This page has the various outputs of the 2014 national Forest School conference held at Danbury Centre for Outdoor Learning, Fri 26 to Sun 28th September 2014. It includes:
- Video of the welcome address with Carol Middleton (FSA Essex) and Jon Cree (Chair of FSA)
- Video of Phil Waters, Eden Project. Key Speaker: Narrative journeys
- Video of Jay Griffiths, author of Kith. Key Speaker: The riddle of childscape
- Introductory video of Terri Harrison, Camphill School. Key Speaker (sorry the battery went at the worst time)
- Power Point presentation used by Terri Harrison, Camphill School. Key Speaker: Promoting resilience in outdoor settings
- Reflection worksheet (to go with the presentation): Promoting resilience in outdoor settings
- Workshop reports
Welcome address by Carol Middleton and Jon Cree – conference theme: Fostering and exploring sustainability … with a bit of yoga
Keynote: Phil Waters, Eden Project, Narrative Journeys
Based at the Eden project. Phil has developed a pedagogy called
“Narrative Journey” which explores how children narrate their own
nature experience and how narrative can be used as a tool to encourage
children’s attachments to nature.
Keynote: Jay Griffiths, author of Kith: The Riddle of Childscape
Jay Griffiths’s question is simple: why do our children feel so unhappy? Her main
answer lies in the title of her new book, Kith. Now used only in the phrase ‘kith
and kin’, the word has come to mean something like ‘extended family’ or ‘circle of
friends’. But it originally referred to a person’s ‘home territory’, the country or
region where they lived. For Griffiths, our children have been cooped up indoors,
imprisoned in front of their screens (whether television or computer), and they
have lost all contact with their kith – with the woods and the wilds, the mountains
and moors, the rivers and streams. That, she argues, is the heart of the problem.
Keynote: Terri Harrison Camphill School, Aberdeen
Terri, together with her husband Daniel, has developed an early intervention approach
known as Nature Nurture, which helps vulnerable children develop resilience. The key
elements of Nature Nurture programmes are time spent in natural environments, nurturing
by especially trained adults, and free play. In this presentation Terri will explore how
Forest School approaches can help build the resilience of all children and she will challenge
perceptions about vulnerability, behaviour and the role of Forest School practitioners in the
health and well-being of the individuals who come to play in our woods.
Just a taster – sorry the battery went at the worst moment (unable to show the images and videos used during presentation in any case) – please see presentation document below
Terri Harrison’s presentation to the conference 2014 (images removed)
Reflection document printed out for the participants to use during the presentation. There are numbers on the slides that refer to questions or points in this reflection document, helping the reader to make connections between their own practice and the theory outlined in the presentation. This can be a really useful team activity for groups who wish to work on developing their practice in promoting resilience through Forest School.
- Sustaining Ourselves – Sunday Discussion group – facilitated by Jon Cree
- “The Role of Forest Schools in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability” – facilitated by Paulette Luff and Sara Knight
- Storytelling for a Greener World workshop – language and messages – how the use of language changes emphasis reactions to story content – Jon Cree
- Organic Paint Systems – Nabil Ali
- Megatastic Movement – Elizabeth Appleton
- Learning with Nature – Marina Robb Circle of Life Rediscovery
- Good from Woods Research Toolkit – Research Methods Workshop – Vickie Norris. Project Officer at the Silvanus Trust
- ‘Our FS principles – use them or loose them!’ – facilitated by Aline Hill and Louise Ambrose
- Getting out there and selling yourself as a Forest School Leader -facilitated by Elizabeth Appleton
- Wild Food Foraging – Clive Edwards
- THE RUBBISH WORKSHOP – Facilitated by Helen Moore & Alex Hart of Shared Earth Learning Co-op.
- Forest School and Outdoor Learning Research discussion group
