What Is Forest School? And Why Some of the Best Learning Happens Outside the Classroom

There is a particular kind of child who is hard to teach indoors. They are bright, you can see it, but sitting still for extended periods is a battle, the classroom feels like a box, and their engagement fluctuates in ways their teacher struggles to predict.

Put the same child in a woodland setting and something shifts. The focus improves. The collaboration is easier. The risk-taking, climbing, building, problem-solving happens naturally, without the social anxiety that can come with being wrong in a classroom.

This is not anecdote. It's what Forest School practitioners, educational psychologists and primary teachers have been observing and documenting for decades. And it is the principle at the heart of why outdoor learning is now considered a serious pedagogical approach, not a glorified play break, but a structured educational programme with measurable outcomes.

What is Forest School?

Forest School is an educational approach that uses outdoor, nature-based environments as the primary setting for learning. It originated in Scandinavia in the 1950s, where the idea of friluftsliv, outdoor life, was embedded in education from the early years. The approach arrived in the UK in the 1990s and has grown steadily since, particularly in the independent sector, where schools have the freedom and space to implement it properly.

Forest School is not a single lesson or an occasional trip to the woods. It is a programme, a regular, sustained series of sessions led by a trained Forest School practitioner. Sessions happen regardless of weather. Children learn to manage fire, build shelters, use tools, identify species, navigate, collaborate and problem-solve in a setting that is deliberately uncontrolled. The learning is real, physical, and often quite messy.

Practitioners hold a recognised qualification, typically a Level 3 Forest School Leader award, and the approach follows a set of principles developed by the Forest School Association. These include: taking place in woodland or a natural space, running for a sustained period across all seasons, and prioritising learner-led, play-based learning.

What the research says

The evidence base for Forest School is growing. A review published in the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning found that regular Forest School participation was associated with:

• Improved concentration and attention in classroom settings
• Increased confidence and self-esteem, particularly in children who struggled in more structured environments
• Better physical coordination and risk assessment skills
• More sophisticated collaborative and communication skills
• Greater environmental awareness and a genuine connection to the natural world

Research from King's College London and the University of East London has found that children who spend significant time in unstructured outdoor play develop better executive function, the cluster of cognitive skills that includes planning, self-regulation, and the ability to switch attention. These are not peripheral skills. They are the skills that underpin academic success.

Perhaps most significantly, Forest School has consistently shown benefits for children who are disadvantaged by traditional classroom models: children with ADHD or sensory processing differences, children with anxiety, and children who are kinaesthetic learners, those who think through movement and doing.

Forest School at Leweston Prep

Leweston School sits in 50 acres of Dorset countryside. This is not incidental to the educational offer, it is central to it.

At Leweston Prep, outdoor and woodland learning is a structured part of the curriculum. Children have regular sessions in the school's woodland areas, led by trained staff. Sessions are not confined to science or geography, outdoor learning at Leweston connects to the topic-led curriculum that runs through the school, meaning children might be building scale models of Roman siege engines, investigating soil composition, writing observational poetry about the changing seasons, or mapping a section of the school grounds with compass bearings.

The woodland learning programme runs from Pre-Prep through Prep. Young children in Reception and Years 1 and 2 are introduced to outdoor learning through the Pre-Prep curriculum, building dens, growing vegetables, exploring minibeasts, learning to read the sky. By Year 4 and 5, the sessions are more complex: problem-solving challenges, fire lighting under supervision, construction projects, and sustained independent investigation.

What the school observes consistently is the same thing that the research predicts: children who are quiet in the classroom find a different voice outside it. Children who struggle to collaborate in a structured setting work easily in a woodland one. The outdoor environment functions as a kind of equaliser, it values a different set of intelligences, and different children get to be the expert.

What parents notice

"He came home and said he'd made fire for the first time. He talked about it for days," said one Leweston parent. "He also wrote about it in his English lesson the following week, the best piece of writing he'd produced all term."

This is a pattern that Leweston teachers see repeatedly: the outdoor experience becomes a source of authentic writing, genuine scientific curiosity, and real discussion. Children don't have to be persuaded to engage with something they have actually done and felt.

Another parent put it simply: "She doesn't want to miss a forest session. On the days when there's woodland learning, she's out of the car before I've stopped moving."

Forest School vs outdoor PE: what's the difference?

It is worth being clear about this, because schools often describe very different things using similar language.

Outdoor PE, cross-country running, games on a field, athletics, is valuable and at Leweston is a robust part of school life. But it is not Forest School.

Forest School is specifically about nature-based, learner-led activity in a woodland or wild setting. The teacher is a guide and facilitator, not an instructor. Children are given real choices about what to investigate and how. The risks are managed but real: children handle tools, build fires, climb trees. The learning is emergent, it follows the child's curiosity rather than a predetermined lesson plan.

The two approaches complement each other. Leweston offers both and the combination of structured outdoor sport and unstructured woodland learning produces children who are physically active, confident in natural environments, and, as the research predicts, better able to concentrate and self-regulate in the classroom.

Questions parents often ask

"Is it safe?" Forest School sessions at Leweston are led by trained, qualified staff and subject to careful risk-benefit assessment. The activities are challenging, that is partly the point, but they are not reckless. Children learn to assess risk themselves, which is a skill of genuine importance.

"What if the weather is bad?" Forest School happens in all weathers. Children are provided with appropriate outdoor clothing. Getting wet and muddy is part of the experience and managing it is part of the learning.

"How does it fit with academic learning?" Very naturally, at Leweston. The topic-led curriculum means that outdoor sessions are connected to classroom learning, not separate from it. A term on habitats and ecosystems will include Forest School sessions that directly inform the science and geography work happening inside.

Come and see it

The best way to understand what Forest School actually is and whether it's the right environment for your child is to visit. Leweston's grounds speak for themselves, and the outdoor learning programme is something we are glad to show families directly.

Book a visit at leweston.co.uk/prep/admissions or call 01963 211015.

Leweston School is an independent day and boarding school in Sherborne, Dorset, for pupils aged 3 months to 18. The Prep School runs from Year 1 to Year 6.