New garden promotes outdoor learning

Staff at St Botolph’s School in Quarrington came up with the idea of making better use of their outdoor areas after the indoor isolation of the Covid pandemic threatened to impact on children’s mental health.

Alice Main, who teaches science, personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, suggested that a forest school would be a good idea.

Alice said: “We have a garden area but it was very overgrown and not really fit for purpose. Some children didn’t know where the garden was.

“We had a working team of staff who shared ideas and helped drive the vision forward.

“I drew up a plan and then in July we had a day when we invited parents and staff to move bedding, chop stuff back and build a shed to be a suitable working space for the forest school.”

The army of volunteers got all the work done including litter picking and making a fire pit.

Donations of materials were gratefully received from parents and Pennells Garden Centre which donated £100 of resources.

The forest school sessions are now up and running.

To mark the launch the school held an outdoor worship and invited along 150 parents.

There are now Wellbeing Wednesday sessions and forest school with foundation stage pupils. Alice wants to see the school utilising the refurbished area throughout the curriculum, as well as for outdoor worship and as a safe space for those struggling with issues.

Every child in the school was given a pebble to decorate and place in the garden, linking it with emotions, the alphabet or to play noughts and crosses.

Alice said: “The children seem to love being out there and the staff love its calming effect.

“Within the first few weeks in foundation stage, we have seen the children become more independent.

“We have made bird feeders, gourmet mud meals, found conkers to roll down drainpipes and had mass games of hide and seek.”