The Greatest Outdoors

Category: Let Us Know Page 1 of 2

How busy have we been!!!

There is literally NO EXCUSE for having such an out of date website, but we have been very busy. What has happened since we last updated with our session in Glasswater Woods?

Thank you note from parent of child who participated in the Glasswater session

Well, here’s a run down.

We ran a five-day Summer Scheme in Oakfield Forest in Carrickfergus at the start of summer.

We made nettle fibres for our activity in Carrickfergus

We started the After School in Holywood Steiner School, and are once again fully subscribed.

Some very cheerful after schoolers!!

We ran the last of the Fostering Network sessions in Gosford Park.

We gathered fungi and made leaf art using a felt cutting at Gosford Forest.

And we started the New Moon Goddess Journeys in Bangor – our next session is fully booked out!

Finally we have a birthday party coming up…

And the feedback has been great!

Oh yes, and Stephanie attended the Regional Forest School gathering at Monaghan and learnt all about mushrooms!

We are now members of the Irish Forest School Association!!!

Sticky Post

New Moon Goddess Journeys

We have decided to hold a New Moon Goddess Journeying session every month – our second meeting will take place on June 18th at 5 pm.

New Moon Goddess Journeying – 18 June 5 – 7 pm –

Quarries Farm, 403 Gransha Road Bangor

Bring something to share and a couple of quid for the hire of the space. We will drum and journey, share our New Moon stories and connect to the many incarnations of the Goddess. Celebrate the New Moon and the Summer Solstice – and make a new start. No need to reply, just turn up.

For more details call 07540075991 or email steph@elementsschool.net

June 2023 Update

Hard to believe that 2 months have passed and we have been up to loads!

As usual we have had two excellent sessions with the Fostering Network. We worked with the Antrim and North Down sectors and delivered 2 four week sessions in Ballymena People’s Park as well as Glasswater Woods.

The Green Man… we made masks celebrating summer!

Fairy doors were just adorable!

Blown away by the beauty!

We also kept on with our After School although there were so many Bank Holiday Mondays in May and June!

We got loads of fun out of the new archery set we bought!

And our new slackline also got a premier!


Water festival!

Goddess Workshop

We held our Goddess Workshop in Newtownards…

Stories, drumming journey and making horses

Siuban put together wire frames for the horses…

Macha is Mother. Is every aspect of mother. She brings her ferocity. Her assurance. She says, you are enough. More than enough. We are all that … and some.

As we enter the height of summer, we dance with her, for her. We no longer doubt. Everything is possible. Everything exists here – for us- in this time.

Updates!

We have had a most busy 2023 to date. We started with a return to our After School at the Hol;ywood Steiner School, the first of our Goddess workshops as well as a session with the Fostering Network, promoting our Easter Holiday Scheme for 2023 and developing a Forest School training day with GROW NI.

Here is a snapshot of how we’ve got on.

After School – Holywood Steiner School

Discovering Physics through pulleys
It’s cold in March!

Our After School sessions are full with a waiting list. Children engage in deep play while developing their bushcraft skills. Running around is essential to stay warm while cooking over an open fire keeps our spirits up.

If you are interested in starting an After School with us, why not give us a call on 07540075991 or email us hello@elementscshool.net.

Fostering Network – Belfast

We spent a remarkably unseasonal warm three days in February at Belvoir Park Forest doing not just forest skills, but history, plant ID, bird song and geography. We are very lucky to have such a beautiful forest in the middle of Belfast and for a few of the participants, it was the first time they had been there!

Birthday Party

It was a beautiful return to the Quarries where we held our first birthday party of the year! We had 11 children and a very happy birthday boy. Party games were played and we celebrated another year around the sun.

If you are interested in booking a party with us email us on hello@elementsschool.net. Each child is £12 with a minimum of 10 children. The party games are an hour with another hour at the Quarries in their traditional Tea Barn.

Sometimes dream do come true! We held our first goddess workshop at the Navan Centre which worked with the Goddess Brigid and looked at the Maiden in ourselves. The day was bright and beautiful and the moon guided us back to amazing dreams! Our next one is on 14 May when we work with Macha. You can sign up for it here!

New year new things!

We spent nearly £400 on new equipment, including a slackline, target, arrows and lots and lots and lots of rope and tarp – AND a kelly kettle!!!! We are a REAL forest school now 🙂

Well that’s us all caught up for 2023! With our next outing which is the Fostering Network in Antrim, Easter Holiday Scheme, GROW NI workshop and more goddess workshops, it looks to be a very very busy year!

Kids who spend time in nature are happier… whodha tot?

This article from March 23, 2022 outlines not just why and how kids are better in nature but how you can do it and it doesn’t have to cost a million squid (hint: urban spaces are nature too.)

Find out how you can get Elements Forest and Garden School to give your child a great time while learning without learning… if you know what i mean…

Contact us on 07540075991 or email us at hello@elementsschool.net

Resilience. Adventure. Memories…. and Friends…
Exploring boundaries. Caring for Nature. Developing Skills.

Heard of it? Nature Deficit Disorder?

Working with the Killinchy Sure Start kids.

Nature Deficit Disorder was coined as a term just over 10 years ago. It was the first time someone had done a study on just how not being out in nature was detrimental to our children.

It it now universally acknowledged and recognised that spending a lot of time outdoors – there is no upper limit really – has a positive effect on mental, physical and spiritual health.

Here is a recent news item on this. The clip is not playable but the article does describe the issue well.

Busy as bees with the Fostering Network

Well, yes it is true, we have been absent online – there is no excuse, but we have been very very busy…

First there was the Easter Scheme which saw three days of wonderfully warm weather and sadly due to my phone being on its last legs, I was unable to take photos of the wonderful time we had. From playing in the river once more to lounging on hammocks and even getting ‘lost’ during our walk there was just so much to do!

After that we worked with the Fostering Network over four Saturdays – Helen’s Bay was home to Wild About Learning – an outdoor classroom where we harvested mud, drew and IDed trees and foraged the tender spring greens.

As you can see we were only allowed to take the set up photos but here are some quotes from the children…

1  What mark would you give the ‘Wild About Learning’ programme out of 10?

  1. Didn’t enjoy       5 OK 10 Brilliant

    9 (3), 10 (4)
  1. Did you have fun?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

 – tell me one thing you really enjoyed and why.

River walk – I like playing in water (3)

Making new friends – I like meeting new people (1)

Starting a campfire – I always wanted to learn to do this (1)

Building a hammock – I liked to swing in it by myself (1)

Cooking marsh mallows – like love eating them (1

  1. We hoped you would try new things.  Tell me about something new you tried for the first time.

Cooking on a campfire (2)

Starting a campfire (4)

Learning about leaves (1)

  1. We hoped you would learn new things.  Tell me about something you learnt that you didn’t know about before you came to ‘Wild about Learning’.

That you can eat some leaves (3)
Learning about bugs (1)

How to cook on a campfire (1)

How to build a den (1)

How to make things from river mud (1)

  1. Was learning outdoors a fun way to learn?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

We worked together and listened to others.

– Did you like being part of a team?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

– Did you make new friends?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

  1. Do you think coming to We are Wild About Learning gave you more confidence?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

  1. Were the staff friendly?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

  1. Would you come back again?  Yes or No?

Yes (7)

Well really you couldn’t ask for more could you?

Elementary! Newsletter Relaunched

Our newsletter is now ready. Finally got round to updating it and now you can check it out.

It has what we are getting up to and what we have done. It also has three things you can do at home. For March we focus on dandelions.

Click on this to see what it looks like!

The Greatest Outdoors: March 2020

You can also subscribe to it. Go here for the form.

Knife Work!

One of the delights of working the way we do is that we allow the children to determine the activity. Of course we make suggestions, some quite strongly, but mostly we are able to draw them in. So this week, quite a few wanted to work with knives. The children here are 7 and 8 years old. Children are able to work with knives from this age onwards.

The weather in Ireland isn’t as bad as people make it out to be! Here we are enjoying the early February sunshine! It was cold but so beautiful!

Many of our students are able to relax into the gorgeous surroundings and eventually become children of the forest. After a few months students are able to become so at home with their surroundings that it is like second nature to them.

Here we are at the Quarries… it was a cooler day but no less lovely. Again, knife work!

A lovelier location does not exist really.

Page 1 of 2

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén