How wonderful to be back outside, exploring nature with Pre-Prep!
Forest School has taken place out and about around the perimeter of the school grounds and down in the orchard. The children have reacquainted their feet with the feeling of wellington boots on uneven ground and used their eyes to look properly and see what’s right in front of them.
Reception are able to enjoy two Forest School lessons per week this term. The children have enjoyed climbing up the exposed tree roots and balancing on various felled tree trunks, observing mosses and types of bark, whilst avoiding the holly, tree roots (on the pathway) and various other trip hazards along the way. They found acorns and beech nuts and identified the trees they came from, the oak and the beech tree, noting the different shapes of the leaves.
Year 2 were challenged to walk the whole perimeter of the school grounds, which they achieved; with the use of walking sticks, no problem! The children discovered an untouched patch of field mushrooms in a beautiful clearing in the woods and a decaying tree trunk which was turning to ‘punk’. ‘Punk’ can be dried and is excellent for fire starting.
Our beautiful orchard is back in use, Hooray! Year 1 spent a very pleasant afternoon down there, looking at the apple trees and identifying other types of trees. In fact, Year 1 discovered a brand new type of tree… it looked like an oak tree, it had the same shaped leaves as an oak, but the underside of the leaves were covered in tiny ‘donut’ shaped bumps. Upon further observation and much discussion, it was concluded that what we had actually discovered was a ‘Cheerio’ tree!
It was lovely for the children to see the statue of Our Lady and baby Jesus which is in the orchard. This is a very special, tranquil place in our school grounds, perfect for sitting and reflecting.
Various children declared that Mrs Wilson had taken them out to look for fox poo! Not true! The children were identifying and avoiding hazards in the orchard such as; brambles, nettles, holes, uneven surfaces, fallen apples containing wasps and… fox poo! Nursery and Kindy were particularly observant of the fox poo, stopping, pointing at it and shouting the location, so everyone could avoid the area. They even found some rabbit droppings to compare it with!
Another wonderful week in Forest School with Mrs Wilson.
