⁷ “But ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Or ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
⁸ Speak to the earth, and it will teach you.
    Or let the fish of the sea tell you.
⁹ Every one of these knows
    that the hand of the Lord has done this.
¹⁰ The life of every creature
    and the breath of all people are in God’s hand. (Job 12:7-10)

Session 1 - Today saw the first of our sensory exploration sessions of our Forest School space. Smell was our focus and the children were tasked to make nice and nasty potions with exceptional results - we were treated to fresh pine aromas as well as foul rotting ones! There was some fantastic problem solving and collaborative working to build some sturdy shelters and a great water system. The children reflected that the rain added to our forest fun!

Session 2 - Our sensory focus today was sight and the children were tasked with taking an interesting photo within our woodland space. There were some fabulous, thoughtful results that will be shared with you once the judging has taken place!

There are different dens springing up, with the children demonstrating great navigating skills and dynamic risk assessing as they move heavy logs and work out how to secure things into place in a safe and secure way. Some children also learnt a little sign language of different flora and fauna found within our space and we will build on this in the coming weeks.

Session 3 - Today was a lovely, calm session where the children really took time to explore their space and what it holds. New dens are being constructed and old dens are constantly being extended and re-purposed. Today a fantastic water trough was invented and two cafes selling lovely muddy produce sprang up. The walls were painted with mud!

One group spent their time ensuring our beautiful snowdrops were protected and another found buried treasure. We ended with some silent reflection, only interrupted by glorious birdsong.

Session 4 - We had an icy forest school session today - we talked about the science of ice, we searched for ice, we looked at, and through, our ice and we felt our ice. I think the overall conclusions were that it is very cold and very beautiful!

Once mined, the ice was then used in many mud kitchen recipes including a delicious looking mud lasagne and an apetising slushie smoothie. Great icy fun!

Mrs Adams, Mrs Boulton, Mrs Clark and Juniper Class