Forest School                                              

Intent

At St Stephen’s Infant School, Forest school plays an integral part in the children’s learning. We are very lucky to have our own Forest area onsite and we have a qualified teacher who is level 3 trained to deliver Forest School sessions every week.

Our Forest School provides a nurturing, natural environment to support the development of our children’s relationship with the natural world. It aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners whilst providing them with the opportunity to take supported risks and remain safe and secure.

Forest School supports skills and knowledge across many curriculum areas. Through experiencing learning in the natural world children gain a sense of responsibility and value for their environment in addition to confidence, self-esteem and developing a sense of awe and wonder of the world.

Children’s ideas and interests are used as a basis on which to explore and learn. Our Forest School Teacher provides opportunities to link areas of the curriculum to the outdoor environment alongside this child-initiated learning, enabling progression of skills and activities throughout the different age groups, reaching towards high expectations.

Forest school provides children with a happy space in their weekly timetable where they can apply their current understanding of curriculum topics and develop new knowledge and skills through experiencing the outdoors.

Please see 'Curriculum and Assessment,' for futher planning.

Clubs

At St Stephen's Infant School we offer a wealth of after school activities to provide our children with additional enrichments and extended learning opportunities.

With dedicated staff and parent volunteers, we are currently running a variety of clubs that run after school. Some of our clubs are run by external providers such as our popular Martial Arts

club and Team Theme Sports Coaches.

Our clubs will run every term for children in Year 1 and Year 2 with an opportunity for Foundation Stage children in the Summer terms also.  Towards the end of each term you will receive information about the clubs that will take place in the following term, by email.  Online forms wll then be available on the Arbor app, where you can sign your child up for a club.  You will need to re-register your child for a club of their choice using our online Arbor system each term.  All of our clubs are fully inclusive and provide our pupils with further opportunities to try something new and develop their skills.  Please do chat to a member of staff if you have any questions.

Examples of our clubs include a variety of sports such as tennis, football, athletics and dodgeball.  Alongside these we offer other exciting clubs such as number fun, BeeBot club, mindfulness colouring, puzzles and construction to name just a few examples!

During the academic year 2022-2023 our clubs were extremely popular with over 100 children taking part during some of the terms.  Children were supported to access the club and fulfill the opportunities available to them.  The variety of clubs available across the year enabled pupils to find something that they could enjoy.  We were pleased to be able to reach many of our children and offer wider opportunities for all.