Ascott Forest School goes from strength to strength with Wychwood Project grant
The Wychwood Project is a registered charity that uses the focus of the Royal hunting Forest of Wychwood to encourage local people to understand, conserve and restore its rich mosaic of landscapes and wildlife habitats. The area covers 120 square miles and 41 parishes, mostly in West Oxfordshire.
One of the key themes of the Wychwood Project (www.wychwoodproject.org) is education – to increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of the history and identity of the Wychwood Forest, through both formal education and informal education for all ages.
Having run their Forest School for seven years, Ascott-Under-Wychwood Pre-School (https://www.ascottpreschool.org.uk/) are delighted to have received a grant from the Wychwood Project for staff training for this vital activity where children are able to learn in a completely different way in an outdoor environment. With many parents choosing Ascott Pre-School for the Forest School experience, the emphasis is on children’s social and emotional development as well as risk taking skills. Role playing is also an important aspect and the children learn how to work together as a team by building dens and develop their problem solving skills.
Through Ascott’s Forest School, the children explore the environment within the Wychwood’s, looking at growth and decay, caring for living things (a part of the EYFS curriculum) and will then continue with their learning at the Wychwood School and other local schools.
Over the coming months two of the Ascott Pre-School staff will be attending the Forest School Programme Assistant OCNWMR Level 2 course which is run at Hill End near Oxford (http://www.hillend-oec.co.uk/cms/hillend/forest-school-training). The staff will receive training which will enable them to support Ascott’s existing qualified Forest School Leader, whilst also providing them with more in-depth knowledge to the principles and practice of Forest School.
This training will ensure that Ascott Pre-School continues to grow and provide this important curriculum experience to children in a community pre-school.