Progression of skills and knowledge of Forest Schools at WBJS

Progression of skills

Wildlife
Yr3
Introduction to plants and leaf shapes. Pond wildlife dip, how water animals breathe and move.

Yr4
Interacting with wildlife. Respecting wild areas. Introduction to the habitats around the woodland.

Yr5

Introduction to plant fibres. Their role in trees, their properties and working with the grain when whittling.


Mini beast safari woodland birds, mammals, invertebrates and where they live.

Yr6
Helping to maintain wildlife reserve areas around the woodland. Arum lily flowers and pollination strategy.

 

Health and Safety
Safety practices required for individual activities are talked through with the children as they are being taught.  Children are encouraged to think through ways to engage safely with activities.   Children are encouraged to develop dynamic risk assessing skills as they engage in play with associated risks in the woodland.  The skill progresses through the sessions and years. Initially children need a lot of reminding, and with repetition of activities from whittling to den building they start to develop their awareness of risk and how to keep self and others safe in a range of situations. 

Yr3 - fire safety basics - Using games and repetition.

Introduction to fire practising calm, quiet and care around fire circle.
Tool use basics. How to use a knife and keep self and others safe. How to behave around the whittling area.
Sticks, handling short sticks safely around others. Brief introduction to long sticks. Used in picture frames.

Yr 4 - fire safety. Getting closer to the fire. Entering as invited to lay a stick on the fire safely.

Sticks - handling short and long sticks with awareness of others. Den building safety. 

Tool use safety, drills, first knives.

Yr 5 - Fire safety. Den safety. Stick safety. Deepening understanding.

Tree climbing, awareness of dead and live branches. Reasons to keep close to central trunk. Removing logs and sticks from underneath.

Tool use safety for self and others. Maintaining safe behaviour around other tool users. Introduction to large knives, mallets, loppers.

Year 6 - safely using a range of tools with supervision and working independently. 

Working calmly in creative groups. Using kind words to encourage others' ideas. Including everyone. 

 

Camp fire

Year 3

Flint and steel introduction - making sparks and possibly catching tinder alight.

Fire safety and acclimatisation to expected behaviour in fire area.

Yr 4 - Placing sticks on an established fire safely.

Flint and steel, lighting tinder with a spark and feeding with kindling to start a fire as a group and stop it going out for a few minutes. Introduction to collecting materials needed for fire.

Yr5 - Firing charcoal and baking bread. Keeping cool enough while baking dough. Using water as needed.

Yr6 - Collecting all materials needed to light a fire.  Lighting a fire and keeping it going long enough to cook marshmallows. Taking responsibility for creating a safe zone around fire, collecting and positioning water near the fire. Maintaining calm. 

 

Tools


Yr 3 - Peelers for small amount of light work. Peeling sticks to Create Wands.

Yr 4 - Simple peeling of sticks for charcoal making. Peelers for more challenging whittling on elder sticks and slight shaping to create woodland pencils.  Using a palm drill. Potential to try a whittling knife for a small section of the pencil.
Using secateurs safely.

Yr 5 - First knives/peelers to recap safety and whittling skills. Whittling knives to carve a wooden spreading knife. Introduction to splitting wood. Working with the grain. Introduction to ratchet loppers. Using a mallet.

 

Yr 6 - All tools available.  Choosing from and building on all tools and methods used before.  Design and create a woodland game for others to play which includes game pieces and or game furniture.
 

Navigation and spatial awareness

Yr3

 Cardinal directions
Wild art involving gathering materials, creating a space and viewing boundaries.
Moving safely in the woodland.
Winding wool, learning and practising a simple knot.

Yr 4 - Working calmly with space for whittling. Using secateurs to cut stems accurately to fit kiln.
Map making and map reading.

Yr 5 - Three dimensional thinking in imagining and designing a butter knife from a piece of wood. Working with the grain when whittling. Watching out for side branches and the change in grain. 

Den building and Mud kitchen are both activities encouraging design, cooperation and the dimensional thinking.

Yr6 - Introduction to square lashing, appropriate knots for the task, balancing and connecting pieces together to create functional game pieces and set ups. Using a range of found and provided woody and decorative materials. Choosing appropriate materials tools and knots to achieve their goal.
Choosing and creating space in the woodland to set up and form a game for others to play. Explaining the game to others.

Team work

Yr3 - Wild art and story telling - working in a group. Communicating kindly with the wider group.
Wide games.

Yr4
Working quietly by the pond and sharing equipment and knowledge. Working as a team to fill the kiln and build the fire. Sharing the experience of working the kiln awaiting success or failure of the charcoal firing.

Yr5
Woodland games. Supportive behaviour for small groups whittling. Cooperative play in den building and Mud kitchen.

Yr6
Woodland fair with everyone contributing games and participating in each others games. Working in groups to create games. Respecting other groups space. Welcoming others to visit your area.

 

Nature

Yr3 - Introduction to plants in the woodland and garden. Scented perfumes and smelly potions.
Introduction to the robins in the woodland, observing their feeding behaviour and understanding and enjoying interacting with them.

Yr 4 - pond dipping, observing and identifying animals found in the pond. Learning that water animals move, feed and breath in many different ways.

Yr 5 - learning to recognise living trees from dead wood. Identifying different trees from their leaf shape and growth shapes.
Recognising that plants form fibres and that wood has grain. Understanding that the fibres are part of the plants biology to transport water and sugars.

Nature walk observing wildlife around the school fields. Discovering the many habitats that animals and plants live in and create. Thinking about interactions between plants and animals.

Yr 6 - Recognising our impact on the woodland. Respecting and helping to manage nature areas.