25/08/2026
Our forest school is shut in Crimlin, Ross West, Castlebar, Co. Mayo .
Our Realtogí LOCKED OUT 💔🌲 not by me, not by our families, not by choice 😭
And yet, across Ireland, national guidance and childcare organisations are rightly promoting the importance of outdoor play and learning:
“Time outdoors shapes lives that care.”
They tell us that outdoor experiences nurture curiosity, wellbeing, resilience, confidence, belonging and a lifelong connection with nature.
That is exactly what Ros na Réaltóg provided for seven years.
So where was the governance when this established, registered and deeply valued service was being forced to close?
Where was the meaningful consultation?
Where was the opportunity for our families to be heard?
Where was the mediation, independent oversight or willingness to bring everyone around a table before children lost their preschool?
Parents wrote letters, sought meetings and asked for a resolution. Families were willing to help. Yet our little forest school is now closed, our children have been displaced, and an irreplaceable outdoor learning community has been taken from them.
Policies and beautiful publications matter—but they must be reflected in decisions made on the ground.
If we genuinely believe that outdoor learning shapes children’s lives, then services delivering it should not disappear without the children, parents and provider being properly heard.
Where was the protection for our children—and who is accountable when governance fails them?
Alan Dillon TD The Connaught Telegraph Rose Conway-Walsh
🌿 Taking learning outdoors
Outdoor play is so much more than a break from the indoor environment. It gives babies, toddlers and young children opportunities to move, explore, investigate, take manageable risks, encounter nature and make discoveries in ways that simply cannot be replicated indoors.
The updated Aistear: Early Childhood Curriculum Framework places an intentional focus on learning outdoors and on children's connection with dúlra (nature).
As we prepare for a new programme year, it is a lovely opportunity to reflect:
How can our outdoor spaces become places of curiosity, exploration and possibility — every day, and in every season?
Read more: When the Roof is the Sky: https://www.tusla.ie/news/new-outdoor-play-guidance-for-early-years-services/
Explore NCCA's reflections on outdoor learning and Exploring and Thinking below.
Reed more: NCCA Outdoor learning blog: https://ncca.ie/en/updates-and-events/latest-news/2025/february/aistear-blog-4/
