Holy Family Primary School, Belfast

Council area: Belfast City Council
Forest School contact: Aideen Hickey
Main Forest School contact email address:
School website address: http://www.holyfamilypsbelfast.org.uk/
Year of Forest School accreditation: 2015

Background: Holy Family and Currie Primary Schools have always sought ways to integrate together. The Forest School programme was the ideal opportunity for the two schools to meet on a regular basis and learn together. We began our Forest School training in 2015 with the World Around Us Co-Ordinator.

Forest School setting: We regularly use Alexandra Park in North Belfast for our Forest School sessions. The Park is divided in half by a "Peace Wall". It is a great area with natural woodlands and open spaces.

Read an evaluation of the NIFSA Forest School Programme for Holy Family Primary School, Belfast

Evaluation:

Holy Family and Currie PS have just completed a 10 week Forest School project led by NIFSA in Alexander Park, Belfast. Primary 5 children were involved along with class teachers.

From the offset the children mixed well with their peers from the schools. They worked in the same groups for the 10 weeks and all participated with enthusiasm.

Each week the same rules were applied at the start of the lesson. Resources were supplied either by Brian (NIFSA Leader) or by the teachers. Boundaries were set and the children were very good at staying within these. Brian led the initial sessions so that the teachers being trained could observe best practice.

Activities led by Brian included location study and map making of the park, mini-beast hunts, learning about age and girth of trees, making bug houses/hotels, raft making, making shelters and litter picking. All sessions were active, exploratory and investigative. They incorporated planning, group work and team building. The children gained so much knowledge, experience and confidence through participation in these activities. The pupil's communication skills were developed and expanded throughout the programme.

3 sessions were then planned, resourced and delivered by the teachers: Mr King (Currie PS), Mrs Hickey and Mrs Ryan (Holy Family PS).

Session one focussed on leaves. The session started with a leaf relay game followed by a leaf identification hunt and finished with leaf rubbing and an art activity.

The second and third sessions were based on flowers: identification, colour matching and creating their own flowers from natural resources gathered in the park. The children's creations were beautiful.

Each session finished with an evaluation by the pupils and in every case the children were very positive and enjoyed the activities.

This project, although extensive, has brought a new dimension to the World Around Us area of the curriculum. It has recreated the notion of outdoor learning and using nature as a focus for natural science.

The schools have worked well and greatly benefited from the programme and aim to continue and develop their experiences further in the forthcoming year.

Stephen King