Staff treasure Forest School at The Grove and the school chose to collaborate with Old Skills New Ways because it fitted perfectly with the love of learning they seek to foster amongst their children and their passionate beliefs about what is important in education.

The school have clear intentions for what Forest School will provide for all of their children in regard to nurturing a love, knowledge, understanding and connection for the natural world and seeing themselves as guardians and custodians of planet earth.

We worked together to dovetail the project with these specific intentions but the real power has been the way that it has enhanced the rest of the curriculum for students through it’s approach to hands on, real life learning. As all the research shows, this is when learning is at its most effective and just as importantly, its most fun.

Mark Brudenell, the lead teacher for outdoor learning is very clear about the impact of the project. “In an educational climate of exams, testing, data, of growing inequality of opportunities, of myopic views about the curriculum and learning, Old Skills New Ways is a dose of measured calm, deep learning and fun.”

For example it has played a key role in enhancing the Grove’s science curriculum through maximising their pupils’ engagement with and motivation to study science, using the local environment of local woods throughout the year to explore and answer questions.

Outdoor Learning at The Grove it also contributes hugely to looking after the mental health of children and adults alike. It encourages young people to get outdoors and gives them the positive experiences that will hopefully inspire them to continue enjoying being outside and staying active in their teens and adult life.

The activities we have undertaken with the children take time and require participants to stay on task, helping to negate the toll that the multi-tasking of modern life has been shown to have on our brains. The children who struggle to maintain concentration, can do so successfully during our sessions.