How Does Forest School Support The EYFS?

Today, I look at how Forest School can ably support the Early Years Foundation Stage — part 1.

As always there are barriers to progress but in an ideal world and a full fat Forest School approach, here’s how.

If you’re currently in the EYFS take out your ‘development matters’ document and see how many things you can tick off under the characteristics of learning section as I speak about it in just a moment.

First out, what is the Early Years Foundation Stage or EYFS? Well this is the first curriculum children will be shown through when they enter formal education or care such as a school or nursery.

Revised most recently in 2017 and before that by Dame Claire Tickell in 2011, the EYFS came into being in 2008.

It was introduced to provide a framework which could deliver consistent and high quality environments for all children in pre-school settings, recognising the importance of this period in a child’s life.

I made friends with the EYFS, following Dame Claire Tickell’s review in 2011 which by all accounts overhauled it for the better. In my seven years as a teacher I got to know it preeety well. This document can easily be found online through a quick Google search.

The EYFS is a framework or structure that sets out what and almost how children should learn and provides age related development markers that allows teachers and nursery nurses to measure a child’s progress against a set of goals or development markers.

Is this right…. in my opinion, no. A child will develop at their own age, stage and rate. But, isn’t this just the education system ae. The irony of it all though is that a key point of the EYFS is to create a ‘unique child’.

EYFS practitioners you can back me up here when I say it’s actually written in the framework…yet in the very same document, children by the end of Reception should have hit this, this and that target….you work that one out.

In part 1 though I’m looking at something quite unique and special to the EYFS. The characteristics of effective learning.

These are suggested to be the ways in which a child engages with other people and their environment, underpin learning and development across all areas and support the child to remain an effective and motivated learner. They are broken down into 3 sections namely playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically

First up; Playing and exploring

Children are given time and space to repeat actions in which to practice skills they wish to learn and are allowed to play with things they enjoy at Forest School.

Children enjoy playing with ideas that interest them and also joining in play with others, whether directly or indirectly such as playing alongside another child, which engages them imaginatively and creatively in the play process.

Role play on both large and small scales are easily provided at Forest School and are highly beneficial for this area of effective learning. Through using child led play, activities are naturally age and stage appropriate to the child’s development, yet challenging. Therefore building up their confidence to try new things.

Children can easily be extended and supported into their zone of proximal development through scaffolding or modelling, which we spoke about in a previous episode, to the desired next step in the learning journey, by the Forest School leader.

This zone is the where the perfect conditions for new learning exist. More challenging than where they are now, but just enough so that it is within their reach. This allows them to develop confidence, self esteem and resilience as they will strive for something they consider to be actually achievable and not just told that it is.

Once children practice new skills they will become better at mastering them once they try things over and over again.

Children will vary in their level of involvement in some play initiated by the group and may prefer some types of play over others; this is down to personal choice. Children are given choice at Forest School and there are no forced activities.

At Forest School sensory play is an important part of learning for young children as through their senses they make sense of the world around them and begin to explore naturally.

A stimulating environment such as the outdoors is vital to ensure that this area of learning is maximised to its full potential. Sensory play includes activities that stimulate children’s senses such as sight, sound, smell, taste or touch, which has thousands of opportunities at Forest School.

By providing this type of opportunity children will learn more about the world around them in a natural way, through their senses and become connected to it, holding an affection for it long into their futures.

Next- Active learning

Being involved and concentrating on learning at Forest School is always done through child led play.

Using this way of learning immediately motivates, engages and empowers a child to find their way into a deep learning state where they can remain focused and concentrate for a sustained period of time.

Not only this but through seeing children as competent, their ideas are always age appropriate and specific to them making differentiation simple and highly effective.

Their natural motivations lead them to repeat tasks again and again in different ways until they achieve success or feel accomplished that they understand the cause and effect of something they do.

For example the rolling of an item down a hill has many results and for a child these need to be explored. The Forest Leader is again on hand to expertly observe various children’s play and to step in when the time is right to extend that play if they notice a levelling off or plateauing of progress.

This is usually done through scaffolding or modelling as mentioned before.
Simply putting in strategies to break a task down and build it’s segments back up in a logical way or demonstrating an effective method that a child can copy or model and then figure out their own adjustments as they continue to practice.

Children are able to effectively reach their own goals in this way, which also keeps in the huge beneficial skills learnt along the way during the learning phase in this quest.

Praise is given for the effort placed into something at Forest School as apposed to the outcome and an explanation is always followed up with this praise of effort, so children understand why.

Lastly; Creating and thinking critically

Children are given a ton of open ended and loose parts such as sticks and leaves to play with, along with choice at Forest School.

These words are used for play that has no set theme or use. It can be anything, to anybody, in anyway. For example a toy car has one use, but a stick… well a stick can be a wand, a fishing rod, a steering wheel, a building material, a boat, a helpful aid, an artistic resource, a bow and arrow, and I could go on!

These open ended opportunities are excellent to help children express themselves and use their imagination.

I once was quoted saying ‘ I believe that’s why forest school resonates so much within my soul. Loose parts for days in the imaginative wonderland that is the forest. Children have no choice but to show off their creative being and go deep within the synpases of imagination.’

For children, creativity is about the process and not always the end product that counts. This all allows children to become independent and imaginative amongst everything else mentioned before.

Children will often refer their play to what they already know and tend to re-enact experiences they have had at home, read in books or seen on TV but to name a few.

This is perfectly normal. In these moments children are processing this new information and to understand it they have to play with it. Play is a great way that displays how children are feeling, understanding, seeing, interpreting and making sense of their world and how it is informing their bigger picture.

All of this is informed through observation of children at play and interacting with them. Each child is unique and to understand their desires, actions, motivations, weaknesses, goals and dreams we need to watch them at play and interact alongside them.

I would argue you can find about more about a child in 10 minutes of play than an hour of education. Period.

What are we looking for or seeing is a whole other episode..infact probably a books worth of knowledge picked up, learnt and tested through years of practice.

Just know I’m very good at it, as are a lot of Forest School Leaders.

Unlike the EYFS do we have to write our observations down? No, that is wasting our valuable time with the children where we could be deepening play with a child and learning even more about them.

What is done though, following a Forest School session, is that our observations are written down in a reflection of the session as a whole. Here we are not just reflecting on a child but the children as a whole.

Not only that but our own impact or hindrance in a session. We too as Leaders are always learning and reflecting. If we were to stop doing this and become complacent then we are the barrier to progress of children’s development at Forest School.

There we are! That is how Forest School can ably sit alongside the EYFS. I hope all of you already in the EYFS were following along and haven’t run out of ticking room.

After another couple of episode I shall get onto part 2 where I consider what is know as the prime areas of development namely — Personal, social and emotional development, physical development, communication and language and how forest school can ably support these also. Until then,

You’re Just One Session Away!