St Malachy's 
Forest School
'Forest School has fun activities' Esmai
Forest School Leaders
We are so lucky to have a fantastic Forest School run by Kyomi and Gareth!
They check our site and all the equipment is safe for us as well as planning wonderful activities for us to do outside.
Each class in school has a morning or afternoon session out in our brilliant Forest School area. They explore and investigate as they learn new knowledge and skills that build on what they already know and can do!
AUTUMN TERM 2024
Upper KS2 have been out and about and have found lots of interesting things to show talk about.
2D Maps to 3D Maps
Year 5 have been learning about bird's eye view and creating 2D maps, then translating them into 3D maps. They did a great job!
Bee Homes
Our Key Stage 1 children have been learning about bees and how some of them are solitary. The children cut raspberry canes and drilled them to make them hollow before tying them in bundles to create bee homes! They hung them around the site and hope they attract the bees!
Building Dens, Plans and Creating Creatures!
The children have been planning their Forest School activities, creating dens and making woodland creatures! A wonderful time was had by all!
Making Dens
The children in KS2 have been busy making dens using lines, sticks, wooden blocks and tarpaulin. They had a brilliant time working together to achieve their dens.
Identifying Mushrooms
The children had reference books with descriptions and photographs pf mushrooms in and spent some time in the Forest School area finding them and identifying them. What a great job!
8 Point Compass
Our children have been learning about the 8 Point Compass and recreated the image of the compass accurately using natural materials!
Which way is North?
Leaf Man
We LOVE reading! Our younger children listened to the story of Leaf Man and talked about his character. They then spent some time in the grounds collecting leaves and twigs to create their own Leaf Man! Look how wonderful they are!
Preparing and Lighting the Fire!
Our Upper Key Stage 2 children chopped kindling for the fire pit after being reminded how to use the tools safely. They then laid the fire and lit it before toasting some bread for a lovely snack! How brilliant!
Rosehip Syrup
Years 1 and 2 harvested rosehips and then cooked them over the fire to create a wonderful syrup. They then left the syrup for a week to set before enjoying it on toast they made themselves over the fire.
Leaf Parachute!
The children collected lots of Autumn leaves that had fallen from the trees and put them in the middle of the parachute. They had great fun working together as a team to lift the edges of the parachute so the leaves soared up in the air!
Tree Trolls!
The children in Years 3 and 4 had a fantastic time creating their own Tree Trolls! They worked in pairs and sculpted clay on the trunk of their chosen tree. They then added natural materials to create their troll's features. Don't they look amazing!
Candle Making
The children investigated bees wax this week and talked about the importance of bees in our world. After handling some bees wax they put some in the melting pot and put it on the fire. While the wax was melting they dug a small hole in the ground and packed the soil so it did not collapse. They then poured some melted wax into the holes they had made, placed a wick in and waited for the wax to solidify. They then carefully removed their 'earth candles' and tested them to make sure they would light. They did! Great work everyone!
Remembrance - Making Poppies
The children gathered round the fire and talked about November being the month of Remembrance. They talked about the poppy, worn as a symbol of remembrance. They then used sticks and wool to weave their own poppy. It was quite tricky and they had to work with each other to get it just right. What a wonderful result!
Footprints in the Snow!
What a pretty sight to see St Malachy's covered in snow! Our intrepid investigators took to the snowy fields around Forest School to see if they could find any footprints. They found bird, fox and rabbit footprints in the snow. The children tracked them until they disappeared as a bird took flight or under the fence or through the hedge. How exciting!
They then spent some time creating snow creatures of their own design before enjoying warm juice while sat round the camp fire!
Advent Wreaths
The children in Years 5 and 6 gathered greenery from around forest school and worked hard to create their own Advent wreaths. They did an amazing job and were very proud of what they had achieved!
Wooden Reindeer!
What brilliant creativity our children showed in the creation of their wooden reindeer! They collected wood, sawed and shaped the wood and attached other natural materials to make their own reindeer. What an excellent Christmas decoration to have!
What have we been learning?
Forest School is great opportunity to promote mental well-being and mindfulness.
Forest school promotes so many skills such as independence, team building, speech and language, critical thinking, questioning, investigating and so much more!
The children are geographers, artists, scientists! It also supports the development of their character teaching them skills for life.
Have a scroll down to see what our children have been doing through the seasons!
SPRING TERM 2025
The Spring Term starts with Snow!
We did not expect the Spring Term to start with snow! We made the most of it though and the children set about designing and making an igloo big enough for them to stand inside. They worked really well as a team and adapted their 'brick' making to make sure the walls were steady and did not fall down. The packed any gaps between the bricks with snow
What a fabulous piece of engineering!
Looking out for Birds!
All our Key Stages had a wonderful time out in Forest School exploring the world of birds.
They gathered pieces of wood and used them to construct bird boxes and bird tables using a range of tools. They then made food blocks for the birds using lard and a variety of seeds and placed them on the tables they had made and also put them around the Forest School area.
As part of their work they spent some time bird watching and making a tally of the birds they had identified.
They made small nests for the Forest School birds to reinforce their knowledge. What a wonderful time they all had!
Preparing and Cooking Vegetable Soup
Our Year 5 and 6 children had a wonderful time working together to gather, prepare and then cook (on the fire they set and lit) a hearty vegetable soup that they then all enjoyed.
It was a fabulous time of community and the soup was very tasty!
Chefs in the making perhaps!
Building a Strong Natural Tower!
The children in Years 5 and 6 were given access to some raspberry canes and challenged to use them to build a tower that would support the weight of a flask.
There was fantastic team work resulting in many variations of structures. They evaluated their work as they built and adapted when it was not working well, deciding that the idea to group canes together made the strongest structure.
They did have lots of success in creating structures that held the flask successfully!
Well done everyone!
It's Pancake Time!
As part of our preparations for the start of Lent, we followed the tradition of making pancakes as Christians have done for many years on Shrove Tuesday.
Firstly, the children needed to lay the fire. Then they needed to put the ingredients in a bowl and mix them. Once the mixture was ready, some was poured into the frying pan over the fire to cook. Some of the children had a go at flipping the pancakes too! Even Mrs Lewis had a go and she was very good at it!
The children then of course got to sit and enjoy the pancakes they had made. Yum!
Minibeast Hunt
Our EYFS children are learning how to handle tools effectively and enjoyed a minibeast hunt, digging in the ground and in the leaves.
The collected the minibeasts that they found, which were mainly worms! They had the chance to look at the worms up close before putting them back where they found them.
Investigating the Environment
Our EYFS children had a wonderful time out in the sun exploring Forest School and investigating the area. The children found different flowers growing as well as some minibeasts. They had a good look in the pond too where they spotted 2 frogs!
They also took off their shoes and enjoyed running round and feeling the grass under their feet! Such fun!
Making Cane Baskets
The children in KS2 sent time in Forest School creating basket planters from raspberry canes and string. They gathered all the canes they needed and worked well in pairs to construct their planter. They did so with great success and were very proud of what they achieved!
Cooking Outdoors
The children love to cook and Forest School provides a great opportunity to learn about healthy options, knife and utensil skills, safety around the fire and food hygiene.
Vegetable soup is a popular recipe and the children have the chance to try different vegetables which seem to taste better when you have cooked it yourself!
The children work so well as a team and the result is a hearty bowl of warm tasty soup!
Sheltering from the Rain!
We can never guarantee what the weather will be like but Forest School takes place anyway!
The children have lots of layers that they can wear if the weather is cold and damp and they are kept very busy too so they don't get too cold!
The children across both key stages were challenged with working as a team to build shelters that would keep them dry from the rain. They worked well together using their initiative to build shelters that not only kept them dry, but in some cases were quite cosy too! They had great fun and we were impressed with what they achieved!
Nest Building
In Springtime the birds build nests to lay their eggs. The children investigate how a bird might build a nest and had a go at building a nest themselves.
They are hoping a bird might like the look of their nest and decide to set up home there!
Building Human Size Nests!
Having tried to build bird sized birds nests the KS1 children then were challenged to build a large nest big enough for them to sit in! They worked in teams and set about gathering the natural materials they thought would be good.
Once the nests were built the children tested them out, imagining they were birds settling into their new home!
They had great fun!
Learning How to Weave a Fence
The children had a great time working with willow and raspberry canes to test out how to weave the best fence structure that would be strong and lasting.
They did a brilliant job as you can see!
Creating a Bug Hotel!
We learn that we need to care for all creatures and that all of them need a home. The children learn about habitats in science and Forest School is a great opportunity to learn more!
The children set to to create bug hotels consisting of different materials within each layer to provide homes for a range of minibeasts.
The finished hotel was one to be very proud of! Let us hope it fills up with residents soo!
Forest School Kit
New parents and carers are given information about Forest School and what clothing their child needs. They go to Forest School whatever the weather and so need to be well equipped! We ask that every child brings:
- trousers
- t-shirt
- hoodie/jumper
- wellies
- a waterproof coat
- a hat in the Autumn/Winter
The children can get very messy when they are having lots of fun exploring our forest school areas!
SUMMER TERM 2025
The Summer term was off to a great start with dry weather for Forest School!
Making Rope and String from Natural Materials
The looked closely at cord, rope and string and the children found that each of them were made of smaller fibers twisted together in different ways. They looked at the way the fibres were twisted together and thought about the strength of one fiber compared to the strength of a few put together. This then urged the children to have a go at creating their own ropes! The children used natural objects such as grass as their fibres. They worked together in pairs and small groups to twist the grass into a strong rope, experimenting with different ways of platting and twisting. Great teamwork!