (edited) Nursery world articles type forest schools into the search - sigh - dunno why that didn't work properly! This one has good info Edited April 14, 2009 by Cait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Thanks once again Cait - will look that up. Do you have Forest Schools expereince? Sally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Nope, not officially - only my own growing up in a wood experience! oh and living in Cumbria! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 we are going to be goin to a forest school as part of a three year project, will post when we have been and i have a little more knowledge, we will be with a forset ranger and we have ' a creative person' assigned to us too our idea is though just to be led by the children, i do not want to be doing planned activites really cant wait, nervous as first outing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 how near is your wood? what's your ratio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 (edited) There was a thread about this a while ago - I seem to remember Archimedes being mentioned as a good Forest Schools trainer and if I'm right they offer a free 'taster' session. Here's the link to the other thread - started by Rufus! Glad to see the old grey matter hasn't completely given up the ghost... There may be funding available in your area for this kind of training/initiative - its very much in vogue at the moment! Maz Edited April 15, 2009 by HappyMaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajess Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 There was a thread about this a while ago - I seem to remember Archimedes being mentioned as a good Forest Schools trainer and if I'm right they offer a free 'taster' session. Here's the link to the other thread - started by Rufus! Glad to see the old grey matter hasn't completely given up the ghost... There may be funding available in your area for this kind of training/initiative - its very much in vogue at the moment! Maz ... ooh! Tell me more about the funding possibility! As a reception teacher I have very little experience of going for funding etc as the head does it all, and on the whole it tends to be for older children / stuff which will benefit whole school rather than just early years, so I'd love to have a bit of an idea about how to go about this! Where might I get funding from or how might I find out about it? You are always so reliable for great ideas and advice, Maz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I would have thought that your local early years advisory team would know exactly who to contact and whether any funding might be available Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I would have thought that your local early years advisory team would know exactly who to contact and whether any funding might be available Quite so! Although I'm guessing that might be more difficult for class teachers to do if their Head is usually the main point of contact? Can schools tap into the quality and access funding or is that just for the PVI sector? Maybe Rufus will be along to explain how she got on? I seem to remember that at some point she was wondering how to fund it all... and maybe the team at Archimedes might also be able to help identify a source of funding. In our Borough we have training available this term on the whole Forest Schools ethos, with a view to setting up a resource for groups like mine to access who don't have the necessary facilities within or near their group. All very exciting! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 you LUCKY LUCKY things!!!!! (not jealous, not jealous, not jealous) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 you LUCKY LUCKY things!!!!! (not jealous, not jealous, not jealous) It is exciting isn't it? I've booked my Deputy on it so I'm hoping she'll come back with lots of ideas not only for our own practice, but also about how we can make use of this resource for visits etc. I am also hoping to go on some training through the EYP network which should be very worthwhile. Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rufus Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Have no fear, I hold a few of the answers!! My forest school day was run by Archimedes. They run free taster days which you can sign up for on their website, the 'courses' section is the bit that you want. Since my taster day I have been looking at different courses and prices etc. Archimedes were fantastic but they only run courses during term time. This therefore increases the cost to my school - supply cover, training costs etc. Also a main element of their course is that you have to deliver a forest school session to your peers, which quite honestly scares me - I can do it for chidlren no problem but my peers!! That would be 15 other teachers and my head - Yikes. So I went looking for other courses that would suit me better and I found one run by 'The Greenlight trust'. The same OCN course that archimedes offer but they run it on weekends and their forest school session that you have to deliver and be assessed on is delivered to children not you peers - much more up my street! After finding the course that I wanted, i then approached my head about funding. I had spoken to my Early Years advisory teacher but she didn't know where you could get funding from. My head was very open to the idea especially as i had actively tried to cut schools costs by finding a weekend course. Fingers crossed school is going to fund my course, just have to wait until the govenors have discussed the issue. I have found to pages on 'funding' that you may find useful. Forest school east was a link from 'The Greenlight Trust' and the other page is Archimedes. Hope these give you some answers. The taster days are dead easy to get on though. You may need to book quite far in advance though, it's popular. Click here for Forest Schools east Click here for Archimedes info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Hi there I was lucky enough to go on Forest School training paid for by my LA and it was three days with Bridgwater College, who are brilliant. Totally transformed my whole outlook on outdoors, schemas and self-esteem. Could not recommend it highly enough. I have been asked if I would like to top up the BTec Level 1 to Advanced, this July, so that I can be a Forest School Leader and teach others. Would dearly love to, but it will cost £500 and my boss was so not up for it that she ignored my email request! However, I think I learnt enough to do lovely activities for the children at my school. Also, I am running a parent workshop next week and will extend these if they work well. Go for it! Lesley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rufus Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 You have to be so careful with Forest school qualifications. There are lots of people running training courses out there but they are not officially 'Forest School'. You cannot call yourselves a Forest school and use their ethos if you haven't got the correct OCN qualifications. You can take your children outside to experience the forest and complete tasks but you cannot call it 'Forest School'. The training is delivered on 4 levels, LEvel 3 being the one that you need to lead a Forest school session costing approx £850 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 For our day out next term I have organised a day at a forest school. One of my parents has a hugh wood as part of her 'garden' so we are going there. The lady who is actually taking it is charging £100, which I didn't think was too bad. Each child will have an adult with them and we will all bring food to cook on the fire. I'm really looking forward to it already, jackie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 we are on a specially fundied project at the moment for our area with the idea that will help improve PSED and CLL at the end of foundation. Especially in boys hence the use of the forest school we are going on a ratio of 1:2 very high i know but it was what was recommended for pre-school we also have the use of an artist,musician, actor or sculpter working with us so very exciting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 we are on a specially fundied project at the moment for our area with the idea that will help improve PSED and CLL at the end of foundation. Especially in boys hence the use of the forest school we are going on a ratio of 1:2 very high i know but it was what was recommended for pre-school we also have the use of an artist,musician, actor or sculpter working with us so very exciting How fantastic! Sunnyday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 it should be fantastic the project runs over 3 years it was open to all reception classes, maintained and pvi's, it is a shame only 32 signed up when alone in our area we have 35 pvi's let alone schools and nurseries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Thanks everyone - lots of helpful advice. I am trying to get funding at the moment for a course so will look at the ones recommended. Sally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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