At Brookside we aim to develop a life long love for nature and care for the environment.  The outdoors offers a unique opportunity to engage in real life, hands on experiences.  Our children feel free and happy outside and often show higher levels of engagement compared to indoors. Outdoor play offers children the chance to really use their imagination, build friendships, play on a larger scale and develop an understanding of the world.  We select resources carefully to enhance the use of the environment and ensure that we are not just replicating indoor play outside.

 

Brookside offers forest school sessions to all of our older children at some point during the academic year.  However during our general daily practice many of the forest school values and ethos are incorporated into our practice.  During outdoor play we are not only focusing on learning about the world, we are developing understanding and values which support children to make a positive contribution to society.  Some examples of the ethos we support

 

• Respect for all living things, for example not disturbing habitats or picking flowers.

• Developing understanding about the environment to enable us to care and make a positive contribution to the eco system. For example the children have planted flowers to attract bees at the allotment.

• Learning about safety- explain expectations first, practice, revisit. Trusting children to manage their own risk.

• Supporting children in being present in the moment, being observant and enjoying the positive effect the outdoors has on their well-being

• Team inclusion games and opportunities for reflection which support self confidence and self-esteem.

 

Our lovely garden area is surrounded by woodland with lots of opportunities for exploring nature, taking risks and child-led learning. Our children access the outdoors every session regardless of the weather.  We believe accessing the outdoors in all weather conditions builds resilience and offers hands on learning opportunities about environment and the world around them.

 

Our children learn about animals, growth and living things through both child-led and adult-led learning opportunities and forest school programs.