FPC Hub Leader:

Lianne Jones is the Acting Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) at Sandgate Primary School. Having worked at the school for over 20 years, Lianne has taught across all year groups and has a specialism in the Early Years and has also previously been the SENDCO. Her role as DSL means that she leads on online safety across the school, ensuring all children are prepared for living in the modern world and using technology to do this. 

Lianne is an advocate for the Early Years, achieving a masters degree in this area and has led on the development of the EYFS curriculum in which children learn and develop in a way which recognises the importance of high quality play and interactions. Lianne is a strong believer that outdoor learning is crucial as children progress through their education and time in primary school. 

 

Curriculum Vision: Forest School

The aim of the Forest School curriculum at Sandgate Primary is to ensure that every child will experience learning through the natural world as part of their development. Our head, heart and hands approach aims to develop a child holistically and encourages transformative learning. Transformative learning involves teaching and learning geared to motivate and empower happy and healthy learners to take informed decisions and actions at the individual, community and global levels.​

The curriculum is designed around inspirational, stimulating and challenging activities to develop children’s self-esteem, independence, confidence and responsibility. We believe that each of these play a key role in raising pupil attainment and aspirations, improving their wellbeing and influencing their capacity to reach their full potential.

Through being immersed in their local natural environment, children at Sandgate Primary develop a long-lasting appreciation of nature that will stay with them and play a key role in how they care for the world around them.

 

Substantive Threads: Forest School

Each session within the Forest School at Sandgate is designed to progressively develop the following practical and theoretical strands of substantive knowledge:

• The Natural World: foster a relationship with nature through regular personal experiences in order to develop longterm, environmentally sustainable attitudes and practices.
• Health & Wellbeing / Identity & Relationships: develop, where appropriate, the physical, social, cognitive, linguistic, emotional and spiritual aspects of learners.
• Identity and Interpersonal relationship: learn to try new and varied activities that may be outside of children’s comfort zone but that develop character, resilience, motivation, communication and encourage children to develop social skills and pursue wider goals.
• Risktaking & Resilience: building an individual’s innate motivation, positive attitudes and/or interests by offering opportunities to take supported risk appropriate to the environment and themselves.
• ProblemSolving: to negotiate risk and use practical and cognitive skills to solve problems.    

• Metacognition: reflective practice to ensure learners and practitioners can understand their achievements, develop emotional intelligence and plan for the future.

 

Disciplinary Threads: Forest School

Each session within the Forest School at Sandgate is designed to progressively develop children’s knowledge of the discipline of Forest School. Sessions have been organised around developing this in the following areas:

• Connecting with nature: adapt a nurturing attitude towards the natural world, understanding why it needs looking after and how it benefits our physical and emotional health.
• Knowledge over time: how knowledge of the natural world develops through experimentation, purposeful play, scientific enquiry & observation.

• Participation: how people engage with nature for short- and long-term impacts and for their appreciation of the natural world.

 

Curriculum Documents: Forest School

 

An overview of the Forest School curriculum can be found here

 

 

 

A sample of the school curriculum for Forest School can be found here

 

 

 

A sample of the new Forest School Passports can be found here