Forest School Principles by Lucy Thornton

How can you structure a program that grows over time?

lthornton31 — 2024-10-16 11:02:43 UTC

Forest School is a long-term process of frequent and regular sessions in a woodland or natural environment, rather than a one-off visit. Planning, adaptation, observations and reviewing are integral elements of Forest School.

What activities can foster a sense of environmental responsibility?

lthornton31 — 2024-10-16 11:04:21 UTC

Forest School takes place in a woodland or natural wooded environment to support the development of a relationship between the learner and the natural world

What do you think we mean by the term 'risk:benefit' and how can we promote participants to manage their own risks?

lthornton31 — 2024-10-16 11:05:55 UTC

Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.

What steps could you take to become a more reflective practitioner? How might this benefit your participants?

lthornton31 — 2024-10-16 11:07:25 UTC

Forest School is run by qualified Practitioners who continuously maintain and develop their professional Practice.

How can you create a learner-centered environment?

lthornton31 — 2024-10-16 11:08:19 UTC

Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning.

How does Forest School promote social, emotional, and physical growth?

lthornton31 — 2024-10-16 11:10:55 UTC

Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.

Principle 1

2025-10-07 10:26:48 UTC

Make the sessions seasonal based. Have a starting point for each session and an end to reflect. Have a loose based structure of ideas with the prompts, tools etc available but see where the group and session take you. zone areas for different types of play, include skills and ideas within those but in a subtle way.

Principle 2

2025-10-07 10:30:23 UTC

Plant identification, looking for animals and tracks, reading the landscape, asking questions, understanding the ecology and ecosystems a bit so people understand how to look after it. Enjoy watching things grow and creating habitats develop.

Principle 3

2025-10-07 10:37:10 UTC

Build up over time. It will depend on the group and abilities. Stick with what you are comfortable delivery too.

Principle 4

2025-10-07 11:08:17 UTC

understand the cohort of people attending and their needs. Create / design an environment that subtly guides different areas for emotional well being, ie a quiet space, chill in a hammock, or den. A space for physical growth, fine and gross motor skills but through play and maybe progressive over time. A space for socialising, conversations, through games play or story telling. Taking about specific skills or environments to start conversations and questions - validation is key. Use the landscape to your advantage.

Principle 5

2025-10-07 11:12:12 UTC

find time to reflect on the session at the end either with the people attending as a group of individually. get feedback from the parents, school, group etc so you can learn and build on ideas, elements enjoyed, learnt what went well or not etc. Take time to reflect on yourself and how you think the session went, were there stressful moments could they be designed out?

Principle 6

2025-10-07 11:18:16 UTC

Having an understanding of the groups needs which can be built up over time or through a questionnaire at the start to find the baseline of needs and capability etc. Individuals learn in different ways, often through repetition so having the space to try things over and over again can have beneficial outcomes. Accessibility for all is a key element of making an environment user friendly and inclusive. try different ways to do the same task. Work with the person to find the way they find easiest and most comfortable - it might not be the way you do it. Build trust.

2025-10-09 11:15:51 UTC

Start with the first session fairly standard with site exploration, safety, getting to know the group etc. but going forward tailoring each session to the groups interests, using a "toolkit" of activities to give learners ideas on what they would like to do. Activities could be revisited and knowledge built upon by adding complexity to them, sessions can be adapted depending on the time of year or weather or even the groups mood that day.

2025-10-09 12:47:48 UTC

include activities that promote empathy with nature such as tree/ animal id, tracking, potentially tree planting or plant care if the area allows. Different wellbeing and mindfulness activities to promote how beneficial it is to be in nature. Always ensuring each session ends promoting the leave no trace principles and explaining how negative activity effects the environment they are in

2025-10-09 12:58:26 UTC

including a small amount of risk can encourage the group to be responsible and take responsibility for their own actions. it also promotes learning by pushing learners out of their comfort zone. risk management can be promoted by giving the group activities/ tasks that require an element of trust and responsibility and where the dangers of misuse is fully explained to them. highlighting the dangers/risks can become an activity in its self to help promote safe use and help them to determine risks

2025-10-09 13:18:25 UTC

promotes social growth by participation in group activities such as shelter building, these activities highlight how to work as a team and encourage effective communication and co-operation within the group. Forest school activities can allow learners to develop leadership skills as well as developing skills on how to be an effective team player. for emotional growth, forest school promotes mindfulness by being out in nature and taking the time to reflect and relax. it also helps to develop confidence and resilience by learning and using skills that may be difficult to master or are completely new. Physical growth is promoted by all the physical activities that can be done within forest school, these help to develop fine motor skills and co-ordination

2025-10-09 13:23:14 UTC

after each session seek feedback from the group. use session records to also highlight what you felt went well and what didnt and note any changes that could be done different next time

2026-07-21 13:16:45 UTC

Over the sessions I think I've done this in different ways. Initially I've spring boarded a range of topics, options, and observed learner participation and interest in them to understand where their interests lie. I've also asked people what they want to do at future sessions or if there are skills they are keen to develop. Again, this can sometimes need you to provide options to ensure that you can meet expectations. Another way to approach it is to do something that the group haven't thought about but that might push them out of their comfort zone. In all scenarios it's important to give time to reflection to help the learners share their feelings, ideas etc to then take into future planning. By the very nature of being there you have a community which is a good place to start from. I also think a hot drink, fire and sugary treats help to build a community!