Forest School 

There’s nothing like an hour in Middle Gully, with it’s fairly dense and dark bushland, to help a body realise the seasons have well and truly changed! We’re really feeling the cold this week and lots of us are wishing we’d worn more layers to school.

We made a major purchase last week of a number of waterproof overalls for the Juniors and we even got our hands on Miss Hall’s childhood gumboots to share with some lucky little student each week!!

Having said that, I’d like to put the call-out once again for students to bring in a pair of gumboots if possible, in a plastic bag, on their Forest School day. This really does help to allow the children to explore and play freely in Middle Gully without the stress of having to sit for the rest of the school day in wet, cold clothing. It also really helps to keep our beautiful classrooms clean and dry. A change of clothes (especially socks, trousers and underwear) is also very helpful. 

Now with the housekeeping out of the way… One of the highlights of Forest School sessions was a fun team-building game the seniors learned, which we called ‘Human Chains’. In groups, students had to stand in a circle shoulder-to-shoulder and close their eyes. They then reached forward and grabbed hands with some other random hand in front of them. After this they open their eyes and Mrs. Tulloch “breaks the chain” at one point and students need to work out how to untangle the chain as quickly as possible, without anyone letting go of the hand they are holding. It was an hilarious and very fun game, and everyone learned a lot about teamwork. Watch this space for more fun team-building games soon.

We’ve been making some fabulous discoveries in Forest School. Lenny listened very carefully when we talked about Wurrak and Burrukil season and looked very carefully at the pictures of the Wurrak (banksia) flowers. He was super excited to find the exact flowers blooming in Middle Gully and you can see his excitement in the picture here! We found a huge and very beautiful moth and noticed a lot more fungi than last week.

We focused on horticulture this week and cleared some of the wicking beds, ready to replant winter seedlings. Several of the plants have gone to seed since summer and we saved cosmos flower seeds, dill herb seeds and buckwheat seeds. The cosmos seeds we will save and plant next spring. The dill seeds we will use some of for planting and the rest we are going to use to add to zucchini pickles we are making in term two. The buckwheat seeds we will make into flour using Mrs. Tulloch’s hand flour grinder and make some buckwheat pancakes. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free and packed with nutrients, especially when you grow your own! We were careful to leave any plants that were still flowering, for the pollinators to continue to use and we noticed a lot of bee activity on the last of the blooms. The green tomatoes and the last of the green leaves and weeds we removed were fed to the hens and roosters, as greens are an essential part of chook’s diet. The more greens they eat, the more orange their egg yolks become. Barry changed all of the chooks bedding hay and we learned how helpful the used hay can be in the compost. 

Several children have been working hard digging holes with picks and shovels and creating steps in a clay bank. It was fascinating to observe the leadership and teamwork skills these students were developing. Other students saw a pile of dirt under the pines and excitedly poached some of the weeds that had been pulled from the wicking beds to create a new garden of their own under the pines. Every adventure that children create themselves is a massively powerful and valuable experience and provides them with opportunities to develop essential life skills such as negotiating, organising, innovating and problem-solving. Nothing I can plan on paper will ever hold the same power as educational experiences the children naturally encounter through play. Forest School offers the perfect opportunity for play-based discovery and your amazing children constantly prove that fact.

Ginny Tulloch 😊

Forest School Specialist Teacher