Birch Forest Schools

One of the best ways to continue professional development as a Forest schools practitioner is to work with different groups in different settings or, if you are luckily enough, step into someone else’s shoes for a day. I had the opportunity to do just that on Wednesday at St Mary’s RC Primary school in Dukinfield.

I had been asked to stand in for a day at the school by Andy Hennel who works as a Forest schools practitioner alongside trained practitioners amongst the teaching staff while Andy was on holiday.

The school has recently been rebuilt and part of its new vision was to make use of its wooded area. The day involved working with years 3, 5 and 6 followed by an after school bushcraft club for year 4. I ran sessions on bow saw use, sheath knife, tree identification and for the bushcraft club, atl atl.

The staff involved were very enthusiastic about Forest schools and the school is making use of committed parent helpers in the delivery of the provision.

It was a fantastic opportunity to see Forest schools being delivered in a school setting with the aim to allow all of the children the opportunity to benefit. The children themselves were very enthusiastic and motivated by the activities and all of the groups were a pleasure to work with.

Forest schools provision across a whole school is bound to take on a curriculum focus as well as being an approach for  the development of individuals. While the ethos of Forest schools shies away from notions of school curriculum, I do believe that schools can have their cake and eat it as long as they do as St Mary’s have done and put the ethos at the core of their provision.

A most enjoyable day in someone else’s shoes.

Sometimes one feels as though the weather is out to make ones job harder when working in the great outdoors. After a very wet Summer, it was such a pleasure to take part in the Nutsford Vale Nature day in glorious sunshine. The Vale looked wonderful decked out in wild flowers with trees in fruit and dragonflies zipping through the air and causing squeals of excitement from children.

There were lots of activities to take part in and with a steady crowd throughout the day, I was kept busy making bird feeders from birch harvested onsite as part of the woodland management process.

As the afternoon wore on I seemed to get busier and was luckily enough to be helped out by the husband of one of the Friends of Nutsford Vale members. Children and parents showed lots of patience and dedication as they sawed, cleaved and nailed their bird feeders before filling them with peanuts and leaving happy.

This was one of those days when it just seems impossible to say “stop, we are done, it is time for us to go”. So when the last nail was hammered we looked around to find that we were the only ones left, just a small crowd of parents and children enjoying a day in the sun, in September, in Manchester.

Following on from the BHMAT Woodland Pioneer Week I had two days at Nutsford Vale in Manchester working with groups of young people as part of their Challenge programme.

The Challenge programme brings small teams of 15-16 year olds together and offers them the opportunity to gain experience and attain the skills which would be useful in the voluntary sector.

In just about the best weather of the year, three groups litter picked the site, planted bulbs then made bird feeders from logs sourced from the site.

The second session at the Meadows was a little more manageable in terms of numbers. The weather forecast was for rain but it held off and despite the sky being grey, the day was pleasant and warm.

This session was to begin with the dragonfly story which leads nicely onto children making their own creatures out of clay and whatever they can forage from the surrounding area. Most of the children had attended the previous week’s session and immediately started building homes for their creatures. Following the snack and drink, we walked along the path to the pond at the opposite end of the Meadows. Some of the children wanted to run through the grass and wild flowers which were waist height and higher on some of them.

On the way to the pond we picked up large pieces of bark which I had spotted earlier and before I had chance to make the suggestion, children were making boats to sail. Some of the adults expressed the usual concerns around getting wet, ruining shoes and falling in but with me in the water up to my knees and a bag of towels, they were persuaded that a little water was a harmless thing.

The beauty of a bark boat is that it is quick and easy to make, especially if one has secreted a little willow nearby fir the masts. On the downside, they are not the most seaworthy crafts. This prompted the children to explore boat building anew. Holes were drilled, sticks tied together and masts woven.

How wonderful the moment when a leaf powered raft set sail in the breeze only for a pair of damselflies to hop aboard to investigate.

The first SPIKE kids club session on the Meadows ran this afternoon. This was one of those “suck it and see” sessions in which one has no idea just how many participants will turn up.

As it happened, SPIKE staff had leafleted the estate and residents had discussed the session on Facebook. As a result we were inundated with something like sixty attendees.

Luckily the blistering heat of the last couple of days had subsided enough to make the afternoon comfortable for playing out on the meadow itself.

Management of such a large group comes with its share of issues, not enough seating, groups wandering off then coming back again, mobile phone conversations taking place during the session. The only thing to do is to talk louder, engage with those who want to take part and ride the chaos train to session end.

After a while, once the participants got an idea of what we were about, there was a subtle change in the atmosphere, things settled down and seemed to get easier. Kelly kettles were lit and the adults conversed over tea and biscuits, some for the first time with each other.

We took the children onto the meadow to build shelters with tarps and sticks (the Meadows is quite resource poor unless one considers dog faeces a resource) Some parents helped, some stood and watched.

Feedback from SPIKE staff and residents working in the community was very positive “this is just what we need here”

As part of the Red Rose Forest offering to local schools around The Meadows in Salford, Friars Junior school requested two one day sessions to promote natural play outside with their Early Years children.

Groups of around 10 – 13 came outside to play in an area which was quite lacking in any natural resources. With a little ingenuity and by bringing to the site a few log rounds, some sticks and pine cones, we demonstrated how children can successfully engage with the natural world even in a space that seemingly lacked scope for such activities.

The feedback from staff was very positive with plans now being drawn up to enhance the area and incorporate more natural world play into their Early Years setting.

These two days saw us working at Nutsford Vale in Gorton for the first time in a couple of months. Yet again there was an astounding change with the area looking wild and overgrown. We had two year four classes over two days and each class carried out four activities in a programme that left us fatigued to say the least.

There was litter picking and planting; a mammal sign walk; nest making and willow bird feeder making (with fat balls). The children and staff from Chapel Street primary school were enthusiastic, engaged and pleasant throughout despite some quite harsh weather.

We all had lots of fun and many children got to try something new.

As the morning group had lit Kelly Kettles in their last session, we decided to get them to make mallets. The best laid plans and all that…”What’s that, is it a bow?” said D. “Well yes it is but not the kind you are thinking of” was my reply. So tool time went out of the window as we all had turns at using the bow drill set. There was no preamble, no fire triangle, no science or talk, just right in with ”can I have a go now?” and so they did, not  to make embers, not to make flames but for the simple joy of making something work and getting a stick hot.

Recently by being so focused on the outcome of  bow drill use, I had forgotten what can be done along the way, or even at the beginning to bring joy and wonder.

Even with this impromptu bit of fire work, the group still managed to saw their logs for their mallets which will be completed in the next session. As the climbing trees were greasy from the rain, no tree climbing took place. The children seemed not to mind as with wellies on they splashed through puddles instead.

The afternoon group looked at some of the plants which were edible on the way to the site with some trying nettle for the first time. After an explanation of the workings of the Kelly kettle and armed with fire steels and their cotton pads, they attempted to boil water for their hot drink.

Overcome with the success of lighting the cotton… they allowed their fires to go out. Eventually one group boiled enough water for everyone to share and the afternoon group was spared the ignominy of having a cold drink snack.

The last of eight sessions with the two classes from Friars school took place today. After setting out the boundary ribbons for the last time I handed out vegetables and plastic chickens (dog toys with squeaker removed) so that each child had something to hold. I told them the story of the soup stone, set in Ireland with accents ranging from early Father Ted to Jedward and as each item came up in the story the children came to the soup pot and added their ingredients. With special help from a birthday girl to stir the pot we made the magic soup and created a little magic of our own.

On completion of the story the children asked for the story again, “can we act it out, can we?” and so I was faced with a dilemma. On any other day we would have had the chance to be lead by their desire and to hell with the rest of the session. I literally hopped from foot to foot trying to decide then in a piece of shameless manipulation pointed out that the next activity was a treasure hunt with a treat and that there was only enough time for that OR to retell the story. The treasure hunt was chosen by the group but I felt as though I had missed out on the chance for something wonderful along the way.

That said the treasure hunt was extremely enjoyable, each of eight clues placed around the site referenced their activities from previous weeks and forced the children to reflect on what they remembered about the programme since January. We spent a glorious hour in the sun exploring, reading the clues and working out the final answer.

So as they drank hot chocolate, still a favourite despite the hot day, I cooked popcorn on the fire while the children squealed with delight.

We took turns to speak about our time together, what we had enjoyed, how well they had done to come out in the freezing cold, the driving rain and now the hot sun, full of enthusiasm, energy and the million and one questions that young children never tire of producing.

Recommended Forest Schools practice is to ensure that the final session in a programme is a special one, a celebration event, a time to reflect. If possible families should be involved, giving the participants the opportunity to share their Forest Schools experience. Such a celebration is not always possible, but it is important, especially when a group contains or is made up of vulnerable individuals, to mark the occasion as special. It is difficult for us as practitioners to leave a group, one is usually left with a sense of loss made up in part of the sharing of routine and experience but also of unfulfilled opportunity and potential.  

With the optimistic weather forecast proving to be true we set up at Nutsford Vale for the fifth session with two groups from Gorton Mount. At the behest of child D. our session included drawing and fire, perfect opportunity for charcoal making. As with Friars the week before, the children examined the magic drawing sticks and compared them to the bendy willow withies present on the site. While the willow cooked on the fire, the children took turns with fire steels then lit the Kelly kettle to make their hot drinks. All agreed that the drinks tasted better made from water they boiled themselves.

As we were working near to the fire circle, we were ideally placed to see first the smoke then the gas flame erupting out of the top of the syrup tin as the willow cooked. Following the snack D. asked” but what about the magic pencils?” Sometimes things fall into place and when children lead the activity, it feels as though one is doing something right.

The children then used their charcoal to draw pictures and coloured them with leaves, catkins or anything else they could find.

In the afternoon, I set up some mock debris shelters in miniature for the group to look at. We discussed how long it might take to make a shelter and how good it might be at protecting us from the elements. Some children chose to make Kazoos and others helped to make a four man debris shelter. Learning along the way included: to make sure that the initial structure pieces were prepared before hand, that forked sticks can be hard to find and not to let go of the structure when it is your turn to support it. After several attempts the outline of the shelter was stable. All of us were surprised at how long it took and how much effort was needed.

The kazoo group were extremely good and broke off only to prepare drinks and snacks for everyone. This was one of those golden sessions when no one wants to leave and the fun just goes on forever.

Both of the Gorton Mount groups have altered their make up over the first few sessions but both feel very settled now and are engaged, industrious and blossoming in the outdoors.