Infant and Junior School

Led by our Director of Outdoor Eduaction and making use of our woods at Failand, your child's Forest School lessons will help to reinforce and enrich your child's classroom learning.

Our Reception children start Forest School by getting stuck in with a mini-beast topic, looking at different habitats, various nature trails and a pretend camp-fire. Year 1 and 2 Forest School time links to the topics they cover in class with recent examples being a castle project, where our children built their own woodland castles, The Great Fire of London, where models of houses were burnt in a controlled fire, and Madagascar and Brazil topics where our children learnt all about how we protect the habitats and forests of animals in those countries. All year round, nature brings new treats for our Infant children to engage with and explore.

Your child will continue to enjoy Forest School at Failand in Year 3 and 4, for a term in each year. The natural environment continues to be a big theme, but your child will also start to learn more outdoor skills. Your child might hunt for and learn to recognise the different types of mushrooms in the woods or use the changing colour of leaves in the Autumn term to make forest art. For Year 5 and 6 Forest School becomes an option for their Friday afternoon activity session in the Autumn or Spring term. 

In the Junior School your child will also have the opportunity to take part in outdoor activity trips. In Year 4 and 5 these are residential trips, where your daughter or son can engage with activities such as raft building, kayaking and treetop zip wires. In Year 6 they will enjoy team-building day trips in the Mendips and will also have the chance to go away for their camp, a wonderful finale to their time in BGS Juniors.