TENBURY Forest School students are discovering the many wonders of woodland environments with the installation of a ‘Bug Storey’ and lots of new equipment, purchased with the help of Kingspan Insulation Community Trust.

The Forest School, set up by Tenbury Church of England Primary Academy, provides a learning environment for students from nursery age up to year six.

It provides outdoor education with a qualified Forest School leader to help participants develop new skills, increase self-esteem, and confidence by learning from real-life experiences in a woodland environment.

The school was awarded a £3,000 grant to help update and renew its existing equipment to continue to offer excellent learning opportunities.

‘Bug Storey’, which is a bug habitat with removable drawers, allows pupils to find a variety of creepy crawlies to watch and collect data. Its installation in the Forest School offers seasonal activities for current pupils as well as being an exciting resource for future generations. Lots of new equipment was also purchased, including Kelly Kettles for outdoor cooking, a picnic bench, bird tables, bird feeders, and a weather mill.

A weather mill aims to encourage young people to record and reflect upon how weather conditions affect plants, animals, and the environment.

The grant also helped to fund a workshop led by ecologists to teach young people about how to identify key species, in addition to ensuring the staff felt comfortable and confident using the small minibeast habitats in the Forest School.

“We believe that the benefits of outdoor education are catalysts for an improvement in educational attainment, said Jill Grant head teacher at the school. "With restricted school budgets, it is often difficult to provide for what the government would term ‘non-essential’ outdoor resources and we are so grateful to Kingspan Insulation Community Trust for offering their support to help enhance our outdoor learning provision.

“The Forest School is sometimes a young person’s first contact with nature.

“Insatiable curiosity in young people is something that is wonderful to encourage, especially with regards to nature.”