Forest School Practitioner Training courses, outdoor workshops, creativity courses and more from Kindling Play and Training
If you wish to be added to the list a booking form will secure a place.
Kindling delivers RQF accredited Forest Schools Practitioner Training at NOCN (One Awards) Level 1 through to Level 3. These training courses can be delivered in house f the group size is viable. All courses are facilitated by Lily Horseman, an experienced and creative trainer and Forest School practitioner. Lily has held a Level 4 Forest School Trainers award since 2009, is a director and Chair of the Forest School Association. For more information or to ask questions call Lily on 07789 723 061 (please note that texts or WhatsApp messages may not receive a quick response, phone calls will receive a faster response).
Lily has demonstrated that Kindling Forest School training meets the criteria set out by the Forest School Association and has met the Quality Assurance benchmarks.
Click on an event for more information and to download booking forms.
Or filter events by category or tags below.
Come and join other Forest School practitioners form across Cumbria to share practice, chat over what’s going on in the world of Forest School, get up to date on latest developments and revisit and extend your own skills.
We’ll be exploring the theme of “caring for”; a bit of tool sharpening and a bit of self care, tarp repair & etc! We’ll get a fire lit, a kettle over it, some light refreshments cooked over the fire and there will be a selection of tools and a nice woodland to hang out in.
Bring and share lunch. We’ll be exploring any other Forest School related things that people are engaged in, feel free to bring a question or idea for the rest of the group to help you work through.
Email lily@kindlingplayandtraining.co.uk to let us know you are coming and get detailed directions to the site.
OCN Forest School Level 1 Training
This course is aimed at individuals with little or no experience of working in the outdoors, and aims to build knowledge and confidence in the safe use of equipment and tools
Kindling will introduce basic woodland skills, and individuals will be required to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna in a woodland area. The course will allow participants to look at using the outdoor environment to facilitate different learning styles and to encourage the development of personal skills such as confidence and self-esteem.
Participants will learn how the outdoors can be used to encourage all areas of development, understand factors that affect children’s behaviour and strategies for the outdoor environment. We will also look at how the outdoor environment encourages independence, self-reliance and self-esteem and promotes healthy, balanced social and emotional growth.
Course Duration: 3 days
Portfolio Completion will take place during the course and be handed in on the last day.
This course is ideal for those people who are wanting to gain skills for working outdoors with children and young people, those who want to explore Forest Schools within their own setting or those who wish to support a trained Forest Schools practitioner.
NOCN Forest School Level 1 Training
This course is aimed at individuals with little or no experience of working in the outdoors, and aims to build knowledge and confidence in working with children outdoors and an insight into the Forest School Ethos.
Kindling will introduce basic woodland skills, and individuals will develop a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna in a woodland area. The course will allow participants to look at using the outdoor environment to facilitate different ways of learning outdoors and to encourage the development of personal skills such as confidence and self-esteem.
Participants will learn how the outdoors can be used to encourage all areas of development, understand factors that affect children’s behaviour and strategies for the outdoor environment. We will also look at how the outdoor environment encourages independence, self-reliance and self-esteem and promotes healthy, balanced social and emotional growth.
Course Duration: 3 days
Portfolio Completion will take place during the course and be handed in on the last day.
This course is ideal for those people who are wanting to gain skills for working outdoors with children and young people, those who want to explore the possibilities for Forest Schools within their own setting or those who wish to support a trained Forest Schools practitioner.
This course does not enable you to deliver Forest School programmes as a qualified practitioner.
27th-29th September finishing at lunchtime on the 3rd day.
This is a 3 day OCNWMR accredited course worth 3 credits. Delivered in partnership with Jon Cree.
We will delve into: what challenges us as leaders in the outdoors; theory on challenging behaviour, up-to-date neural research; triggers and causes for behaviour that challenges us, ways of dealing with ‘real life’ scenarios; de-escalation and formulating/reviewing your own policies, including looking at the validity of sanctions and rewards in a community based approach. We will look at how to develop our own empathetic responses to children and young people and how to react to their needs.
As this is an OCN Level 3 course worth 3 credits it will require participants to reflect on their own practice and write up a workbook after the course which we estimate would take approx 8 hours work. It is suitable for people who have trained as Forest School practitioners or who work in the outdoors.
“this course has really helped me re-appraise the way I work with some of our students and has actually given me new strategies for working with challenges that have worked!” ~ participant from February 2011 course
*This venue has basic accommodation on site which is included in the price. Other local accommodation is available.
NOCN Forest School Level 1 Training
This course is aimed at individuals with little or no experience of working in the outdoors, and aims to build knowledge and confidence in the Forest School ethos and principles.
Kindling will introduce basic woodland skills, and individuals will be required to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna in a woodland area. The course will allow participants to look at using the outdoor environment to facilitate different learning styles and to encourage the development of personal skills such as confidence and self-esteem.
Participants will learn how the outdoors can be used to encourage all areas of development, understand factors that affect children’s behaviour and strategies for the outdoor environment. We will also look at how the outdoor environment encourages independence, self-reliance and self-esteem and promotes healthy, balanced social and emotional growth.
Course Duration: 3 days
Portfolio Completion will take place during the course and be handed in on the last day.
This course is ideal for those people who are wanting to gain skills for working outdoors with children and young people, those who want to explore how Forest Schools could work within their own setting or those who wish to support a trained Forest Schools practitioner.
Funding for subsidies for practitioners in the South Pennines comes from Heritage Lottery Fund and Newground Together administered by Pennine Prospects.
NOCN Forest School Level 1 Training
Wigton Infant School, 23rd Feb, 2nd March and 9th March 2018
This course is aimed at individuals with little or no experience of working in the outdoors, and aims to build knowledge and confidence in the Forest School ethos and principles.
Kindling will introduce basic woodland skills, and individuals will be required to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna in a woodland area. The course will allow participants to look at using the outdoor environment to facilitate different learning styles and to encourage the development of personal skills such as confidence and self-esteem.
Participants will learn how the outdoors can be used to encourage all areas of development, understand factors that affect children’s behaviour and strategies for the outdoor environment. We will also look at how the outdoor environment encourages independence, self-reliance and self-esteem and promotes healthy, balanced social and emotional growth.
Course Duration: 3 days
Portfolio Completion will take place during the course and be handed in on the last day.
This course is ideal for those people who are wanting to gain skills for working outdoors with children and young people, those who want to explore how Forest Schools could work within their own setting or those who wish to support a trained Forest Schools practitioner.
Funding for subsidies for practitioners in the South Pennines comes from Heritage Lottery Fund and Newground Together administered by Pennine Prospects.
21st-23rd March 2018 finishing at lunchtime on the 3rd day.
This is a 3 day OCNWMR accredited course worth 3 credits. Delivered in partnership with Jon Cree.
We will delve into: what challenges us as leaders in the outdoors; theory on behaviour, up-to-date neural research; triggers and causes for behaviour that challenges us, ways of dealing with ‘real life’ scenarios; de-escalation and formulating/reviewing your own policies, including looking at the validity of sanctions and rewards in a community based approach. We will look at how to develop our own empathetic responses to children and young people and how to react to their needs.
As this is an OCN Level 3 course worth 3 credits it will require participants to reflect on their own practice and write up a workbook after the course which we estimate would take approx 8 hours work. It is suitable for people who have trained as Forest School practitioners or who work in the outdoors.
“this course has really helped me re-appraise the way I work with some of our students and has actually given me new strategies for working with challenges that have worked!” ~ participant from February 2011 course
*This venue has basic accommodation on site which is included in the price. Other local accommodation is available.
NOCN Forest School Level 1 Training
This course is aimed at individuals with little or no experience of working in the outdoors, and aims to build knowledge and confidence in the Forest School ethos and principles.
Kindling will introduce basic woodland skills, and individuals will be required to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna in a woodland area. The course will allow participants to look at using the outdoor environment to facilitate different learning styles and to encourage the development of personal skills such as confidence and self-esteem.
Participants will learn how the outdoors can be used to encourage all areas of development, understand factors that affect children’s behaviour and strategies for the outdoor environment. We will also look at how the outdoor environment encourages independence, self-reliance and self-esteem and promotes healthy, balanced social and emotional growth.
Course Duration: 3 days
Portfolio Completion will take place during the course and be handed in on the last day.
This course is ideal for those people who are wanting to gain skills for working outdoors with children and young people, those who want to explore how Forest Schools could work within their own setting or those who wish to support a trained Forest Schools practitioner.
Funding for subsidies for practitioners in the South Pennines comes from Heritage Lottery Fund and Newground Together administered by Pennine Prospects.
NOCN Forest School Level 1 Training
This course is aimed at individuals with little or no experience of working in the outdoors, and aims to build knowledge and confidence in the Forest School ethos and principles.
Kindling will introduce basic woodland skills, and individuals will be required to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna in a woodland area. The course will allow participants to look at using the outdoor environment to facilitate different learning styles and to encourage the development of personal skills such as confidence and self-esteem.
Participants will learn how the outdoors can be used to encourage all areas of development, understand factors that affect children’s behaviour and strategies for the outdoor environment. We will also look at how the outdoor environment encourages independence, self-reliance and self-esteem and promotes healthy, balanced social and emotional growth.
Course Duration: 3 days
Portfolio Completion will take place during the course and be handed in on the last day.
This course is ideal for those people who are wanting to gain skills for working outdoors with children and young people, those who want to explore how Forest Schools could work within their own setting or those who wish to support a trained Forest Schools practitioner.
This course will run December 5th- 7th 2018.
1.30pm-5.00pm on Wednesday and 9.00am- 4.30 pm on the Thursday and Friday.
The cost is £280 for the course. This course can be accredited as a level 3 award at an additional cost of £50. This accreditation will require some additional work and you can decide what you want to do at the end of the course. This is a level 3 OCNWMR accredited course worth 3 credits.
The course will be delivered by Jon Cree and hosted on the Branching Out Forest School site in Liverpool.
This course is aimed at any educator who feels they want to engage and work with students in the outdoors who may be reluctant learners (of any age).
We will look at;
- What do behaviours communicate?
- What is challenging behaviour, what challenges us as leader in the outdoors?
- Behavioural theories and how these relate to our own settings
- ‘Neural development’—the most recent research and how this affects triggers and causes for behaviour
- Causes of certain behaviours’—models for working with behaviour—the 3C’s, non violent communication and the pros and cons of rewards and sanctions’’? ‘What needs do the outdoors cater for?
- Ways of working with ‘behaviours’ interventions and de-escalation’ in the outdoors
- Motivating our learners
- ‘Transferring’ behavioural strategies from the outdoors to everyday life in educational settings and home
- Looking after ourselves
- ‘Policies and procedures’ relating to behaviour, safeguarding & learners safety’
To accredit this as an OCNWMR Level 3 course worth 3 credits it will require participants to reflect on their own practice and write up a workbook after the course which we estimate would take approx 8 hours work. It is suitable for people who have trained as Forest School practitioners or who work in the outdoors.
Jon Cree, training co-ordinator and 11 –19 programme manager at Bishops Wood Centre in Worcestershire, will be facilitating sessions that involve ‘real life’ scenarios, some outdoor exercises, as well as chats around the fire! Jon has been working with youth groups and groups of young people with specific needs, in the outdoors for almost 30 years.
