A journey into the woods.
At Manor Farm Infant School the children in reception will all have the opportunity to experience Forest school. We are fortunate enough to have two Forest school sites, 1 based in the school grounds and 1 based 10 minutes walk away in Common Wood. This means that the pupils have two different natural locations to investigate and contrast. We follow the Forest school principals whereby children are shown a variety of skills but the learning is based on individual children’s interests. They will have the chance to hunt for minibeasts, create imaginatively with natural resources, learn more about birds, make dens, fashion homes for bugs, start to identify different plants and animals and much more.
Led by Mrs Topley and a band of experienced helpers we head off on a Thursday to explore the natural world. Each week when we get to our site the children and adults check the boundary, the children love taking responsibility for safety routines, ‘Danger there are prickly holly leaves, the shout goes up’. We finish our sessions sitting in base camp having a hot chocolate, sharing our favourite experiences and listening to a story.
Forest School Medical Information Form
Oak Class – 09/03/23 & 16/03/23
Larch Class – 12/01/2023
‘I found a caterpillar in the mud.’
‘Making the crowns for King Charles.’
‘I liked putting mud and grass in the pot.’
‘I liked the hot chocolate and catching bugs.’
‘I liked looking through the binoculars and I saw things far and they got really close.’
Larch Class enjoyed their first visit to the woods this year where they had lots of fun exploring, climbing. building and investigating.
‘Going through the tunnel – I got dirty.’
‘I loved digging for gems.’
‘I enjoyed looking for bug – I found a centipede.’
‘I loved playing on the bouncy tree.’
‘We all loved drinking hot chocolate.’
Beech Class had a great time using our on-site Forest School which included a mud kitchen, nature crown making, bug hunting and camping.
‘I liked making a mud potion with my friends.’
‘I liked drinking hot chocolate because it was so yummy.’
‘I liked making a crown because I enjoyed finding lots of leaves and sticks.’
‘I liked going in the tent with my friends because we were making a plan to find some bugs.’
‘I liked making soup with my friends because we found lots of objects to put in, like leaves, sticks and a feather.’
‘I liked watching the birds.’
Chestnut Class also enjoyed their first visit to the woods this year where they had lots of fun exploring, climbing. building and investigating.
‘I like building the bug house.’
‘I loved drinking hot chocolate and sitting on the logs.’
‘I liked climbing the trees.’
‘I enjoyed building a den with all of my friends.’
‘I liked trying to catch the bugs and looking at them with my magnifying glass.’
