Any work in primary schools for a teacher with a Forest School qualification..?

[OlderNotWiser]

I am an ex junior teacher, been out for nearly 10 years now, and looking to get back to some sort of part-time teaching/child related work. I have been wondering about Forest School training, thinking perhaps offering myself on a supply basis to take groups for forest school work. Would schools potentially be interested? Is there any money out there to pay for an 'extra' like this? Thanks for any thoughts.

I'd like to do that when I retire, but the likelihood of employing me as an 'extra' decreases year on year with budget cuts.

Have you tried local outdoor learning centres? Lots are running forest schools on their land now, with schools bussing in children.

It might be worth trawling the internet to find out what local organisations run FS apart from schools.

I have had a look around, and yes, there are a few forest school organisations locally that bus in, as you suggest. I was thinking more about offering the service on-site. Many of my local schools have green space so could accommodate such an idea...if they had the money to pay for me that is

The private school I work in has wonderful grounds which we know are not utilised to their full potential so this type of teacher would be very attractive to us. However I guess we are an exception and as you say funding would be an issue.

Interesting tinytalker...if you happen to be Bristol based do let me know and I'll come and pitch to you

I work in a children's centre, (in a very deprived part of London) and we use some of our budget to pay for forest school training and equipment for staff in our local pre-schools/nurseries, and foundation stage classes in the local schools. If we didn't do that, we might be interested in buying in an outside provider to do forest school sessions for our under fives. So maybe look at the children's centres in your local area especially if there are any in deprived areas.

Camden sends lots of its teachers for Forest School training, which probably doesn't help you as they wouldn't need to subcontract, but might be worth you getting in touch with them as they are obviously very supportive of it.

Thanks Golden, that's something I hadn't thought of.

And thanks whata...good to know that it is valued. Im a bit of a way from Camden but will have a peek at any website info they have if nothing else

Which (general) area are you in ?

Sorry Middlesex :(

Are you anywhere near Hertfordshire?

Forest School seems very popular with the Home Ed communities around my parts. Perhaps an avenue to explore? My children have also attended as both after-school and school holiday schemes, so in each of these cases parents paying. I think it appeals to families who want an alternative to Cubs or Brownies.

I think most primary schools would prefer to support one of their existing teachers to do forest school training rather than pay an outside worker to do the same job. IIRC it costs around £800-900 to train to be a forest school leader in my area, I think schools would consider that a worthwhile investment in a permanent member of staff.

Im near Bristol alco.

Yes, my DCs school has trained its own teachers Busker, and they do an after school club now. But it seems an inefficient way of offering forest school skills since so few children will have the opportunity to do much that way. Now, if you had a non-class based teacher that could take groups during the day, that could allow far more children access to the forest school experience. But of course that would cost extra, so back to the issue of money I guess. Clearly I just need to go and ask some local schools/cubs groups/children's centres etc if they would ever consider employing someone in this way!