The Forest School Strategy

Today, I’m going to be looking at the strategy behind Forest School.

Simply what is it and why is it done like that. After doing 90 episodes I thought I was a great moment to refresh this for many and if your new to the podcast fill in the blanks surrounding some of the stuff I geek out about in other episodes. It all falls into Forest School but I think it’s good to see an overview every once in a while.

What is the strategy behind forest school then?

Forest School is all about setting your child up for life success by concentrating on developing all the learning areas of your child at the same time, this is known as holistic development, development of the whole child.

These areas are social, physical, intellectual, communication, emotional and spiritual. SPICES for short.

Why is this important and don’t schools do this? Well in a constantly evolving world we live in children need to be able to improvise, adapt, overcome in order to survive and thrive.

Sadly more and more a purely classroom based approaches favoured by schools to prepare children for the future concentrates on one single area at a time, simply subjects and knowledge retention, which makes it difficult for children to see the bigger picture whilst being a very un natural approach to the way children like to and have learnt since birth.

Consequently some children become left behind and are unable to go on to see their lives past school. This is a massive missing piece from the childhood jigsaw and no doubt causing parents, stress and feelings of helplessness.

However, Forest School flips that on its head by creating all the necessary knowledge, attitudes, skills and habits in EVERY child to be better learners, humans and friends, giving you peace of mind, assurance and a feeling of certainty over your child’s future. I have never met anyone forest school hasn’t helped its that powerful.

So how is this done?

Well without getting into the tactics behind it, it’s done through two key foci; child led play and the Forest School Leader.

Child led Play is the secret sauce of Forest School. It’s what comes naturally to children, allows them to work on their holistic development, motivates them, is always at their age and stage of development and is extremely fun.

There is a reason children are born knowing how to play. It’s because play holds everything a child needs to learn about the world they live in and become successful.

Child led play especially is fantastic for development as it allows children to choose what and how they learn and because of this they are incredibly motivated to see it through and reach new heights.

At Forest School they are also given time and space to explore their motivations and learning drives as their is no pressure to perform or hit grades. Child led play at Forest School is all about being better than just one person. Yourself.

If this wasn’t enough child led play outside in the natural world is even more potent and which is why Forest School is done in a woodland or forest. This is because the outdoors has billions of creative play choices challenging a child at their level, it teaches life lessons in how to look after oneself especially when the weather is against you, it makes children realise they are a tiny speck in this vast universe, it helps to heal, it helps to improve quality of life and health and draws us back to our ancestral roots which are deep within out DNA.

What About The Forest School Leader?

This is complemented by the Forest School leader who are themselves play expert and understand why, how and when children learn through play so being able to support them to their next steps if there are blips along the road which there undoubtedly will be.

I often say the Forest School Leader meets children where they are at developmentally and builds from there, making it ultimately individualised learning. Children are not finished canvases but they have all the elements to become such and through the positive role modelling, guidance and direction offered by the Forest School Leader children flourish and can transform their lives, but not only this their families lives also.

To achieve something as monumental and transformative as this in a child’s life it will take time and this is why Forest School is a long term process that should be repeated regularly.

Anyone who tells you otherwise or tries to sell you a hack or whatever then they’re lying to you and trying to screw you over alright.

Forest School is the change makeover and over the coming years with more parents being able to realise possibly for the first time what its all about without the added technobabble Forest School is soon to transform the world. Watch this space. It’s super, super exciting!

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