Forest School

Welcome to our Forest School a place where nature becomes our classroom and curiosity leads the way. We’re incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such an abundance of space, allowing children to explore freely, learn through play, and connect deeply with the natural world around them.

All our children take part in weekly outdoor sessions throughout the year, whatever the weather. These sessions offer a rich mix of activities including den building, mud kitchen play, bug hunts, team games, creative crafts, fire lighting, nature exploration, and much more.

Our aim is to inspire children to connect with, appreciate, and care for the natural environment. We also encourage them to learn more about themselves, take on new challenges, build confidence, develop resilience, and most importantly have fun!

Spending time outdoors has been widely shown to support well-being, mental health, and emotional regulation. It helps children become more engaged, focused, and enthusiastic about learning.

Forest School and the Green Tree Schools Award

As part of our Forest School sessions, we engage in a variety of activities linked to national schemes that promote outdoor learning. One of these is the Woodland Trust’s Green Tree Schools Award, which encourages children to explore and appreciate trees, woods, and wildlife.

Through this award, our school has taken part in exciting, hands-on projects that support environmental awareness and enhance our school grounds. Over the past five years, we’ve proudly earned Bronze, Silver, and Gold certificates and we’re now just three points away from achieving the prestigious Platinum Award!

RHS School Gardening Awards Our school is proud to be part of the RHS School Gardening Awards—a five-level scheme designed to help pupils experience the many benefits of gardening, from supporting the environment to improving wellbeing. These awards have helped us grow our knowledge, develop new skills, and celebrate our achievements along the way.

• Level 1: We demonstrated our understanding of the benefits of gardening, created a growing space, and began planting.
• Level 2: We showed how children contributed to our gardening plans and shared the new skills we had learned.
• Level 3: We expanded the variety of plants we grew, kept them healthy, and used eco-friendly gardening techniques.
• Level 4: We focused on gardening for wildlife, linked gardening to the curriculum, and launched our seed library to share plants and seeds with others.
• Level 5 We’re so pleased to confirm that we have received our Level 5!
• This fantastic achievement recognises our commitment to gardening year-round, engaging with our local community, and keeping gardening at the heart of our school.
• We’re incredibly proud of everyone who has helped make this possible. 🌿💚

We’ve also taken part in RHS initiatives like the Big Seed Sow and Big Food Share over the past two years. These events have brought our community together to sow, grow, care for, harvest, cook, and enjoy a wide range of fruits and vegetables in our raised beds and polytunnel.

Our seed library, set up two years ago, is a thriving community resource where children, parents, and local residents can donate, swap, or take seeds to grow at home. The children play a key role in collecting seeds from our school grounds, crafting paper envelopes, and sorting them for sharing each year.

We’re absolutely delighted to share that Mrs Anderton has won Gold for St Margaret’s at the RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards, part of the prestigious RHS Britain in Bloom campaign.

Thank you, Mrs Anderton, for making our School bloom with pride!

” A Wonderful School garden led by Anna who runs outdoor learning sessions every day”.

Somerset Gardens Trust Grant Success We’re delighted to have received generous support from the Somerset Gardens Trust, which has helped us enhance our outdoor learning environment in exciting ways.

Thanks to this grant, we’ve been able to:

• Revamp our school pond, creating a vibrant space for pond dipping and exploring aquatic habitats.
• Purchase nets and equipment to support hands-on learning about water-based ecosystems.
• Redesign our raised beds and growing areas, making them more accessible and productive.
• Improve our watering system, ensuring our plants thrive throughout the seasons.
• Invest in new gardening tools to support our pupils’ growing skills and enthusiasm for horticulture.

These improvements have enriched our Forest School and gardening sessions, giving children more opportunities to connect with nature, learn through experience, and care for their environment.

We are delighted to share the wonderful news that St Margaret’s School has been awarded an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award with Distinction!

This fantastic achievement recognises the hard work and commitment of our whole school community in making a positive difference to our environment.

We are incredibly proud of our pupils and staff for their dedication to sustainability and for helping to make our school a greener place.

Our Journey Toward Zero Carbon

In November 2023, we were thrilled to receive a £200 grant from the OVO Grant Nature Prize, which enabled us to create a beautiful wildlife meadow on our school grounds. This project has expanded the range of habitats and boosted biodiversity, while also contributing to carbon storage on site.

We’re proud to be part of Let’s Go Zero – a national campaign uniting schools, colleges, and nurseries in the mission to become zero carbon by 2030.

Our success was made possible thanks to the incredible support of Yeovil Rivers Community Trust, who guided us through every stage—from the grant application to turf removal, seed sowing, and the ongoing annual scything that keeps the meadow thriving.

Over the past four years, we’ve built a strong partnership with Yeovil Rivers Community Trust, whose expertise and support have been invaluable in enhancing our school’s natural environment.

Together, we’ve revitalised our pond area – re-lining the pond, planting native marginal species, and constructing a hibernaculum to support local wildlife. Their team has also delivered hands-on, water-themed workshops for our KS2 pupils, sparking curiosity and environmental awareness.

To bring learning to life, they’ve organised inspiring field trips to Sutton Bingham Reservoir and Dodham Brooks, where students explored real-world conservation and flood management techniques in action.

We celebrate Earth Day in April every year, where children and their families can take part in a range of nature, gardening and outdoor activities.

Growing Green Together

This year, we launched a new Eco/Gardening after-school group as part of our journey toward earning the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. This internationally recognised programme offers a simple seven-step framework that empowers young people to take meaningful action for the environment within their school, local community, and beyond.

Through hands-on gardening, sustainability projects, and eco-awareness activities, our students are learning how small changes can make a big impact.

Connecting with Our Local Community

We’re proud to be building strong links with our local community, including a wonderful partnership with the National Trust at Tintinhull Gardens. As part of this collaboration, our pupils helped plant an apple tree in the orchard and later returned to collect apples—turning them into delicious fruit juices.

Hedgehog Heroes

We’re thrilled to share that St. Margaret’s has received a generous donation of hedgehog highways from the Parish Council, helping us support one of Britain’s most beloved and endangered garden visitors.

During our Forest School sessions, our Adventurers, Investigators, and Explorers have become true hedgehog champions learning fascinating facts about hedgehogs, exploring the reasons behind their population decline, and discovering ways we can help. Pupils even built cosy hedgehog homes to provide safe shelter on our school grounds.

We’ve installed several highways along our fence to allow hedgehogs to roam freely, let’s work together to protect and welcome these wonderful creatures into our community!

Proud to Be a Friend of the Honey Bee

At St. Margaret’s, we’re buzzing with excitement to be recognised as a Friends of the Honey Bee, a title that celebrates our commitment to protecting these vital pollinators and supporting biodiversity.

Honey bees play a crucial role in our ecosystem, helping plants grow, flowers bloom, and food crops thrive. Through our eco-initiatives, gardening projects, and outdoor learning, we’re creating bee-friendly spaces and teaching our pupils how small actions—like planting wildflowers, avoiding harmful pesticides, and spreading awareness—can make a big difference.

By becoming Friends of the Honey Bee, we’re not just supporting nature—we’re inspiring future environmental stewards to care for the world around them.

Let’s keep the buzz going and help our bees thrive!

Outdoor Adventures for All Seasons

We were lucky to be chosen to received essential Waterproofs and Wellies sets, thanks to the incredible efforts of Aiden Redfearn-Ward, the inspiring 9-year-old ambassador for the Outdoor Guide Foundation, and the generous support of the Somerset & Exmoor Coast Festival.

Their combined mission is making a lasting impact on Somerset schools—ensuring that more children can enjoy the great outdoors, no matter the weather. With this new gear, our pupils now have the freedom to explore, learn, and play outside all year round, rain or shine!

If you’d like to read more, follow this link – The Outdoor Guide Foundation