What Makes us Unique?

Rights Respecting School

  • Mrs Porter
  • Mrs Keene
  • Miss Filipe

Maylands’ Forest School

The roots of Forest School are in the early years pioneers in outdoor learning and Scandinavia. Forest School
is an inspirational process that offers all learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experience in a natural woodland environment.

It is a learner-centred approach which extends beyond forest School sessions and is woven into the indoor learning environment in our school.

Principles of Forest School:

  • FS is a long-term process of regular sessions rather than one-off visit.
  • FS takes place in a woodland to support the development between the learner and the natural world.
  • FS aims to promote holistic development, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.
  • FS offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.

At Maylands, we have chosen to offer forest School because its ethos creates learning communities where deep-level learning and progression are the norm.

Click here to download our 'Introduction to Forest Schools' presentation.

  • Miss Stepaniuk (Level 3 Forest School Leader)
  • Mrs Phillips (Level 3 Forest School Leader)

Thrive Approach

  • Mrs Isles (Thrive Practitioner)
  • Mrs Phillips (Thrive Practitioner)
  • Mrs Porter (Leadership in Thrive)
  • Ms Spillane (Thrive Practitioner)

Atelerista- Artist in Residence

What is an Artist in Residence?

An Atelier is a place for creativity and an Atelierista is the person who brings this place to life for children.
This comes from the Reggio Emilia Approach, which our school follows…

By bringing in an artist - someone who is creative and brings a creativity or specialist skills to the place of learning- we enrich the learning experiences of our children. Our Artist is a carpenter. He is from Costa Rica.

Our atelierista, Mr Sarkis, has supported our children to:

  • Build a shed
  • Make playground benches
  • Build stepping stone paths through the Quiet Garden
  • Design and build a trike track for the reception garden
  • Build Minibeast hotels
  • Design and make Hedgehog houses
  • Build bat boxes
  • Build bird boxes
  • Make signs for the Science Area
  • Make kites
  • Design and create a working water wheel with manual pump
  • Win Engineering award for motor-powered cars
  • Learn Spanish
  • Learn about recycling and how to be ecological
  • Learn about wildlife and how to look after it
  • Meet birds of prey