Children of the Forest

Children of the Forest FSA approved & Ofsted registered Forest School and Certified Forest School Trainers
(2)

02/09/2026

Like a lot of people, I've been really interested in Alex Honnold's free climbing feats. For me, it's been particularly around some testing which showed that his amygdala doesn't fire off in a typical way. This means he physiologically doesn't experience risk in the way that most people do.

It's led me down a rabbit hole of thoughts about how, much like a person can only be brave when they're scared, can a person only do RISKY things when they acknowledge and engage with risk?

One distinction between a risk and a hazard can be whether someone perceived it or not. If you don't know about a nail sticking out of a board, that's a hazard; once someone points out the nail, it becomes a risk, and you can choose how to navigate that risk.

As facilitators of risks, should we move more of our thinking from 'did they do something that (I thought) was risky?' and more towards 'did they do something that (THEY thought) was risky?'

01/09/2026

You've got to know your staff team.

Personalised pedagogy. Personalised September Memos.

01/09/2026

Interrupting? Yes.
Demanding? Not if I can help it!

31/08/2026

I would love to know what words are in your familects!! Let me know in the comments if you've got a good one. 💚💜🌿

30/08/2026

Sometimes I can hold it together, but if there's a good bird or something I'm a gonner....

29/08/2026

Practicing skills in an "artificial" environment is something we're very used to when it comes to physical skills. Dedicated training areas reduce or elevate different expectations to practice and experience different specific skills.

But when it comes to social and emotional skills, the expectations often shift to needing to practice those skills everywhere, in the harshest environments, without acknowledging that those skills might benefit from an environment with enhanced or reduced criteria.

Practicing kicking a football doesn't immediately get challenged with, "Right, well, now do it in a cobbled street and in a small kitchen. You think the real world is set up like a nice football pitch?" but that's often the feeling that comes along when I say I'm aiming for a nice space to practice social skills in.

Only one week left before bookings closed for this cohort!Comment 'training' or check out the CotF website for more deta...
28/08/2026

Only one week left before bookings closed for this cohort!

Comment 'training' or check out the CotF website for more details.

28/08/2026

I wonder if one of the biggest differences is that one of my metrics for showing people things is, "Do I believe this is in their best interest?"

That's different from software, which only prioritizes how long it keeps you there.

Sometimes challenges are in someone's best interest. Sometimes ritual is in that person's interest, or community building, filling a bird feeder, or abstract painting!

I wouldn't hate "benevolent algorithm" being added to my CV.

27/08/2026

Got a bit passionate and overloaded the mic on this one, so sorry for the distortion!

I think the focus on activities as what makes something 'forest school' is about as true as saying everything with cumin in it is a fajita.

So much of my work has been about building that Rolodex of activities in my head so that I can pull them out at the right time based on:
- the time of day
- what we've just done
- what the energy/vibes are like right now
- what the needs are in this moment
- when we last did something like this
- and loads of other factors.

The chef makes it forest school; the activities are just spices.

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