A fantastic year at St Mary’s Forest School

29 July 2023

As we have come to the end of another academic year it’s been lovely to look back at what we have accomplished over the past 12 months in St Mary’s Forest School.

It’s been my favourite year so far leading St Mary’s outdoor learning as the children have grown in confidence over the years and their love of learning outdoors is a joy to watch. They have learnt to embrace our British weather and love being outside come rain or shine!

They show such compassion and care for the natural world around them that they are great ambassadors for protecting our natural world for generations to come.

“If children don’t grow up knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it, they won’t protect it. And if they don’t protect it , who will?”

David Attenborough

Over the last year the children have helped to plant over 400 trees, made bug hotels, hedgehog feeding stations, bird feeders, a bird hide, seed bombs, wildflower gardens, sewn, weeded and harvested vegetables, raised frogs and butterflies, identified mini beasts, trees, seeds and flowers, taken part in the big RSPB bird watch, planted trees for the community in Colton, learnt about natural aboriginal art on multicultural day and many more nature craft activities. Our biggest achievement this year was to gain our Gold ‘Hedgehog Friendly School’ award. The children guided by our year 6 Hedgehog Ambassadors worked hard to complete many tasks to gain this award and I’m extremely proud of how much the children still talk about their love of hedgehogs and their enthusiasm to continue helping them.

I would also like to wish our year 6 children all the best for their future endeavours. They have been integral in helping develop our outdoor learning environment and growing our fruit and vegetables. They have been responsible for planting fruit trees and hedgerows that will benefit wildlife and future generations who attend St Mary’s for years to come and this is a lovely legacy to leave behind. They helped to plant an oak tree on their last day which will forever be their tree and we hope they come back to see its progress over the years.

I hope you all have an amazing summer holidays and enjoy exploring the great outdoors with your families. I look forward to hearing about those adventures when you come back in September.

Happy holidays,

Miss Wood