Our Forest School
Our Pre-School Allotment
We are so excited to be able to add our very own allotment for our Pre-Schoolers to enjoy. With the help of two of our trustees and the Pre-School team, we have prepared the soil, laid out the growing beds, set up a shaded area for our little growers to rest, installed a mud kitchen and digging zone, and a giant bug hotel.
The children have planted and harvested tomatoes, beans, turnips, potatoes and curly kale, to name just a few. They have enjoyed cooking with their crops, in the setting, at forest school or taking them home to their families. The children enjoy following the rhythm of sowing, cultivating and harvesting the produce they have grown.
Our Feathered Pre-School Members
Our chicken coop and run is now home to our very own chickens that our Pre-Schoolers watched hatch during Easter 2022. The children were fascinated by the incubator as they waited patiently for the eggs to hatch and now everyone enjoys caring for the chickens and collecting their eggs, ready to take home or cook on our firepit.
Our Grounds
Our outdoor spaces include a dedicated play patio that leads directly from the Pre-School interior setting and from the patio directly onto our dedicated Forest School area, with child sized allotment, mud pit, sensory garden, slack line, chicken coop and our Forest School circle complete with the all important firepit.
The Stacey Pre-School is very fortunate to have plenty of access to The Stacey Centre's own organic orchard, which is populated with heritage fruit trees including, apple, pear, plum, peach as well as grape vines, strawberries, redcurrants, figs, blackberries and raspberries - to name a few.
We spend lots of time learning outdoors and hold regular Forest School activities as part of our Early Years' curriculum including bush craft, den building, firepit cooking as well as using lots of natural resources in Forest School crafting activities to develop gross and fine motor skills and encourage creativity. We support physical development with the inclusion of a slack line, lots of loose parts for den building and to inspire imagination and creativity as well as encouraging exploration with a climbing frame, and adaptable staging - when the trees aren't being used.
Over the Summer break we further developed our outdoor area with the inclusion of an 'Exploration Station' and all weather Literacy and Numeracy stations with lots of quality resources to support play and learning outdoors.
Forest School Association Accreditation
Our Forest School sessions are run by an accredited Level 3 Forest School Leader.
