The Referral Process
We receive lots of enquiries. Even if you hear we are full , please refer as we look at applications in the order they are received.
Our Offer
We offer sessions for children in Primary & Secondary Years R-9. Groups will be no bigger than 10 children.
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We utilise the Forest School Practice to support children and young people to be able to learn about, and better manage their social and emotional needs and behaviours. Over time this increases resilience and confidence and their ability to access their learning in a more academic setting. Children and young people that need extra support away from the traditional mainstream school environment and curriculum benefit from spending time in our safe space. We have specialist staff who have developed our outdoor activities to engage the individual. We encourage emotional regulation and give the child or young person coping strategies which support them in their school placement.
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Referrals are made through the child’s or young person’s Local Authority or directly by the child’s named school. We will consider referrals from families outside of education, for example, Home Schooled children, on a case by case basis.
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We ask that the placement is for a minimum of 19 weeks. The leadership team consists of an experienced Forest School Leader and a Research Psychologist. There are a number of additional Forest School Leaders and trained support mentors. The Forest School is quality assured through Achieving for Children.
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Further Information
The referral process
How places are offered.
All referrals are dealt with in the order of the date of the referral form being received. Once an observation is carried out by FSUK staff and if an offer is made a referrer has 7 days to accept the offer.
The 6 principles of Forest School
We follow the 6 principles of forest school and believe children’s emotional development is a priority in helping them successfully access the curriculum. Through child-led activities, we encourage children to develop resilience and build their self esteem and confidence.
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Emotional Regulation
We have been described as injecting an “overdose of nurture” to children who struggle with their emotional regulation. We have designed activities that encourage a therapeutic approach to problems. We incorporate Zones of Regulation throughout our approach, encouraging an emotional toolkit to develop.
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Monitoring
We provide the child's setting with a daily 'tracker' a short report, accessible online. Long term, we measure children’s needs and successes using the Boxall Profile, a widely used assessment tool for social emotional and behavioural difficulties for children and young people. We feed this information back to the child’s placement at key points.
Communication
We will Involve all interested parties in the child’s progress with regular reports and conversations. We actively encourage parents and carers to visit and engage with their child’s activity and hold “coffee meetings”. We can signpost parents to resources and other professionals.
Environment
Our sites consists of allotments, wooded areas and open spaces. We have small classrooms as most of our activity is outdoors. The sites are secure and have separate gates away from school settings. We have radios for keeping in touch with each other, ensuring our children are safe.
Experienced Staff
Our staff have years of experience working with children and families. We have regular safeguarding training and continuing CPD for all staff. All of our staff are highly trained in outdoor first aid. A schedule of training and relevant safeguarding qualifications is available on request.
Quality assurance
Our staff attend regular training sessions in areas such as Safeguarding, Child Protection, trauma informed approaches, mindfulness and first aid. Our handbook, risk assessments, policies, procedures and associated documents are available electronically on request as part of the application process.​
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