Forest School

Meldreth Manor Forest School Ethos

“Why can’t things be done differently?”

At Meldreth Manor School we believe that all disabilities are individual, and it is our mission to empower uniqueness in every person we support so that they can grow with their own set of goals and skills to follow their dreams.

Forest school is an integral part of our curriculum and we run sessions at least three times a week for all key stage and post 16 classes. Our sessions provide:

Enabling experiences and adventure in an outdoor environment or forest space, with the individual central to and leading what is taking place.
Enabling individuals to have a sense of self, independence, responsibility and choice through having experiences in the natural environment over a regular and sustained period.
Access for all regardless of physical, health or behavioural needs. Including meeting age appropriate (including mental age), cultural, social and religious and other preferences that may not always be easily communicated by the individual.
Provision of a safe environment that is considerate of health and behavioural needs but must not exclude challenging cases, instead flexible thinking and risk assessment about how we resolve them outside the box!
Time to process the environment, activities and work at a pace personal to the individual.
Enabling engagement and taking part, using the senses, careful thought for those with sensory processing disorders.
Develop skills, understanding, attention and communication through investigating the outdoors.
Enabling social, emotional, personal development and confidence building experiences through individual and group outdoor experiences.
Those supporting are role models who live by the Forest School Ethos and are there to notice learning and aid its development.
We have a collective value for our natural site at home and in the community.
Fostering the enjoyment of the outdoors through getting messy, taking risks and feeling challenged while being supported by the Forest School family.