Teach Primary Issue 18.4

children to take measured risks is to better train and equip them so they can recognise and manage risk throughout their lives. In forest school sessions we actively encourage this for children. Recently, a group of Year 2 pupils decided to create a slide using pallets. They worked out the angle the pallet needed to be placed at in order for them to land safely on their feet, rather than tumbling into the sandpit with a thump. Apart from the wealth of scientific information they were gathering (why a wet pallet allowed them to travel more quickly than a dry one, and whether their waterproofs or wellies were better for this activity), the children assessed the potential harm and made changes accordingly. Offering all pupils the opportunity to take risks is fundamentally important, as many of them will not have had the chance to challenge themselves in potentially risky play or learning scenarios before. For those children, their environment may be so carefully managed that forest school is the only place where they are free – and actively encouraged – to take risks. Early in my teaching career, I recall a parent firmly insisting that I should not allow her child to run in the playground, purely to avoid him ever falling over and hurting himself! In our woodland area, an environment filled with logs, trees, bushes and long grass, children naturally want to explore. Not only does this environment challenge learners, but a number of other risks may arise due to our changeable weather affecting site conditions. Thus, the children must learn how to respond to dynamic and unpredictable situations safely. As the outdoors is increasingly seen as an important place for people to spend time in, surely we need to train children how to be safe, while maintaining a healthy interest in exploring? Ironically, for many children, forest school may be the only place where they can ‘safely’ take risks. So, forest school leaders have a professional (and moral) duty to provide opportunities for this. Through risk-taking, children gain an awareness of their own limits and boundaries and, ultimately, learn how to be safe. TP Sabina Khanam is an experienced primary school teacher and forest school leader. She currently teaches Year 2. Sabina Khanam Forest school can be a perilous business, but that is where its value lies VO I C E S www.teachwire.net | 13 S chools are places where the safety and wellbeing of children are of paramount importance, and rightly so. But how does this fit in with encouraging children to take risks – often ones that could result in physical harm – in outdoor environments? This was often a preoccupation of mine when I started out as a forest school leader seven years ago and is still at the forefront of my mind in every session I lead. Of course, every effective forest school leader will have well-written risk assessments in place for everything from fire-lighting, through chopping wood with an axe and building a shelter, to climbing a tree. However, as is always the case in schools, in practice things are rarely such plain sailing. I recall a session where I had to keep one eye on the capture of a millipede (the holy grail of minibeasts on our site!), while simultaneously keeping the other on a child who was whittling a stick with a sharp knife. I did contemplate taking the knife from the pupil so that I could look away. But I chose not to. Should we encourage our children to take risks like this? Couldn’t we simply teach about trees and the changing seasons in the safety of a classroom? Why not ask children to read about the ever-elusive millipede in a book, rather than making them hunch quietly by an overturned log in the pouring rain waiting for one to scuttle past? For us as forest school leaders, the benefits must outweigh the risks. Our starting point is always to assess the likelihood of harm and how severe that harm could be, and then balance it against the potential rewards of the outcomes from the activity. If, after an assessment, an activity is judged as high risk but beneficial, then measures will be put in place to mitigate the risks so that the activity can go ahead. For example, we wear protective clothing when felling a tree, change the adult-to-pupil ratio according to the needs of the children, rig up a shelter when using tools on a rainy day to avoid wet slippery hands, and teach children about keeping a safe distance from a fire. Rather than trying to avoid all ‘high-risk’ activities, it’s about being aware of the risks, and managing them properly. A compelling reason for allowing Should we promote taking risks in school?