About the event

A ten-day course certified by AIM Qualifications Group aimed at outdoor practitioners who wish to gain their Level 3 Certificate for Forest School Leaders to lead their own Forest School programme. 

Course dates: Monday 5 to Friday 9 October, Monday 12 to Wednesday 14 October, Monday 9 to Tuesday 10 November, 9am-5pm each day.

Entry criteria: 

• Aged 21 or over
• Level 2 Literacy and Numeracy (minimum of Grade 4 / C at GCSE)
• Two years’ experience working with your chosen client group
• Enhanced DBS
• Commitment to completing an appropriate First Aid certificate before undertaking Introduction to Forest School Programme
• All participants must demonstrate that they are in a position to deliver a six session Introduction to Forest School pilot programme during their training.

Cost: £1,100 + VAT 

Please email forestschooltraining@essexwt.org.uk to register your interest and request a booking form, upon receipt of which you will receive an invoice for the cost of the course.

Course Overview:

• Online Welcome session
• Ten days of face to face training to cover Forest School programme delivery, learning and development, planning and preparation, practical skills and the woodland as a learning environment, using our indoor community space and nature reserve.
• A coursework portfolio should be completed within 11 months of the start of the course, this will involve a lot of additional study.  This portfolio is split into 5 units (details of which can be found below), hand in dates for these units will be given out on the course and will be spread over a 11-month period from the start of the course.
• As part of the course you will be required to plan and deliver a six-week Introduction to Forest School programme during which one of your tutors will perform a support visit
• Five online support sessions linked to each unit, spread over the 11 months of the course. Dates will be provided with booking information.

Course content:

The Level 3 course is designed to develop leadership, facilitation, practical and teaching skills to enable participants to understand the principles and ethos of Forest School and to plan and deliver Forest School programmes.  It is designed to meet the needs of early years practitioners, teachers and teaching assistants, youth workers, adults and professionals in training to become a Forest School Leader. 

The course consists of five units:

Practical skills

Planning and Preparation

Woodland as a Learning Environment

Delivery

Learning & Development

Hand in dates are set at regular intervals throughout the 11 months following the teaching days (deadlines provided with booking information).