How Can Forest School Make Your Child School Ready?

Today, I’m super excited to be looking at something super relevant now and that is how can Forest School make your child School Ready.

As the new school year looms many parents will have been encouraged to ensure their child is ‘school ready’. But what exactly does this mean? Being able to write a name, recognise shapes or count to 20?

Research suggests, school readiness means a child should present;
 a strong set of social skills
 being able to cope emotionally with being separated from their parents
 independence in their own personal care
 a curiosity about the world and a desire to learn.

School Ready?…Oh Please!

Now, I cannot help but feel this notion of being school ready is yet again reducing human life to money, a value and statistics.

The Early Years curriculum becomes then a space where skills and attributes are taught to ensure children become cogs in a machine that are primed for future employment, rather than a focus upon the holistic development of the child as a person in their own right and the life skills they will ultimately rely upon.

Ultimately this is proven through the emphasis that is placed on Maths ad Literacy and removed from things like thee arts.

But alas Mr Darcy we are but mere servants to the cause and this is a large step in a political and philosophical direction that is potentially too much for a light hearted episode.

Enter Forest School

There are however ways that you can help and develop your child’s school readiness and it’s based in Forest School.

Research has shown time and again that it is Forest School that infact is the best preparation for children so they may become ‘school ready.’ allow me to explain.

Forest School roots firmly belongs to Scandinavian where the notion of this way of learning has been a right of passage for children for many years. In these countries, children often start school at 7, spending their early years before that playing and mastering the social and emotional skills needed for next steps.

In this country, children are expected to be ‘school ready’ by 4 — with baseline assessments and phonics screening at 5, etc, etc. And yet do you know what? Scandinavia out perform every country on this planet when it comes to the tables.

What makes it so potent you might ask?

I would say it’s down to potentially one thing with several different areas that schools tend to shun but is central to Forest School.

Holistic Development.

Holistic development takes into account the development of the whole child and their environment. In this there are 6 areas of development that are all influenced at one time and not as stand alone areas. They are
Social, Physical, Intellectual, Communication, Emotional and Spiritual.
Lets take a look at each in turn and how these influence School readiness.

Social — Forest School engages children in a way that encourages them to have conversations and it is through these conversations that language, reasoning and problem solving skills grow.

There is always something new and exciting happening too as all learning is began by the child, which often leads to more the children have to talk about, which in turn allows for language skills to be practised and refined.

Physical — Children learn with their whole body when at Forest School — enabling muscles and brains to grow. By jumping, rolling, catching, balancing, hopping, stretching, twisting, leaping, grasping and gripping — children develop the important core strength and fine motor skills needed to start the journey towards sitting, focusing and writing.

The outdoors often presents more physical obstacles which children need to overcome and often this can mean children work together in a collaborative manner, to build a den for example, helping them learn about team work and how to integrate into a community.

Intellectual — Being in nature impacts on our wellbeing, mental health and sense of self –It is a place where they can balance understanding of themselves, others and their world with self-discovery, risk taking, experimentation, problem solving and exploration. All of which are positive learning behaviours.

Children consistently learn at Forest School through their play whether that be independently or within social. Play is the main and unique learning tool that holds they key to all developmental benefit.

Communication- The opportunities to explore language, communication and ideas are abundant as the environment and everything within it offers new opportunities and learning potential. Communication with adults also of thoughts, ideas and strategies helps to extend their metacognition simply thinking about thinking. Really powerful stuff.

Emotional — By interacting with others and the environment children will learn to manage emotions both those that are positive and those that are negative. Through risky play such as climbing trees or balancing on logs, children learn about boundaries, self regulation and keeping themselves safe. By taking risks, children learn about resilience, having a go and perseverance. All key traits in emotional development . Here children also learn about their basic needs and how this can be influenced by actions they take to care for themselves such as putting a coat on.

Spiritual — is the understanding and cherishing of values and ethics such as honesty, integrity and fair play, and the consequences they bring, leading to developments of responsibility and empathy is all part of spiritual development. This then allows the true authentic self to flourish and its connection to all that is around and often in a woodland it’s ancient history and our primeval connection with early man comes to the fore when dealing with fire and it’s dancing flames.

Forest School also children to explore ideas of a higher purpose, a greater power than just that of themselves and in this environment there is time to ask those thought provoking questions.

Now this is all just from the top of my head and if I were to really think harder and consult some research papers this blog would potentially go on for another 10 minutes, right, but you get the very real potential Forest School holds in readying your child not only for school, but life success.

You’re Just One Session Away.