December 30th, 2019

Seriously BEAUTIFUL views of the rural countryside of England only one hour out of London by train.  Simply Breathtaking!

​Nurseries
In England, nurseries are a big business. I don’t mean big business in a money grubbing way, but that child care is highly important and it is everywhere. Seriously, you cannot throw a rock without hitting a nursery, however, please don’t throw rocks, that is just not the way to make friends.  

Popularity of Nurseries in UK
Anyway, everyone we spoke with either owns a nursery, wants to expand to two nurseries or has a relative who owns several nurseries.  It seemed odd to me because in the States we have day cares or preschools, which are usually ran out of churches or synagogues or someone’s home.  I think it is partly due to during the 1800’s, nannies and nurseries were part of life here in England (think Peter Pan, right?).   I also think it has to do with funding.  In the UK families are given funding for 15 hours worth of care a week for ages 3-5 and from the age of 2 if the family is underserved.  Even though the experts we spoke with said it would be better if the families were fully funded by the government, they still are doing something right because at least a government is showing some support for early childhood care and education… They are the future, right?  It seems insane not to provide care for your most important commodity. (By that I mean children, for those who weren’t getting my drift.) ;)
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​Little Laura’s Nursery
Little Laura’s Nursery’s Forest School is relatively new. Little Laura’s has been in operation since 2010.  They have motto of it is a “home from home” way of operating. Children who attend this school are from the ages of 12 months to 5 years. They maintain the idea that children should expore their own world at their own pace with the guidance of adults through creativity, free play, and experimentation with outside play being essential to their learning experience.

Location, location, location
The location of Little Laura's Forest School was about 1/4 mile down a residential street.  You can see this little nook in the bushes, that is how they enter their creative forest world.  As soon as they duck under the branches they are immediately transported to another world.  It is a small space, about two acres, but it is loaded with all sorts of nooks and spaces for imagination.  Below you can see a fallen tree.  the children refer to this as the pirate ship.  They have loads of adventures in this space.

​Safety and Rules
Far from the “free ranged” children that people assume is Forest School.  There is no running around like a banshee.  There is no one screaming and getting lost in the woods.  These children are given boundaries, reasons for the boundaries and they accept them and know the consequences. They self-govern. When we were at the fire circle, a child walked through the center area and three children immediately told him he was breaking the rule.  “You are supposed to walk AROUND the fire circle.  If you go through the center, there could be a fire and you could fall in and get all burned up.”  Ok, a bit graphic, but they know the rules, they know why they are in place and they help each other remember these rules.
 
Giving them boundaries and relying on them to know the boundaries helps prepare them for autonomy.  They are not just crazy small people running a muck… They are intelligent beings who have questions and want to explore and gain confidence in the process.

​Little Laura’s Property
The building is charming as all get out.  It used to be an old primary school and they turned it into a home for the children. The Forest School has just been approved by the neighboring area after copious checks on environmental impacts.  They have only been a Forest School or “Forest School inspired” school for 4 months.  They have created paths and little nooks and crannies to play in on a 3 acre space nestled in the neighborhood about a ¼ mile from the physical location of the nursery. They have a fire circle and several spaces for play.

The website to Little Laura’s is  Check it out for yourself.  Look at their learning goals, fine & gross motor skills, mathematical, literacy, understanding the world, social/emotional, and creative arts skills.  They have it all right there for you to see. www.http//.lln.school/

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Pig and Owl
We were introduced to the pig and owl game.  It is a sort of hide and seek game where the animals are hidden in the woods prior to the children arriving and they search for the critters as they work as a team.  This helps with cooperative learning and vocabulary.

​Drawings
One very important component of Little Laura’s is embracing the arts.  From my perspective, they are allowing the children to document their experiences through their drawing and explain their thought process (BTW this is very similar to the Reggio Approach to learning).  The teachers encourage them to draw and record what the children say.  Here are several examples of their work.  As you can see their thought process is detailed and each bit of the drawings have meaning to the children.  I want you to also notice that they have no apprehension about using the whole paper.  By the time children get to 1st grade, they rarely cover the full page without direct instruction to do so.
 
Documentation
Much like the Reggio Approach, the learning is documented rather than given a grade.  It is about how much a child has grown, matured, and learned individually.  On a regular basis the children’s work is documented and saved for the parents to see the progression from the beginning of the year to the end.  This is far better and demonstrated true understand way more than an arbitrary A, B, or C.

The Kids' Rules
Check out these rules that the children collectively made for the Forest School.  My favorite one is "Don't lick things."  That is a good rule no matter where you are.

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