Nursery World - Forest School benefits outlined in research

Forest schools make a positive contribution to young children's learning and development and should be more widely available, researchers have concluded.

The researchers said, 'It was evident that some of the children displayed positive changes in behaviour that surprised practitioners and could be attributed to their involvement in Forest School.'

Observations were carried out by teachers or Forest School leaders who knew the children well and were able to record subtle changes in behaviour. They scored individual children, from one for 'no change', to three for 'dramatic change'.

Examples included Charles, in reception, who was 'reluctant to make eye contact with adults and would hold his hand up to his face to avoid looking at people' but by the fifth session was joining in with the Forest School song and smiling at the leaders. One SENchild started to use more descriptive vocabulary, such as 'squidgy' to describe mud.

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