Example Transformational project
Forest School and Sound Garden
25% of Oldham’s 65,000 young people experience mental health difficulties. More people in Oldham report low happiness (11.3% v 9.2%) and high anxiety (24.7% v 24.2%) compared to the national statistics. Whilst almost 63% of young people are not achieving 30 minutes of activity outside of school.
Our current Forest School is based on the site of the Prep School at Thornycroft where our pupils aged 2 – 7 benefit from an spacious outdoor area under the cover of trees in approx ¼ of an acre. Here children get to be outdoors, connect with nature, study wildlife and plantlife and learn in a different setting from the traditional classroom.
The current outdoor space is excellent for the children in the Prep School, but this is limited to “good” weather conditions and seasons in the year when it is warm enough.
We would also like to extend our provision for the forest school to nurseries, primary and special schools in the area. There are 110 primary schools in Oldham and in recent years we have been developing partnerships with schools to engage children in our wider community in activities such as sport, music, literacy and reading.
If we could engage our school partners and community in our forest school provision too then we would have far greater reach and positive impact on young people who are part of the alarming statistics that we have seen.
Furthermore, we believe that the addition of a sound garden to the forest school by way of outdoor musical equipment would enhance the provision and broaden the appeal to young people and teachers.