Woodland Classroom

At St Dunstan’s, we benefit from a well-resourced and stunning Woodland Classroom to support our Forest School curriculum, which is designed by our trained and skilled Early Years staff. Our regular Woodland Classroom sessions see our pupils transport themselves from the city to enjoy country life.

Our curriculum is a child-centred inspirational learning process, offering a breadth of experiences and opportunities for our pupils to develop their confidence in hands-on memorable moments. They enjoy taking risks, challenging themselves in new ways, exploring and embarking upon structured play within a beautiful natural setting.

Our Woodland Classroom sessions see our pupils develop their independence, confidence, resilience, and co-operative play through projects such as creating shelters and going on minibeast hunts. They relish developing simple mindfulness techniques in the outdoors, being present in the moment, whilst engaging with the changing of the seasons and studying our woodland pond to develop their knowledge of the natural world.

Our staff shape the curriculum by following individual interests of pupils, exploring themes suggested by the children through their conversation and play. Our pupils take great delight in learning about nature and being taught key Forest School skills such as whittling, helping to build fires and nature art. We are also able to promote crucial physical skills through log obstacle courses, and collaboratively moving loose parts across the space.

We see that a great sense of community exists in our Woodland Classroom, where stories are told and songs are shared within the safe setting that we create.

 

Click here to read St Dunstan’s Head of Junior School, Laura Whitwood, explain how the school’s woodland classroom connects children to the natural world, the impacts outdoor learning can have and learning to love the natural world.