new purchases

Have just ordered folding saws, bow saws and fixed bladed knives ready for next term.

Session Six

Well today was the day, we have been so lucky with the weather and finally we had a wet session.  On top of it being wet it was also windy (not great for putting up a tarp shelter) and getting dark and it seemed to take ages to leave the dry warm hall to go outside.As it was our last session before Christmas we had a cook out and a final activity that would leave a mark on the Forest School site.  After a quick round of the animal name game it was straight into clay self portraits on the larger of our trees.  Some did one face, others could not be stopped and would like to still be out there now plastering the trees with clay faces.

While Helen cooked the veggie sausages and boiled the kettle I got picked to be the seeker again for Hide and Seek which becomes quite hard in the poor light of a wet December afternoon, you would be amazed at the number of hiding places around the playing field within sight of the Forest School site that there are!

With the rain coming down, we all sat around the fire eating hot dogs and drinking hot chocolate with the group telling us want they had enjoyed about Forest School this term and coming up with ideas for next term.


We finished the session with marshmallows toasted over the embers of the last fire of the year. 

Session five

A couple of the children went round the whole circle giving the animal name and actual name of everyone in the group today. This shows how well we are all listening to each other.  We missed out on knots so we could work on our den.  A new source of  dead branches was found so once the firewood was collected it was down to work for most of the group.  A few of the children just wanted to sit by the fire on the logs which is fine, at Forest School you can dip in and out of the activities and find something else to do within the Forest School site.  It's all to do with being comfortable within your surroundings.

Last week the group voted to play games this week, so we played Forest School hide and seek.  The seeker has to stay within a square marked out on the ground and the hiders have to be able to see the seeker without being seen.  Once the seeker has spotted everyone he can, he calls out 'prepare to move closer' then covers his eyes and counts to 10.  The hiders move to a new hiding place closer to the square, the winner is the last person to be caught and to get the closest to the square without being detected. 

Sadly its our last session for this term  next week so we are having a cook out, with toasted marshmallows, something we are asked about every week. 
I hope to run Forest School sessions next term but I do need parent volunteers as Helen will be leaving us in the New Year to have a baby so please come and have a chat if you could help.  I provide training to use all the tools and in fire lighting before the sessions so don't worry if you're not Ray Mears! A sense of fun and a warm waterproof coat are all you need!

Switch Off Day

A wet and windy start to Switch Off Day at Holt V.C Primary had Helen and I setting up to cook with every pupil throughout the school.  It was the first outing for the Tinderbox tarp shelter and we only lost the tent pegs holding the front of the tarp up about five times (its amazing how far they can travel).  The aim of the day was to show how you would have to cook if you didn't have any electricity.  We did 9 sessions lasting for half an hour each with the pupils mixing up bannock bread dough which we then cooked on skillets over the campfire.  While we waited for the bannock to cook, the bag of story stones went round and each pupil pulled out one.  In groups they told the rest of us a story using the pictures on the pebbles as cues.  With the bannock we had hot chocolate before the pupils returned to the gloom of the classroom with no electricity.

Recipe for Bannock

• A cup of flour
• Teaspoon of baking powder
• Handful of mixed fruit or 2 tablespoons of runny honey and a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of water
• Tablespoon of rapeseed oil

Mix all the ingredients together and the pat dough into a pattie about 1.5cm thick.  Shallow fry the dough turning after five minutes. Best eaten around a campfire!

Session four

A bit cooler than previous weeks, winter could be on the way.  We go on whatever the weather so we encourage everyone to have warm waterproofs.  This week we returned to the rope swing knot, which is a round turn and two half hitches.  Between two saw horses we set up a pole so everyone could see me tie the knot and then have a go. 

After a drink and a biscuit we talked about the safe way to carry long pieces of wood before everyone started building a group den.  There was some good teamwork with lots of discussion about how to go about it.  Great imaginative play as leaves were used to tile the den and a fireplace was created inside  There was just about enough room for everyone. 

Session three

Each week we try to keep to a similar format so the children feel comfortable being at Forest School and this helps develop their self-confidence.  We meet in the hall then the children run on ahead to the archway where they wait for Helen and I.  Then we all go and sit around the fire pit where we play the animal name game and go over the safety rules.  While Helen or myself starts the fire the children go and collect firewood remembering to keep the adults in sight.  We then go over the knots we have done and learn a new one.  We then have hot chocolate and a biscuit once the cups are cleared away we do an activity, which applies the new knot. Before we finish it's back on the logs and then we do some improvement to the Forest School site planting or making paths etc.

We always finish by planning for the next week.  This is child led, I suggests a few things and everyone votes on what they want to do and the majority wins. The final thing is a round of the animal name game before we head back to the hall. 

This week we swapped things about a bit and after collecting the firewood we planted trees because you can’t have a forest without trees.  The activity that everyone was excited about was building two rope swings.  Because of time constrain we left learning the knot we would be using until next week so that everyone had a turn on the swing.

Session two

This week once we were all seated around the fire pit the group were asked what safety rules they could remember.  The rule that seemed to have really sunk in was that you do not walk across the fire pit area but step over and out of the logs and walk around them to change places.  We then played the animal name game adding a noise and action to our animals.

We revisited our stopper knots and figure of eight knots to reinforce them.  Once everyone was happy to move on we learnt to tie a clove hitch, which is used to fix one end of a rope to an object.

Once the cups were packed away the last mouthful of biscuit was finished, three groups where formed and each group made a wind chime putting their latest knot into practice.

As we are developing our Forest School site the aim is to get the children involved as much as possible.  Today we laid a bark path from the archway into the site it is lined with logs. After a noise game of animal name game we head off back to the hall.

Session one

other end we threaded on a toggle, which we fixed into place with a figure of eight knot.

The children exten

We started with safety rules before getting down to learning each other’s names by playing the animal name game.  In the animal name game you tell everyone your name and an animal, which starts with the same letter.  This helps to give two remembering clues to each person. 

We are looking at knots this term starting with simple stopper knots and working our way up to more complicated lashings.  The first two knots we tried to tie, were the stopper knot and the figure of eight knot these are used to stop a rope from travelling through a hole.  We started with Sid the snake practice ropes and once everyone had had a go we applied the knot to something to help us remember them.

Before we started our knot belts the kettle had boiled and we had hot chocolate and a biscuit.  Each week we have a fire and the children collect the firewood for the following week.  They are instructed that the sticks should be no longer than their arms and no thicker than their thumbs.

Folding over one end of the string into a bite made our belts and then we tied a stopper knot to form a loop.  At the ded the fedge by pushing willow whips into the ground at an angle so claiming a little more land for themselves.

We finish our sessions back at the fire pit sitting on the logs to talk about what we have done during the session, plan what we are going to do next week and a round of the animal name game.