- Email: wecare@rachelsplace.com.au
- Phone: 0413 307 933
- Address: 111 Vulture Street, West End, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 4101
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Forest Schooling is an educational approach specifically focused on allowing children to engage in natural spaces and reap the social, emotional and physical benefits that these opportunities bring. The focus is on providing children with a space that lets them build skills in resilience, risk taking, confidence, communication and self regulation. There is increasing evidence that time spent outdoors engaging in unstructured play provides these skills and many more for children (Cooper, 2015, Forsey 2014) It is a child centred approach to learning. The children learn from the outdoors and natural environment.
Rachel’s Place understands the high demands on families and is committed to ensuring our children do not miss out on the benefits of outdoor learning. Part of this commitment is providing regular outings to a natural wild space to offer children the opportunity to engage with all the possibilities that Forest School has to offer. We are active advocates for the children’s right to play and learn in outdoor spaces.
The Principles of our Forest School are seen throughout our service. Its aim to foster a love of the outdoors and our natural environment, with curiosity and delight at the heart of all our observations and discoveries with the children.
Our Forest School program is run at the centre throughout the week, our smaller children go on local excursions to natural areas and parks and our eldest children catch a mini bus to a variety of wild forest areas around Brisbane to experience different types of forest including Mt Cootha, Toohey Forest, Karawatha forest and Rainbow Forest Park in Fig Tree pocket.
Emotional literacy - Children have the space and freedom to share. Children often become more willing to join in outdoors. They listen to themselves and connect with their thoughts when they are outside and there is natural noise.
Learning through movement -There is natural movement outdoors. Different ranges of movement, the children gain the ability to set challenges and persevere.
A natural environment - Children playing and learning in an outdoor environment appear more active, absorbed, motivated and purposeful, and develop a more positive attitude to learning.
a. We keep our hands and things we find out of our mouths.
b. We don’t pick anything that’s growing.
We take care of others, ourselves and our earth.
We stay inside the boundaries at all times.
Running forest School sessions aligns closely with the principles, values and outcomes outlined in both the Early Years Learning Framework and the Queensland Kindergarten Guidelines in that the sessions allow children to explore, investigate and inquire with both self-directed and intentional teaching.
The children make a large floor book of photos drawings and observations of their learnings each week which is on show for all families an friends to see in the centre.
