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Absolutely! Forest school helps kids become more independent and curious learners. It's great for focusing, building confidence, developing social skills, language and communication, motivation and concentration, and keeping bodies active with all that outdoor fun. Many early concerns will go away as your child adjusts to a new routine and environment and you will soon see huge benefits both from the outdoor time spent as well as the new and fresh experiences.

Forest Schools offer an amazing chance for kids to dive into nature, nurturing their independence, curiosity, and love for learning. Sure, there might be a bit of rain now and then, and we'll need to keep an eye out for safety, but the benefits are huge. Kids thrive outdoors, building resilience, making friends, and falling in love with the great outdoors. It's all about hands-on learning, exploring, and sparking that lifelong passion for discovery. With the right support, we truly believe our Forest School can transform your child's education and give them a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.

Forest School and regular outdoor learning have four key differences:

1. Approach to learning: Forest School focuses on child-led exploration, letting kids engage with nature at their own pace. Regular schooling tends to have more structured activities set by teachers.

2. Duration and frequency: Forest School sessions happen regularly over a long period, allowing for deep connections with nature. In contrast, other learning institutions offer it but it's often shorter and less frequent, like occasional field trips.

3. Environment: Forest School mainly takes place in woodlands, while regular outdoor learning can happen in various outdoor spaces, not always natural ones.

4. Social and emotional focus: Forest School places a big emphasis on social and emotional skills, like teamwork and resilience, in a natural setting. While regular outdoor learning also promotes these skills, Forest School offers a more immersive experience.

Many educators and parents believe that the benefits of Forest Schools, including enhanced learning experiences, connection with nature, and holistic development, outweigh the challenges.

Take a look at our locations for specific details on how to access our sites.

DENTON, MANCHESTER

Site alongside Denton West End Cricket Club, closest postcode - M34 2HB

https://www.kidsgowildforestschool.com/denton-manchester

HEATON MOOR STOCKPORT

Heaton's School St James Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport SK4 4RE

https://www.kidsgowildforestschool.com/east-didsbury-manchester

Sadly our Abney Scout & Guide Centre location is closed as of July 31st 2024. Our two locations in Denton and the Heatons are active and we look forward to welcoming children there!

Read blog for more details.

No, we have no indoor space at all - we use large shelters on wet days.

Forest School is accessible for all ages, however there are certain ages that are more specific for specific ages. You can find these listed here.

Yes we do not have a restriction on the number of adults that can attend with a child. Our woodlands are very large and more than one adult is more than welcome.

It's important to know our sessions are completely outdoors in all weathers except high winds. We do have shelters for very wet days but waterproofs are a must!

Dress the children in appropriate clothing for the weather. It is important to remember however that layers are important and if the children arrive in unsuitable clothing and are cold, we may have to phone you to collect them from the setting.

In colder weather, we recommend thermal base layers, warm layers of clothing including fleece jumpers, snowsuits, snow boots and thermal socks, plus hat, gloves and scarf. Wellies and snow boots are also recommended.

Our top tips are – tuck everything in! tuck pants into socks, tuck tops into pants, no skin should be left exposed to the cold. Snowsuit/coat should be slightly big so that it isn’t too snug to the skin (to provide proper insulation).

In hotter weather, you will need to provide a sun hat and sun cream.

Change your language of how you/others around your child talk about the weather in front of them, don’t say things like “it’s raining we can’t go outside”, or “it’s too cold today”, rather talk about what clothing you would need to play in certain weathers, or things you could do to keep warm.

Please send your child with a set of spare clothes along with a water bottle. We do provide snacks but parents usually send a little snack with them too.

More details found here: https://www.kidsgowildforestschool.com/weatherpolicy

At our weekly stay and plays, we provide snacks and drinks but you can also bring one too if you want to. Holiday club and nursery children will need a packed lunch, spare clothes and a water bottle.

We are an inclusive setting, and we would not exclude any child for not being toilet trained. However, if children are toilet trained, it is very beneficial when attending this setting. Due to the sheer size of the site, we have two options for toileting, we use the indoor toilet facilities in the building (using the outdoor entrance), and we have a toilet tent.

The toilet tent is a secure small tent with a potty inside, we have introduced this to our children to support them when they are learning to use the toilet, and for ease of speed getting them to it! As you will be aware the kit the children are wearing in winter is not a quick up and down, and it takes time to peel off the layers! When toilet training time is of the essence, so we will work with you and your child, wherever they are in that journey.

We will advise from experience the last couple of years that if your child joins in Autumn/Winter and is not yet toilet trained it may be best to wait until the Summer, it is extremely difficult for the child to continue good progress with toilet training when wearing a number of layers of clothing and also on such a large site and may be far away from a toilet.

For nappy changes and pull up changes/changes of wet clothing we will use the indoor toilets, for privacy and warmth and comfort of the child. All of our staff are qualified and experienced to provide these levels of intimate care and have of course all been DBS checked.

If your child is still in nappies, you will need to provide these when they start. We will let you know when they are running out so that we always have enough on site. We will provide wipes, unless you have a specific type that your child needs to use, you will also need to provide a nappy cream suitable for your child’s skin, should they need it to be applied during changes.

Although we don’t have use of an indoor building, we do endeavour to provide areas for the children to rest, and sleep if they need to. We have large parachutes that we put up on wet/cold weather days where the children can sit around the camp fire and keep warm.

We also have a double gazebo with sides, and camping tents that we use for nap times, with floor tarpaulins and camping mats, with sleeping mats on top, in winter we also use sleeping bags, depending on the temperature we would likely take the children’s snow suits off when putting them in the sleeping bags. We also have extra blankets for colder days.

In Summer we may just create an area of shade with tarpaulin den sheets and have our sleep area under here.

Each child will have their own sleep mat, with a cot sheet over it and their own individual sleeping bag/blanket for hygiene reasons, these will be washed weekly after use.

We also sometimes create cosy areas, we have pillows and blankets where we can set up cosy corners with story books and teddy’s. Sometimes we find children struggle to fall asleep in the tents/gazebo, so we also have use of a double buggy.

We already have some children on site who nap, please let us know before starting up if your child naps or not, you will be given a sleep questionnaire on sign up which includes details of what time of day, how they prefer to go to sleep, if they have a comforter, etc. and we will do our best to create the same for them whilst they are with us.

We are a forest school, and believe in the children accessing the learning surrounding this ethos when with us. However, we are also a Nursery, and are governed by the EYFS curriculum and OFSTED.

For this reason, and because we believe in providing the best and most diverse learning experiences for the children in our care, we frequently go on outings in the local community. Outings include local parks, playgrounds, care homes and the library, post office and other areas in the community.

These outings are opportunities for us as practitioners to see learning that we may not see while at our setting. And enable all the children in our care to access different life experiences.

We always need volunteers to help us on these outings, please let us know if you would like to volunteer. Thorough risk assessments will take place for these outings and we will remain with our high staff: child ratio at all times.