Birstwith Primary School

Well what an awesome bunch of wild ones! They have settled into the ways of the woodland seamlessly.  The children have demonstrated such super skills, from learning to whittle and make fires to building dens and making musical instruments.  It has all been happening. The children have worked in groups, by themselves and with new people to discover more about themselves and share their already brimming knowledge with others.  

Enjoy the photos to see what some of the children have been up to.  Hopefully, they are coming home and regaling their tales once they've had a good soak! 

Super sessions... all sorts has been happening and it has been wonderful to see how the children are extending their confidence in the woodland.  We have had zip wires, hotdogs, fires galore....Den building, mud slides, stream stomps... lots of whittling and lots of welly boot rescuing! 

Last week next week, lets see what it brings! 

So good to be back in the woods again!  Year 3 were fantastic, so enthusiastic and proved how embedded their forest school skills are.  All of the children worked as a team to collect fire wood and some set about to build fires and dens.  Tools were out and ready, whittling commenced and marshmallows toasted.  Great way to start the session...looking forward to loads more in the weeks to come. 

The children have been very inventive over the past few weeks, adapting their play and exploration to match the changing season and weather conditions.  In the snow, ice sculptures were made and in when it thawed and there was water in the stream, some of the children designed a circular loop to take the rest of the class on a tour.  Fantastic...A little muddy but the smiles that came with it were well worth it!! 

The children returned to the woods to kick off Forest School for this term.  They were very enthusiastic and got straight into building new dens, lighting fires and refreshing their whittling skills.  It was lovely to see them exploring and sharing the space so well. 

As the weeks have continued, we have had some wetter weather but it hasn't dampened the spirit in the woods!  We have been sliding down zip wires, balancing on tight-ropes...making dens and bases.  One boy has been mining and discovering all sorts of rocks.  The whittling skills are getting honed and the interest in making more than just a marshmallow toaster is developing.  The children have been amazing supporting ideas and developing their spaces.  Great work everyone! 

This week, the children got a bit experimental with colour.... After spotting a deer and thinking about what it was eating, they went on a hunt to find some berries.  Once the berries were found, the intenetion was to make some deer treats...It ended up with the children creating a makeshift hairdressers where they dyed each others hair with the berry juice.  All very fancy! Other children built elaborate seating areas, tightrope walked and further developed  their whittling and fire making skills.  Great to hear so much laughter amongst the trees.

Our final week was a very soggy one.  The children were amazing though and used the woods in a very inventive way.  SOme collected run off rainwater to help fill the water butt.  Others used the rain water to wash and clean impliments.  We had copious amounts of hot chocolate to lift the mood, on a fire built in a Scandinavian Fire style.  it gave off incredible heat and enabled us to remain warm and cosy in pretty bleak conditions.  Well done Class 3 on a brilliant Forest School stint.  See you next year!