One of the things that I really value about my Forest school training is the confidence it has given me when working with children and tools.

In the woods we often have a potato peeler as our first tool. They are cheap and whilst they can cause cuts on fingers it is quite hard to misuse them in a way that could seriously harm a child or adult. By the time I introduce tools into a Forest School programme I generally know the children well enough that I know how they will react, but I like being able to introduce tools gradually and get a feel for the children’s responses. But peelers are a staging post towards using real tools like knives and bow-saws.

To take a stick, peeling away some of the bark, maybe shaping it slightly and for extra sensory pleasure, sanding it smooth. This is mastery over your environment. Bob Hughes in his taxonomy of play types explores the different ways children play. Mastery play is defined as “Control of the physical and affective ingredients of the environments.” The effect on a child of being able to control their environment and change part of it is the effect of being able to demonstrate competence and feel confident. Mastery play is often seen as a gross motor activity, building dens, damming streams, but there is another side to it, the physical, transformative extension of exploratory play. Exploring something develops into changing it, learning skills along the way. It is physical but it has an emotional resonance too as it allows children to connect with the elements they are playing with, to develop pride in their achievements.

But what is a stick once it has been whittled? I was working with a group of children over a whole weekend, the youngest of whom was about 7 and the oldest in his mid teens. I introduced them to whittling and we explored the possibilities. Over the next couple of days they produced wands, weapons, spoons, pencils and sculptures. Now this is where there is an element of risk for me as a Forest School practitioner. Not in the risk of harm, this, through common sense, training and understanding can be minimised, but the very real risk of losing someone’s stick. I had just finished tidying up and loading the car to go home. A girl ran over and asked me where her stick was. Once someone has whittled or carved a stick and taken the time to work with it they will know it anywhere, so we had to find HER stick before she could go home and there were a lot of sticks to sort through.

What always impresses me is the perseverance and patience a child will show when given a tool and a real task. Even the younger children I work with can spend more than half an hour focussed and concentrating on their tasks, with a potato peeler and stick. I have noticed children take that time and space to focus on the task, reaching a state of flow and immersion. That is why Forest School programmes focus on achievable tasks. Children have the opportunity to develop their skills before moving on to acquire the next one and build on their confidence. Children get few opportunities in their lives to make permanent changes of the sort you can only make with a tool. Just to sit, with a piece of wood and a knife, to feel the effects and see the change that they are creating.

Hughes. B. A Playworker’s Taxonomy of Play Types, 1996 London: PLAYLINK, UK

Author: Lily Horseman

While there are many benefits for the individual learners which are well known to anyone connected to Forest Schools, there are important links to be recognised with the local and national policy framework. Although not by any means being an exhaustive list, below are a number of examples to demonstrate the national and local agendas which Forest Schools contributes towards, through its philosophy and the delivery methods.

During this series of articles I will explore a number of these important documents and initiatives and hopefully help you in appreciating where your work contributes to these shared aims and to also illustrate to others the role that Forest Schools has to play in meeting short, medium and long term goals.

It is important, particularly when we look at the current economic climate, that provisions are judged on what they provide in terms of opportunities. The wider and richer these experiences, the more “bang for your buck” you are getting and the more likely it is that Forest School will be used as a sustainable long term approach, especially in the context of limited finances, to supporting both individual wellbeing and the wider aims of the community. Either working for example within a school, as a countryside Ranger or particularly if you are an independent provider, it is worth being at least somewhat familiar with the local and national policy frameworks so that you can evidence what it is that your provision is contributing to, above and beyond the personal, social and emotional aspects for those individual learners.

If we begin by looking at the national framework, there are well known initiatives such as Every Child Matters, the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, the National Curriculum, SEAL and Play to name a few which Forest Schools can confidently contribute towards the aims of. As well as the national policy framework, Forest School can identify with a range of local agendas, contributing to social improvements through improved physical and mental health, academic attainment, employable skills and social mobility. Here I will into Local Area Agreements, Sustainable Community Strategies, Community Cohesion and SEN policies as a few examples. If we begin to explore the local agenda, it can highlight how you as someone interested in Forest Schools, can look into how your work is contributing to society in broader terms within your parish, county and region.

Quite evident as you will find during the course of the series is the fact that Forest Schools has the potential to contribute significantly to a number of our aims in a long term, sustainable format. This, along with the benefits for those learners involved in programmes personally, both short and long term, would suggest that a structured development of Forest School provision within any LEA or organisation has the potential to create many benefits for all involved, at many levels.

I hope you enjoy the series.

Tracking is a science and art form which demands qualities of a person that has the potential to go beyond many other forms of outdoor activity. It is a study with potentially great rewards in the form of intimate and tender moments with nature, challenging one`s own self belief, patience and perseverance.

I would like this article to speak to all of those with a passing familiarity, interest and even expert eye when it comes to tracking and hopefully prompt some new ideas and perceptions, leading to new applications and appreciations of this art form.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to work in the outdoors are surrounded by the tell tale signs of those who live and pass through there. Perhaps you have seen things and wondered what had caused them, or perhaps this will start a new appreciation for the sheer amount of opportunities to track.

My first true realisation as to the potential of tracking, beyond my personal experience, came in supporting two young boys who were struggling to concentrate at school. Their interest in the outdoors prompted the desire to discover what could be found in the woods.

They discovered a hole, deducting this to be the home of a badger having judged it`s size and shape. Then they started to spot where the badgers had clawed the ground as well as their passing having brushed smooth pathways between this annex sett and feeding areas. They spotted this not in the lush fields of grass and plants of summer, but the cold, hard earth of winter. Countless people had been into that woodland and never remarked on those trails now laying before them, and they were eager to follow.

What followed was two hours of dedication, frustration, illumination and finally jubilation. They found a badger. This badger however had long since passed, with the others making trails around him. They stood for the longest time. For two young boys who had shown such brashness in all environments, healthy or otherwise, they had shown a true inner strength of character in their patience, intelligence, and in those last moments, humility. They revered the bones of this long lost woodland companion and forever had a memory of a special moment where nothing but their own zeal had shown them something few have ever will. Tracking can be powerful, it can be magical, it can be an incredible tool when used correctly. It has the ability to help develop a person holistically, demanding and rewarding all of the individual aspects that make a person who they are and what they can be.

Socially, there is an opportunity develop teamwork skills when working as part of a group to track which can include a negotiation of roles, leadership skills and being aware of their impact on the surrounding woodland as a whole. In moving through any natural environment it develops gross and fine motor skills, a sense of balance, awareness of self, developing of the senses including predominantly unused sensory abilities (peripheral and night vision) as well as the sense of movement (vestibular) and their position within a space (propriception).

Intellectually it engages many different aspects in order to be able to successfully follow sign. There has to be an attention to detail, reasoning what has caused that sign in the way it has been, solving problems in trying to find the next clue, understanding and applying a process.

Through understanding how other creatures communicate this can bring an understanding of how humans communicate. Their body language and personal space can teach us of those aspects as a principle means of communicating. I once had the pleasure of watching a young lady with asperger's syndrome who was helped to understand her own body language and that of others through learning how to train a horse.

Emotionally it requires patience, determination, independence, empathy for the creature, self awareness, self regulation and self motivating in times of doubt, frustration and joy, all of which could squander the moment to experience something up close. Spiritually there is a sense of place, awe and wonder, a curiosity about the world beyond themselves and an interest to understand questions about life, death, purpose and thought. The nature of understanding and conversely, never understanding, aspects of our world through trying solving an intellectual query we are emotionally and/or socially invested with.

In addition, as with other outdoor provisions which engage people with nature, it can help build the most sustainable form of environmental sustainability, which is by allowing opportunity for the following generation to find their place within nature, to cherish it, to never question the importance of caring for it.

In summary, Tracking demands a keen mind, strong heart and willing spirit and through the challenges it presents, it can develop whole body, whole mind and whole self.

Paul is running a one day tracking course in Cannock Chase on the 25th May 2011 - Please call 0114 2855534 to Book.

Risk taking is widely understood to be a natural precursor to a child’s development. Adults who work with children are moving on from thinking of risk only in the context of ‘the risk assessment’ which decides those things are too dangerous to allow. Looking at risk from a child’s point of view, risk and risk taking is better understood and reframed as challenge. Providing realistic challenges for children and allowing them to work through the challenges they set themselves supports their development, actively engages them and helps them better understand themselves and each other.

I am always fascinated to watch groups of children climbing trees. I remember years ago working with a little girl who was very risk averse. She was part of a group of voracious tree climbers and she would watch them anxiously reporting to the adults just how high the others were climbing. One day she stood on the lowest branch and, reaching up, tied a string on the trunk. Each week she would climb up and touch that string until one day she felt ready to reach higher. She stood on a different branch and moved the string further up the trunk.

Last week I went out with a Forest School group who had been coming to the woods since the previous summer. They still climbed to the same height limits that they had set themselves months previously. But there was a change in the amount of support they required from the adults present. It had started with our active support and encouragement when they wanted to climb, more often than not we would talk them down when they climbed out of their comfort zone. This moved on to them needing our presence nearby, just in case, to the point where now they were climbing and moving around with ease. One of their classmates, who had not previously been out to the woods with us, joined in the tree climbing. Within moments had climbed higher, on different trees in a very different way, shinning up the trunk rather than climbing branch to branch, wedging himself comfortably, literally out on a limb.

Children’s responses to risk taking are as diverse as the children themselves. Douglas & Wildavsky (1982) have suggested that there are four kinds of people when it comes to managing risk: Hierarchists, egalitarians, individualists and fatalists. Mark Gladwin (2005)1 linked these different types of risk takers to the observations he made of children at play. You may recognise these types of risk takers in the children you know and work with. Hierachists are those people who will naturally follow the rules, who deal with risk by following the procedures. If these procedures stress safety above all then these people are unlikely to find ways to push themselves out of the comfort zone. These are the children that look to you for permission before testing themselves and conform to set parameters like the little girl and her string. Egalitarians have strong group identification and emphasise group solidarity at the expense of official rules. These children like the group I was watching climb trees had developed a group norm. They had set parameters for themselves as a group and no one person in that group was likely to engage in risk taking behaviour that didn’t conform.

Individualists are independent-minded and able to defy official rules and group pressures to make their own decisions on risk management. Like the boy who joined the tree climbing group but went out on a limb individualist children are the likeliest to engage in risk-taking of the kind described by Hughes (2001) as “deep play”. Fatalists are those people who submit passively to external control without commitment to group norms or solidarity and take no steps to either avoid risk or manage it. These children are the hardest to predict how they will respond to a risky situation. I wonder if their response to risk is borne out of inexperience in risky situations. Sue Palmer (Toxic Childhood 2007) says “All real children’s play involves an element of risk, and the more real play children are allowed the better they become at analyzing and managing those risks. If, on the other hand, adults try to eliminate risk from their lives they’re likely to grow up either unduly reckless or hopelessly timid.”

By observing the children we work with and understanding their approach our response to their risk taking can become more informed. The risks we all take as humans take are not only physical but are social and emotional. Forest School gives lots of opportunities for risk taking and challenge. For some children just being in woodland, especially if it this is an unfamiliar environment, is an emotional challenge. The opportunity to climb, move tree trunks, run on rough terrain etc provides endless physical challenges. Using tools and being around fire provides opportunity for physical and emotional challenges for children. Being in a group without the structure of a classroom and having to communicate with others, talking with a partner when using a billhook to split wood provides social, physical and emotional challenges. When someone overcomes a challenge, be it one that is set by ourselves or by others and we are given chance to reflect on how we feel, we offer the opportunity to build those critical qualities of self worth and resilience.

It is too easy under the guise of health and safety to try and remove the risks and therefore take away any challenge in the activity or environment for the children and it is worth noting that the child’s need for having a challenge, if not met, will often express itself in other ways including ‘challenging behaviour’. The importance of a Forest school activity is in providing children the opportunity to take risks and build their self-confidence.

“Most psychiatrists agree that mental health in adulthood springs from a successful weaning of the child from its parents, an ability to deal with the outside world confidently, without overdue dependence on adults. And making good relationships can only come with practice. Through unstructured play with others, children can work through their emotions and discover their identity. If they are never free from adult supervision, they cannot internalise a parental voice or find a way of setting their own boundaries. They have no chance to do mildly dangerous things and find out how risks should be judged. They cannot chart their own course through the minor hazards of everyday life. Nor can they explore the real bonds of friendship and loyalty that are formed through common adventures with others their own age.” (Sieghart, M. A. in the Times, 5 th August 1995)

References: 1. Playwords (Summer 2005 - Issue 26)

Author: Lily Horseman

Have you ever wondered why music can speak to us so personally? Perhaps we have our own reason for this, a place, a time, a loved one missed? Perhaps it speaks to us in a way we do not realise and are moved by the music as if we can only just hear the whispers.

Cognitive archaeologist Steven Mithen of the University of Reading theorises that language and music have both evolved from a musical protolanguage that our hominid ancestors used to calm their children while they searched for food, a descendent of which we use in a similar context today, “motherease”.

Psychologists, linguists and neuroscientist have recently used neuro-imagining techniques to gather a large amount of data regarding brain regions, specifically how those areas interested in music and language overlap.

Music has been found to activate a wide range of brain regions which include the auditory complex (devoted to hearing), the cerebellum (movement centres) and the amygdale (an emotional centre), leading some scientists to think that this high jacking of the various regions begins to explain the enthralling experience music can provide for us. It has also been found that music stimulates areas of the brain responsible for understanding and producing language, which broadly includes the Wernickes and Broca`s area respectfully, which brings forward the interesting notion that musical syntax could have arisen from the mechanisms that evolved to organise and understand grammar.

It is this connection in particular which is of interest to us and one that seems to grow stronger with each research study. So if music and language have a lot in common, then can each influence the development of the other? They both have grammar whereby basic elements are organised into sequences, of which there is a hierarchy, based on established rules. In music, notes join to form melodies as in language, words join to make sentences, each building on the previous to form stories and song. In creating melody and song, children are exploring the notions which give arise to language.

Prosody is the natural melody recognised in speech which includes aspects such as pitch level, pitch range, pitch contour (pattern of rises and falls), timbre (richness), volume, rhythm and tempo. These are the elements other than the words we speak in order to convey, or to understand, the emotional context of those words. When we are happy or excited, we tend to speak slightly higher and quicker than when we are sad or insecure. Phrases are delineated by pauses and breaks in the pattern of words, which also appear in music, with timing and pitch patterns being found in both also.

These elements of speech have been found to be understood and recognised before birth with newborns indicating they preferred the same stories, read by the same voice (their mother) than any other (De-Casper, 1980). In exploring what it is that unborn children can hear it was found that the higher frequency sounds, with much of the information regarding the meanings of words, were muted, meanwhile the lower frequency musical qualities (rhythm, tempo, volume, pitch contours) were well received (Spence and Freeman, 1996)

They are so receptive to these aspects that newborn babies have been found to have accents.....honestly. In a study of French and German newborns, pitch contours in their cries were found to match those of their respective mother`s language (Wermke, 2009). Further research into newborns using neural imagining has shown that are born ready with the ability to process music and recognise ordered vs changeable/out of key music (Saccuman and Perani, 2008).

In a study carried out by neuroscientists Steinbeis and Koelsch (2008) they found using functional magnetic resonance imaging that the area of the brain which responds most acutely to chords in music was the superior temporal sulcus, which is responsible for nonverbal social cues such as gestures, non-word vocal sounds and eye movements, which gives weight to the view that the activation of this part of the brain is a clue towards music helping forge social ties.

With this mere dip into what is the ocean of research into music, language and our brain, we now turn our attention to its role as a developmental tool and the importance of frequent opportunities to experience music as a child.

A study (Thompson, 2004) published findings into how six year olds, after a year of musical lessons were able to identify emotions expressed in spoken sentences increasingly compared to those whom did not have the lessons. They found that they were able to more accurately discern those sentences conveying anger and fear even when spoken in a foreign language. English speakers who had a musical background were found to have much stronger brain activity when listening to a foreign language than those whom had no musical background suggesting that learning to sing or play an instrument can help people become more attuned to the melody of speech and in turn, decipher their meaning (Wong and Kraus, 2007). In 2009, Moreno of the Rotman Research Institute of Toronto recorded that eight year olds whom had taken music lessons showed a better reading ability than children who had focused on painting, giving rise to the notion that music may aid with the skill of deciphering words.

There is evidence then that exposure to music, particularly at an early age, can help develop not only our understanding of language through developing structure in music, but also the aspects of tone, rhythm and tempo which can give us much more information regarding what is actually meant, leading to perhaps a greater ability to empathise and work in the social arena.

For Forest School Practitioners this underpins the importance of what we do in terms of giving learners a wealth of opportunities to express themselves in a wide variety of ways. We can see just how much music is an important part of our development when we take into account it`s links with language development and the need to make sure we are providing an environment whereby learners can feel comfortable and confident to experiment and explore sounds and music, be it as part of a review or during the course of their interests in the session, as this can help support their development with language and their understanding of the subtle aspects used to convey meaning.

Sticks, stones, leaves or claps. Let’s bring on the orchestra.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families aims for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the opportunities and support they require in order to;

Every Local Authority (LA) is responsible for working with their partners to establish provision for children and young people within their area to fulfil these aims and to give them more influence about the issues that affect them collectively as well as individually. Forest Schools can directly relate it`s ethos and approach to all of the key aims of Every Child Matters;

Be healthy

A woodland environment creates a myriad of movements which are never performed the same way twice due to the natural and ever changing surfaces which it offers. The physical demands are greater simply in walking through uneven woodland compared to a surfaced playground. In climbing a tree the tendons and muscles are used in unique combinations each time and in moulding natural resources the fine motor skills are honed by using a-symmetrical and un-balanced materials.

The excitement of a campfire and the opportunity to cook can allow learners to sample foods possibly dismissed or outside of their previous experience, but also possibly lead onto an interest in healthier eating habits.

Emotional development is an integral part of any Forest School and forms one of the underpinning themes which the practitioners observe and plan for throughout the programme. In helping to develop the whole person who understands themselves and those around them and who can meet challenges by making choices rather than by only reacting, we can reinforce those positive experiences which can inform lifelong choices, such as drug taking and issues affecting their sexual health.

Stay safe

Through thorough risk assessment and allowing learners to take controlled risks (that which we believe is within the developmental ability of the learners to manage), they can explore their surroundings, learning about responsibility and choices. One often neglected aspect of any injury from an accident is the emotional dimension, which, when they have been given the opportunity to overcome by having a supportive environment, is more likely to be less of an issue in the future. The bumps and grazes we have as children helped prepare us for falls in later life.

At no point are we adorned with wisdom and robustness, it is something we develop through the many slips and trips as we grow. In taking appropriate risks while young, we are able to learn quickly to predict and find alternatives for accident causes in life. The emotional content of risk taking is an important experience for learners to grasp and to be able to manage their emotions at times of challenge either psychologically or physically so that they can make decisions rather than solely rely on reactions.

The hardiness (self regulation) developed through adventurous play along with improved self worth and image can leave learners less vulnerable to bullying through their approach to challenges. In providing opportunities to take risks, it can be an outlet as a means of engaging that behaviour which might be seen as anti-social in other contexts and allows learners to explore strategies which will inform choices later in life. There are also the opportunities for learners to recognise the impacts of their own actions through the reflective process all Forest Schools sessions employ. Through this reflection learners can share their experiences and understand how their actions have effected others, how their actions have affected themselves and how there are means through which they can agree how to live and play alongside one another.

The bonding experiences developed through play and adventure with one`s peers can also create a secure and nurturing environment in which learners feel trusted, being able to count on the support of their friends at times of uncertainty and doubt.

Enjoy and achieve

Increased self worth and self confidence along with a more intimate understanding of and ability to control their emotions can give the learners the opportunity to place themselves in positions whereby they are able to understand how to recognise what is bad, what is good, and how to move from bad to good. This is done through a multitude of ways, from the initial baseline observations, through to small achievable tasks, reflection and review, praise from the FS Practitioner and peers, as well as opportunities within the “learning community” that is Forest Schools to perhaps help their peers learn those skills or to live that experience for themselves. This is always moving towards giving the learner the resources they need to adapt to the choices available to them and to also be able to where possible, create new choices for themselves and others.

Forest School experiences have been used many times as successful springboards to other learning, linking Maths lessons to den building, Science to trees and English to bird song. These lessons have been able to use the learner`s experiences to relate the topic to something which excites and engages them and can be further reinforced through the long term nature of Forest School programmes. Maths and den building are a perfect partnership through which learners have been able to explore proportions, quantity, angles and shapes informally, without any break in the flow of play, whereby the learners live the learning. This is knowledge which is absorbed without effort and it is applied and adapted freely and fluently and demonstrates how vividly outdoor learning opportunities can compliment traditional subjects and vice versa, throughout a whole educational setting.

Make a positive contribution

Through Forest Schools, learners gain experiences in how they can affect their own lives and gain skills and strategies to achieve their goals all the while developing empathy for the needs of others. It also provides for learners clear insights into how they may change things for the better through having the ability to use their own initiative, move fluidly through different roles within a group as well as recognise the stages towards success.

By the very nature of Forest Schools being about the process, rather than the product, it allows each learner`s contribution to be taken into account, bearing in mind that particular learner. There have been children whom I have worked with who`s contribution may seen small by comparison to others in their age group, but for them it is a significant development in their ability to offer forward questions and ideas.

As learners get to experience the beauty of nature in hands on fashion, it allows a relationship and a relevance to blossom, which in turn deeply affects their perceptions of nature and their relationship with it. We can lecture the next generations to look after nature, or we can inspire them through allowing them to experience it and for it to play a part in their lives.

Through ownership, what could have been introduced as externalised rules used to control the behaviour of learners can become a personal process where they feel a sense of responsibility to one another as a community, having an involvement in the rules which they choose to live by while at Forest School and a voice which is recognised and listened to where problems need to be resolved. In many instances the solutions to problems, be they physical or personal, can be fostered from the learners which in turn develops their ability to be resourceful and to take part in a community and support or alter its ways.

Being able to empathise is a skill developed over a lengthy period. It is important that learners are allowed opportunities to not only understand their own emotions (which is the foundation of empathy) but to experience other people`s emotions. It is only this opportunity to reflect on the relationships between their experiences and emotions, and those of others and seeing their similarities, which allows empathy to develop This can in turn lead to a greater understanding of the impacts of any discriminatory actions.

Achieve economic well-being

The long term support and development provided by Forest Schools can create young people with employable skills increasing the opportunity for future financial security and social mobility. These employable skills range from the ability to work alongside others and well as independently, to be a leader but also to be able to work in harmony with others and follow their lead. Self resilience and the ability to reason, apply experiences and problem sole is a skill required in all avenues of work and something which is sought highly by employers.

Through Forest School`s aim which is to develop intrinsic motivation (the joy of experiencing, experimenting and discovery itself) as well as emotional intelligence and self esteem it can help learners possibly think about further education or training upon leaving school through their ability to understand and manipulate their emotions to help them achieve their goals which are based on their own sense of ability and self worth.

Forest Schools as a wide ranging and flexible approach to holistic development which not only creates opportunities for those learners on the programmes but for them in other areas and aspects of their life and ultimately, the rest of their life.

For a more detailed exploration of Every Child Matters, please see the Outcomes Framework