Principle 1: 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.

Principle 2: 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.

 

Principle 3: Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent, and creative learners

 

Principle 4: Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.

Principle 5: Forest School is run by qualified Forest School practitioners who continuously maintain and develop their professional practice.

Principle 6: Forest School uses a range of learner-centered processes to create a community for development and learning. 

We plan and track children’s development individually. We create sessions that are designed to target specific outcomes like increasing confidence or building on risk awareness skills for example. School Outdoors Dulwich puts an emphasis on child lead activities and encourages children to try things that interest them. 

Similarly, to most other Early Years settings in the UK, we adhere to the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). We understand the great importance not only within the three prime areas of development (Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language) but also within the four sub prime areas (Understanding the World, Arts and Creativity, Literacy and Math’s). We ensure that every day each child has the opportunity to practice learning within all seven areas of the EYFS, in addition to a few supplementary areas we like to focus on.

As Yeats said, education is not the filling of a pail, it is the lighting of a fire. Our role as educators is not to teach – our children are wonderful and capable little people – what we need to do is to help them learn. As educators, we have a deep understanding of our children. We know what makes them tick, what excites them, where they excel and where they need a bit of guidance. With encouragement, role modelling, suggestions and props we can take their fun and exciting play in the forest and transform it into deep learning opportunities. 

When your child enrolls at School Outdoors Dulwich we create an online learning journal for them. EY Log is our nursery software management system. It is used to securely hold information about your child and family, produce daily registers and manage information. Our educators use EY Log to record photos, videos and general observations about your child's learning and development. These are shared with parents on a weekly basis. We encourage our parents to capture their children’s wow moments at home too to further develop our strong parent partnership ethos. 

Link to EYFS for parents download here.