Our Week in the Forest...
It’s been an unusually quiet week in the forest, not what you might expect from settling week! Without any holiday campers, it has been a less intimidating environment for our settling children and they have been able to get lots of attention from the adults and educators. For some, as soon as they were past the rainbow ribbons, their parents were out of mind. For others, it took a little longer to warm up but by the end of the sessions, all of them seemed to have had a magical time. Not only have we had new children join us in the forest but we’ve had a number of new educators join our Little Forest Folk Wandsworth team. The children have been delighted to have so many new faces to tie up and put in jail, to act as monsters to chase them around the forest or to have them read stories. They’ve brought with them new games, ideas, songs, stories and languages and we know the children will love them!
Like every academic year this is a stage where there is lots of change, and we want to ensure those children who are staying with us remain as settled as possible. The changes provide lovely opportunities for conversations around how children who leave the forest will go on to do different things. Some children might go to a really big primary school, some might be moving to a school where they already have brothers or sisters while others might be staying at home with mum or dad to learn with them. The children who are leaving often talk excitedly about this next step and although it’s sad to see them leave the forest, we are genuinely excited for them too.
We have been incredibly fortunate to see these children develop so enormously in so many different areas and we want those who are staying with us to be just as excited about taking the next step when it becomes their turn. Personal, social and emotional development – the things that are so important in adult life, are areas where the children develop so immensely with us and it’s these skills that are most obvious when new children join. Often, we will observe how a new child, maybe not quite sure how to join in, will be ambushed at times by our regulars, offering them things to play with or opportunities to join in. It’s one of the things that help children settle so quickly and make this such a special nursery for your child to spend their time in.
For those who have had last days over the last few weeks, we will truly miss your little ones and would love very much to see them back for holiday camps. For those who are staying with us or starting with us, we look forward to seeing you for another fun filled week, next week!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth