Forest School

Forest School is a crucial component of our curriculum at Chilham St Mary’s.  We are fortunate to have two qualified Level 3 FS practitioners on our staff and sole access to a site nestled in the heart of Chilham Castle grounds.  The Forest School ethos wholeheartedly supports our aim to educate the child as a whole person and we ensure that each class benefits from access to this on a regular basis throughout the year.

 ‘Forest School is an inspirational process, that offers ALL learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland or natural environment with trees.

Forest School is a specialised learning approach that sits within and complements the wider context of outdoor and woodland education.

At Forest School all participants are viewed as:

• equal, unique and valuable
• competent to explore & discover
• entitled to experience appropriate risk and challenge
• entitled to choose, and to initiate and drive their own learning and development
• entitled to experience regular success
• entitled to develop positive relationships with themselves and other people
• entitled to develop a strong, positive relationship with their natural world

This learner-centred approach interweaves with the ever-changing moods and marvels, potential and challenges of the natural world through the seasons to fill every Forest School session and programme with discovery and difference. Yet each programme does also share a common set of principles, aimed at ensuring that all learners experience the cumulative and lasting benefits that quality Forest School offers.’

https://www.forestschoolassociation.org/what-is-forest-school/