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 Consent Form

Spring Term 2025

Signs of new life begin to emerge with warmer days. We will see cherry blossom and new buds and shoots appear. Flowers will pop their head’s through, we will see snowflakes, crocuses, daffodils and towards the end of March bluebells. As the flowers grow, we will see more bumble bees, butterflies, beetles, spiders and ladybirds. The migratory birds will return. Birds such as blackbirds and blue tits will start to build their nests.
Baby animals will be born, we will see lambs, ducklings and start to spot frog spawn in ponds.

Autumn Term 2024

The days will become cooler and crisper, we will see the vibrant colours of the leaves, such as red, yellow, brown, orange and golden. The leaves will change colour and start to fall. We will hear the leaves crunch underfoot.  We will see fairytale funghi, toadstools, mushrooms and puff balls. We can catch falling seeds and collect conkers and acorns.  We will see squirrels collecting their nuts and possibly see birds migrating for Winter.
The Winter will bring frosty cold and icy days with frozen ponds and paths. We will see the bare branches and in contrast to this, the bright green evergreen trees. We will see winter berries, especially the holly berries. We may see animal tracks in the snow or mud. Often the robins are still nearby wanting food and water.

Junior School Forest School Site Visit

On Thursday 13^th June Year 2 visited the Manor Farm Junior’s Forest School site. Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Payne led the activities and everyone had a fantastic time. The children enjoyed resting in the hammock, playing the ‘log’ drumkit, searching for tadpoles and froglets in the pond, making their own creations using the resources they found and using the slide and swing. The session finished with a drink and a biscuit and the children returned to the Infant School full of news of the experience. Thank you to the juniors for hosting a wonderful session!

Summer Term 2024

Spring Term 2024

Autumn Term 2023