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Founded in 2015, Great and Small Forest Education currently has two registered childcare settings, These settings are:-
Our Ofsted rated OUTSTANDING Great and Small Forest School located in woodland adjacent to Cottams Farm, Clayton le Moors.
Our Ofsted rated OUTSTANDING Great and Small Kindergarten located on Rishton Road, Clayton le Moors.
The seed of Forest School was originally sown in the USA and Scandinavia however a team of students from Bridgewater College in Dorset brought the idea to the UK in 1995 after a trip to Denmark to observe Forest School for themselves. This seed of an idea has now flourished here in the UK and is proving to be a beneficial educational asset to many nurseries and schools. By definition, Forest School is ‘an inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning opportunities in a woodland environment’ (Forest Education Initiative). In a nutshell, Forest School offers our children the opportunity and freedom to explore, to investigate, to play, to learn, and to thrive.
It is the ‘playing’ element that is the most important element of Forest School. As qualified primary teacher, Victoria, the owner and founder of Great and Small appreciates the learning opportunities across the curricular offered by this playing.
Think about the maths knowledge to build a den. The length of the branches needed, the angles to put those branches, how many branches are needed? Or the literary opportunities finding a hole in a tree, I wonder who lives in there? What do they look like? Could they be the magical forest fairies? Or the science of making a mud pie – which material is best, what consistency works well, what is mud anyway?
The learning opportunities are endless.
The boost to a child’s confidence and self esteem as they make a den or a leaf crown or a bridge for the forest fairies to cross the stream, that they are really proud of is so invaluable. The interaction and teamwork that develops between children as they encounter these experiences – even just a helping hand over the stepping stones – are fundamental foundations for building life skills. Plus there’s the benefit of simply being outdoors in the fresh air being physically active. All these factors, and more, make Forest School such a great experience for our children.
We believe that the best learning and development takes place when children have the freedom to lead their own play and investigation, and follow their own interests, whilst also being provided with opportunities to explore and learn more about their world, local community, global celebrations and cultures and, importantly, themselves and others.
In both of our settings, we are blessed with wonderful outdoor space from the lovely garden and play space at our kindergarten to the beautiful private woodlands of our Forest School in Clayton le Moors.
At Great and Small, children are nurtured to develop a love and respect for our beautiful world, themselves, and others.
We are great advocates of learning and development across the EYFS and beyond, evolving through a range of engaging and stimulating, hands on experiences. Using open ended, natural and recycled resources promoting sustainability and care for the environment we learn respect for the people, animals and the world around us.
Our aim to develop strong, open relationships and communication with all of our parents and carers to ensure that we all work together to ensure the very best start for our precious children.
Come and see for yourself, we’d love to show you around.
