'Teachers say they can't believe the difference' Forest schools - how child led learning in Chesterfield is helping children branch out

Branching Out Forest Schools is based in Chesterfield and Louisa, known as Raven in forest school circles, knew that this was the path she wanted to take her career in after her experience as a teaching assistant.

Louisa said: “I was working at Holymoorside School as a teaching assistant, I had worked there for a while, and forest school was becoming a bit of a buzz. We went to another school and listened to what forest school was and then they wanted to train someone to do forest school at Holymoorside. I literally hammered down the headteacher's door when I found out what it was and what it entailed, I just thought - this has to be me!

"I went to do my training at Chatsworth, which was amazing. The whole thing just made so much sense, the ethos of it and everything. I did my training which took a year, its a level 3 qualification and then you have to complete a portfolio that includes everything from site conservation to different types of flora and fauna, tool skills, different types of woodland, as well as the main ethos of forest school and the benefits of it to children, well anybody really.”

After her experience in the school, Louisa was keen to make this something more: “Holymoorside has a beautiful woodland area, so we had sessions there but I thought I’d like to make this into a business - after-school clubs, holiday clubs, and things like that. I started doing a few holiday club dates with children from the school and then started after-school clubs. It sort of spiraled into parties and then I started to work more outside of school.

“At the moment it's mainly primary schools doing forest school, but secondary schools should be doing it as well. I’d really love to get work with secondary schools, they would benefit from the experience.”

Forest schools, which offer outdoor learning experiences for children, are gaining popularity as more parents and educators recognise the benefits they provide. These schools are based on the idea that children should spend more time in nature, connecting with the environment and learning through hands-on experiences.

Louisa said: “The main ethos of forest school is to provide a safe environment in which children can learn in a holistic way. It is child-led, so you throw everything over to the children and they learn resilience, independence, risk-taking, how to sort out their own conflicts, and allow them to feel a full range of emotions. Obviously, they’re outdoors in nature, so it's a lot about well-being too.”

With technology and screen time becoming more and more prevalent within the home and schools, being outdoors can be a great experience for children, but as Louisa tells us, technology can be used as a learning tool. “You hear comments like ‘this is so much better than Minecraft, this is so much better than Fortnite’, you can’t ignore technology and I don’t make it out to be this big bad thing - we even use this app which is called Seek and we can identify Funghi together. You can actively use technology, but I don’t encourage it and they never miss their phones, they have the best day ever.”

Allowing children freedom can often bring surprising results, as Louisa added: “If the children are in the classroom it's very much where the process is centered on the end product, what I do with them is all about the process. I’ve seen children for two hours problem solving, working in teams, trying to build a zip wire that would never work but I am not going to step in and tell them that because they enjoy the process so much. Because there's no ideal, or end product, the stuff that they come up with when you throw the learning over to them is incredible.

“The children's self-esteem is boosted and their independence is boosted. They’ve also got time, which is such an important thing. Everything at school is such a rush, whereas at forest school they’ve got time to spend just playing but actually they are consistently learning, it is amazing what they come up with.”

Louisa is also passionate about how much children with special educational needs (SEN) thrive in the environment she provides. “What you will find time after time is the “naughty” children will come to me and bring the best ideas, they become the leader or the listener and they are so polite. The number of times I’ve heard from the teachers saying they can’t believe the difference,” she said.

There’s never a boring moment at Brancing Out Forest Schools. Louisa said: “We do so many different things, making smores, building hammocks, playing games, and cooking on the campfire is always really popular too - anything from pitta bread pizzas to pancakes! At the holiday clubs, they always like to do smores and toast with some hot chocolate, its really cute as they just like to set up camp for the day. They really love it as they get to play outside all day.

“Site wise I have currently got one at Walton woods which is lovely, it has a stream passing through it so the children will spend all day damming the stream up, playing in the stream and even making their own fishing rods.

“We currently use Walton woods for the forest school, Barlborough Hall School for the parties, and Holymoorside for after-school clubs. There’s a team of us now working in schools all over Chesterfield.”

Looking forward to the future, Louisa has plans for something a bit different: “I do want to start doing adult groups, for lonely retired people who just want to meet up and make friends, but I also want to get them involved in woodland maintenance. I’m hoping to start around March.”

From after-school clubs, and holiday clubs to birthday parties, Branching Out Forest School can be contacted through Facebook or Instagram, as well as their website www.branchingoutforestschools.co.uk. The business e-mail address is [email protected].