The Greatest Outdoors

Category: Let Us Know

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.

Half price sessions at Bangor

To boost our numbers at the Quarries, we have decided that if two people come along for a session in February, it will be at half price – that’s £15 for two children – that is pretty cool!

In Elements, we believe in a complete respect for life. This also includes the life of animals which sustain us. Part of this respect is learning to appreciate how we prepare food – fish does not come frozen and battered.

Matthew brought a fish he caught and the children were able to have a look at the fish and watch it being prepared.

After that we cooked the fish and enjoyed the fresh subtle taste!

This was done as part of our past Forest School session at the Quarries. It was certainly a November evening not to be forgotten!

To find out more about our sessions here, contact us on hello@elementsschool.net or text/WhatsApp/phone us on 07540075991. You can also fill in this form to join our Quarries Sessions. They are every Tuesday from 3.30 – 5.30 pm.

The half price does not apply to the half term session on 15 Feb. Many thanks

MyNI website presence!

This summer we ran a very satisfying Forest School summer scheme and had loads and loads of great feedback. Some of it was so good that it made it to the MyNI website. Here is the link.

Enjoy!

Award for Matthew!

We could not be more thrilled that Matthew is working with us to help bring the vision of accessibility to Arts and Crafts in the outdoors to a wider audience. For only £60 you can create your own beautiful item with young artist Matthew Walton. Fill in this form to reserve your space.

Beautiful May

Here are some pictures from the past week – we have only been back for a week! Many friends have returned and a few more are about to join. Here are some photos from the Quarries in Bangor (Tuesdays and Saturdays) as well as Hillsbrough Forest Park (Wednesday).

May be an image of outdoors
Collecting tinder – the children learn that fire lives in the seeds
May be an image of fire and outdoors
We light the fire using a dragon sneeze – the children learn what a precious element it is and how difficult it is to make one
May be an image of 1 person and outdoors
It only takes a spark, but the hard work of sparking! That’s a different story.
May be an image of outdoors
Making spiles for tree tapping – in the future!
May be an image of outdoors
Tree tapping equipment
May be an image of nature
Playing amongst the bluebells in Hillsbrough – these are what memories are made of
May be an image of nature
Magic is a biiiig part of what we do
May be an image of child, standing, playing a sport, outdoors and tree
Playing on a swing in the forest!

Get ready for the Summer!!!

We are returning!!!! From 4th of May onwards. Book your sessions here!!! We are also having a special season – each session is now only £15! That’s two hours of outdoor summer fun for only £15!!! We are also having a Summer Scheme!! Watch this space for details!

You can also contact us at hello@elementsschool.net.

WE ARE BACK!!!!

We are returning!!!! From 4th of May onwards. Book your sessions here!!! We are also having a special season – each session is now only £15! That’s two hours of outdoor summer fun for only £15!!! We are also having a Summer Scheme!! Watch this space for details!

You can also contact us at hello@elementsschool.net.

Have a Green Christmas

Email hello@elementsschool.net for more information. Go here to book to event.

Why Green Santa? Well, Christmas is a Christian holiday which has been grafted over a solar reality – which is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. On this day the birth of the sun, or the return of the light, literally took place. All over the Northern Hemisphere, the festivals of light culminate the biggest light festival of all. After the 21st of December, the pendulum swings back to the long days of summer.

The ancient peoples of Ireland and these Isles celebrated this with the Green Man. At the heart of this image is one of the return of life, vegetation, the spring. Conversely it is also an image of the passing of time – the old must give way to the new, from death new life springs.

Unraveling the Nature and Identity of the Green Man | Ancient Origins

Elements is celebrating the solstice for the first time. Sadly we are unable to do this at the time we were hoping to – after Advent, but we thought we’d try to squeeze this in, just to bring some luck and glee into the start of the season.

So come along and mark the awaiting of the sun’s return with us. Hope to see you there.

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