Forest School🌳

Hope View Forest School nurtures the relationship between participants and the natural world

For many of our pupils, they have become detached from nature and the world outside. Staying in bedrooms and playing games systems is more commonplace.

Forest School encourages our pupils to have fun and reconnect with the environment while discovering and learning to appreciate areas of natural beauty. We give pupils experience of the seasonal changes and daily weather conditions so they learn to build resilient attitudes towards them.

Allowing our pupils an opportunity to learn outside fuels their creativity and helps them to take responsibility, while also offering freedom. Hope View Forest School inspires pupils to act with care for the environment and promotes the natural ecology of our planet.

Lower School – Outdoor Nature Curriculum

The Hope View ‘Outdoor Nature Curriculum’ has been designed based upon the belief that children learn best when they are motivated by ‘real life’, hands-on experiences that interest and inspire them. Our outdoor nature programme aims to support the children to acquire new skills and experience outdoor challenges. Resulting in a new perspective of the world around them. In the age of intense technology and varying degrees of classroom academic pressures we courage the children to freely explore a wide range of outdoor opportunities and experiences. All outdoor learning at Hope View School are influenced by seasonal changes and scaffolded by skilled, nurturing staff who love to share their outside love of learning with children in all weathers!

‘Three’ Key Areas of Focus

Children will build upon numerous skills through self-directed play, exploration and revisiting areas of interest to them. Our unique curriculum scaffolds their natural play experiences and is centred around ‘three’ key areas of focus; acquiring knowledge about themselves, a deeper understanding and appreciation for the natural world around them.

• This is ME!
• Effective communication and social skills.
• The amazing world around us.

These three areas focus on intertwine throughout all aspects of the outdoor nature programmes whilst fully supporting a child’s holistic development.

Child-Led Learning

Each and every child is at the centre of their own ‘Outdoor Learning Journey’. All activities are delivered in discussion with the child to ensure that their individual interests are met and intrinsic motivations fuelled in order to ignite their enthusiasm to engage and explore in their natural world. It fully complements the National Curriculum by nurturing children’s well-being first and foremost to raise self-esteem and promote an ‘I can’ attitude.

The Hope View’s Outdoor Skills and Competency Passport is a fun way for children to keep track of their outdoor learning achievements. Our pupils are also awarded a certificate to reinforce their amazing achievements in our weekly assembly.

Nature based learning approach

Staff led focused activities along with child-led based activities and exploration the key to the children’s successful learning and development. We believe our unique approach to exploring nature encourages and inspires all children to want to learn, thrive and discover and simply strive to the best version of themselves.

Upper School –

At the Upper School Site at Hope View School, we provide a variety of nature-based learning opportunities and activities for our pupils, including fire lighting, shelter building, camp craft activities and fire pit cooking. The Forest School Sessions compliment the wider curriculum offering and whilst all activities are designed to be fun and interactive, they also naturally promote the wellbeing of our pupils.

Our staff are constantly curating and developing their offerings, so pupils at Hope View can get their hands dirty, work together and have new experiences nature all year round. Sessions take place in one of three sites locally.

Further information

For further information on Forest School days, suitable clothing required and consent form, please see this document. Forest School Letter

Links to the Wider World:

Click the images to access their websites.