A New Year and a time for new groups. It is now the turn of Years 3 and 4 – VPA’s newest ‘Foresters’ and nursery have been joined by their parents to experience our forest school for the first time.
The weather has not been kind to the ‘Foresters’ over the past few weeks as temperatures have plummeted to below freezing and the wind chill factors of around -8 have meant that for the welfare of the children, staff have had to unfortunately cancel a few sessions.
When the weather has allowed the children, as usual, have been able to be curious and take in the dynamics of our outdoor environment. Years 3 and 4 have been working on their collaboration and resilience skills managing their own risks with the challenges that they have instigated. Outdoor art has also been evident with groups of children tree rubbing and using mud paint to create some interesting pieces of artwork.
Nursery children and parents have been hunting for mummy and baby bears and then building stick and twig homes for them to live in. The children were also fascinated by the great ‘Mud Kitchen’ enabling them to get stuck in making porridge for the three bears. Everyone was on the lookout in case we spotted Goldilocks running through the forest…
In the weeks to come, Years 3 and 4 will be introduced to sustainability and the ecological impact of using the site. They will assess the risk to plant and animal habitats and will be given the opportunity to devise an ecological and sustainability plan for them.
As the spring approaches we are hoping that the weather will brighten and warm up to allow more sessions to be utilised in our Forest School. Staff and children are looking forward to regular learning opportunities outside the classroom.
