The Ethos of Forest School is based on a fundamental respect for children and young people and for their capacity to instigate, test and maintain curiosity in the world around them.
Forest School believes in children’s right to play, the right to access the outdoors (and in particular a woodland environment) the right to to access risk and the vibrant reality of the natural world and the right to experience a healthy range of emotions, through all the challenges of social interaction, to build a resilience that will enable continued and creative engagement with their peers and their potential.
What does this look like at Engayne?
At Engayne we are committed to getting our children outdoors as an integral part of their learning.
In EYFS this is “Welly Wednesday” where we head outside each week and explore the school grounds using our senses and developing our creative skills.
All year groups plan outdoor learning whether is it Year One and their Autumn topic or Year Three weekly maths challenges all the children get to learn and engage with their learning in new and exciting ways. The new outdoor classroom on the field has given us a super “hub” for our lessons.
Year Two, Four and Five have Forest School sessions.
What are the benefits?
- Confidence and independence
- Empathy with others and nature
- Physical health benefits
- Mental wellbeing
- Learning from experiences
- Exposure to managed risks
- Better mood and sleep
- Teamwork
We are really proud to announce we have been awarded a Level Five Garden award from the RHS. Prizes include flower and vegetable seeds, certificates and an amazing plaque to adorn our grounds! We have also received another £150 garden voucher to enhance our grounds even further.
Our Level 5 award was achieved as we have been gardening with and for our local community and we also showed we are planning to expand our planting and growing projects so we are gardening at Engayne all year round!
We are also very pleased to announce that we have been awarded £500 from the Old School Foundation charity and received a very generous donation from Shirley Tours via the EPFA to use for the garden and planting projects we have planned for the coming year. We intend to use the funds we have to give all the children in school the opportunity to plant and grow from seed, maintain and assist with the beds, planters and growing projects in the Wellbeing Garden, allotment area, EYFS garden and enhance our school grounds! See below for the beautiful new raised beds and planters installed by Thames Chase and their volunteers using these generous donations. The tyre has now been painted and the wildflower meadow is thriving and coming into bloom!
LATEST NEWS!
We have just been awarded the GOLD award for the Spring Bulb competition. Judging took place in March just as our grounds and bulbs are looking at their best! Our new archway , purchased with our award money from the Summer competition, was a feature particularly appreciated by our judge!
We were all thrilled with the feedback about our school grounds. The judge was impressed with our wild areas, wellbeing garden, hedge and tree planting projects. She was also very complimentary about our ongoing planting, rewilding and grounds projects which have given us a wide range of fruits and vegetables which we are sharing with the local community and using for EYFS to taste and try!
BIG NEWS … we were being put forward for the London award for school grounds. We have just been informed that Engayne school has been awarded the Worshipful Company of Gardeners Trophy for being Runner up in Best School Garden! The Trophy Award Ceremony will be held in the Guildhall in November. Here are some photos of the award ceremony.
We have also submitted photos to the Havering in Bloom competition to see if our school displays can win a borough award!
LATEST UPDATE … We have just received news that Engayne are the winners of the Best School Display at the Havering in Bloom awards 2025. We were presented with a certificate and B and Q voucher by the mayor at a ceremony at the town hall.
Well done, Mrs Donovan and everyone involved in the grounds projects!
We have been nurturing our school grounds and are awaiting crops to harvest. Our local Community Cafe has offered to take any produce we can spare to use for their customers at the New Windmill Hall. The rhubarb we donated was a big hit in May!
