Creative Roots
Home Education Sessions
In alignment with Forest School ethos, our Home Ed Group is a long term, learner led drop and go session for children aged 5-12, offering community, learning and fun in a beautiful private woodland on the Gower in South Wales.
930am-3pm
Beginning Friday 8th November 2024
Bookings Open Now
Hi, I'm Gemma. I'm the founder of Gower Wild Wellbeing and forest school leader for Creative Roots.
Before I was a forest school leader I was a conservation biologist and education officer for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Having recently moved to the Gower, I am here to share my passion for wildlife and environmental education with families in the Swansea and Gower area.
My background in conservation equips me to teach a range of ecological and environmental topics, and my forest school training provides the pedagogy and a style of delivery which is alternative to a structured curriculum.
In Creative Roots sessions, children learn in a holistic way. This means following their own interests and being supported to find out the things they need to know to meet their goals. Here's a little example. Perhaps they decide they want to build a raft to float on the lake. This project would require the aquisition of many skills. Safe and appropriate tool use, understanding of the qualities of the wood they have chosen, learning lashings and the correct knots, and perhaps using pythagoras to plan their sail creation. they might use a knife to get creative and carve some elements. When launching the raft we might take the opportunity to teach them about water surface tension and how to determine wind direction, amongst other things. When children team up in competion or for support, they learn interpersonal skills, leadership skills; and through it all they develop resiliance. It's been proven time and time again; we learn most effectively when we're having fun. When children play a large role in steering their learning journey, it is meaningful to them, and most effective.
Spending a whole day in a relaxed and natural environment allows children to decompress from technology and connect with themselves, nature and each other while acquiring skills, confidence and a sense of agency.
Some examples of topics and skills which will be practiced at forest school
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fire building; learning to make fire by friction, how to obtain tinder from the natural environment, etc
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ethnobotany; safe foraging, learning about healing and healthy plants and how to use them and about harmful ones and how to avoid them
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using tools safely
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wild art and natural sculpture
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nature based mindfulness and wellbeing
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green woodwork
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values and ethics; building a sense of tribe and community and caring for one another
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ecology of the local environment
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wildlife conservation and practical habitat management; pond creation, coppicing, hedgelaying etc
Our approach to education is holistic, meaning that we engage with the whole of the child in a way that supports their spiritual, emotional and physical health as well as their learning. This means a balance of teaching, free play and exploration, mindfulness, and encouraging big questions and giving time and space to children to find their own answers.
Two qualified and experienced Forest School leaders will be available throughout each session, using observation and reflection to tailor future sessions to each individuals needs and interests.
Sessions will be from 9.30-3pm each Friday during Swansea term time and are £35.00 per day, payable by each half term. This includes all learning and resources, fire side snacks and ingredients for campfire cooking, but does not include lunch which children should bring along with them.
FS Leaders are L3 qualified, fully insured, DBS checked, Paediatric First Aid and Safeguarding trained.