Summer programme starts 22 July
Booking now open 

Blacknest Forest School offers children the opportunity to explore, learn and grow in a serene and secure enriching environment, in every school holiday. Find out more…

Spring has brought its full display of abundant colour and diversity of leaf.

Send your children to Forest School this summer and lets them see what we can learn about the woodland together.

Spring 2026

The rise in biodiversity is evident as wildflowers flourish, attracting more insects which then provide food for more birds. The rich and varied habitats here are ideal for small birds.

Birds

There is more bird song than ever before – Chiff Chaff and Firecrest, Green woodpeckers and Tree creepers are evident. Squirrel populations are kept down to support this.

My special delight this spring is in seeing last year’s tree and hedge planting come into leaf to form clusters of undergrowth where before there was nothing.

Amongst our many activities, whittling and fire striking are favourites – not learnt elsewhere.

The wide range of options on offer, lead parents tell me that our Forest School is their favourite holiday club!

Many Forest School children come back time after time as they grow in love and understanding of all the woods can offer at any given season.

Our Mission

We aim to manage the land for wildlife, and it’s great that we are seeing significant positive changes in this direction.

“One of the things I value most about outdoor learning is that children experience challenge in real and manageable ways.

A fire will not always light first time, a den collapses and has to be rebuilt, or a plan changes because of the weather. Children have to adapt, rethink and try again. From the outside, these moments can seem small, but they are often where some of the deepest learning happens.

Children learn patience. They learn persistence. They learn how to cope when something does not go to plan. They learn how to ask for help, work together and keep going even when something feels frustrating.”

– Sarah Blackwell, author and leader in Outdoor Learning and Forest School

Woodland Play Oct 25

We run forest school sessions every school holiday.

“It was awesome!” – Child

A truly wonderful place for children, all year round! – Parent

Education is not a matter of getting facts and sewing them within brains, it is an attitude of mind that you teach children to find out for themselves” – David Attenborough

Research by the National Trust (Finding Nature | Nature Connectedness Research Blog by Prof. Miles Richardson) has helped people to recognise a love of nature (nature connectedness) and being engaged in nature in simple ways leads to better wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours. That is what we can achieve.