Oxfordshire Woodland Group

Hi Ysella,

Could you tell us a little bit more about what you need ?

Do you have a web link that explains what a forest school is all about ?

Where must the woodland be located ?

Ken Hume - Executive Trustee - Oxfordshire Woodland Group

Ysella replied offline and advises :-

The following websites should help in giving a greater understanding of Forest School :-

Forest School Association

Forest School

There are also many other websites and information available online.

I am a member of Forest School Association, crb/dbs checked and have experience of working with children in environmental education. Including forest school groups, the Eden Project and the Wildlife Trust.

Ideally I am hoping to find a woodland area nearby to the school (Summertown area of Oxford), however if the school minibus becomes available then areas like Elsfield / Noke / Islip / Woodeaton etc? could be a consideration.

I am open to suggestions.

Ysella

Hi Gary,

First posting here on The Oxfordshire Woodland Group web forum will let our members know about your quest and hopefully one of them will come forward with suggestions.

Woodland management courses tend to be aimed at those seeking to grow trees rather than people but of late there would appear to be a swell of interest in forest schools.

We are aware that a number of local parish and council owned woodlands struggle to attract volunteers to undertake the regular maintenance needed to keep their woodlands safe for locals to visit and enjoy the trees, flora and fauna. Check each Parish Council website to establish whether or not they own a community woodland, e.g. Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Besslesleigh, etc.

Insurance is a problem area with most landowners being reluctant to allow untrained persons access to undertake work because of liability concerns and the same is also true where children are involved with the landowner possibly needing to undertake criminal record checks on the persons supervising the children. One also needs to keep in mind that planning authorities are increasingly taking a keener interest in preventing the establishment of permanent camp facilities in woodlands though landowners are free to do pretty much anything with their land for 28 days per year without the need to obtain planning permission including camping.

Please advise the specific area of Oxfordshire that you would prefer to establish your forst school ?

Ken Hume - Trustee

Hello,

I am going on my Forest School Qualification in a couple of weeks time and once trained I will be looking to run some Forest School Sessions, however, finding a suitable venue is proving challenging and this is where I would appreciate some of your expertise.

I currently work for a charity called Guideposts Trust and we are based in Witney. Our vision is to provide forest school opportunities to both mainstream children as well as children statemented with special educational needs, and we are aiming to provide this to a large group of children/young adults, 5 - 25 year olds.

Forest School has so many benefits and we are running 2 over in Northamptonshire which have really taken off so now we would like to put this into practice in Oxfordshire, If you could recommended some venues which would potentially be suitable and this project could potentially work that would be great.

Kind Regards
Tim Hooper
tel 01993 893560