Values
We believe in offering the best teaching experiences that are well planned, well resourced, safe, sustainable, good value and high quality. We do this by having these values in the way we conduct ourselves.
Safety first
We’ll never compromise on safety and will go above and beyond what we’re required to do by law and existing forest school practice. That's why we’re working to a safe system of work and working towards reaching accreditation to OHSAS 18001. We still believe in striking a balance but we will do our utmost to keep the children in our care, members of the public and our employees safe.
Our safety promises:
Safety Planning Promise. We will provide you with our safety policy and create a specific site risk assessment for each school/landowner before we begin operations. Each session will be risk assessed and we won’t deviate from them without formally reassessing.
Competent Staff Promise. All our staff are competent and DBS checked with the update service and our leaders are either ex-teachers or forest school practitioners level 3 or both.
Safety in Practice Promise. We will regularly check for hazards, fix them if we can and record them along with near hits/incidents and report them to the landowner/school.
Sustainability
We are dedicated to a sustainable business that does not impact on our environment and care for the wooded area we operate in. That’s why we've written a sustainability policy that all employees will subscribe to. We’ll review and improve it as we grow.
Our sustainability promises:
Woodland Promise. We will respect the wishes of landowners/managers/rangers and follow any site rules they have. We will respect, listen and discuss any concerns and views of other wood users and local residents. When we leave we will leave no trace that we were there.
Business Promise. We will conduct our business in a sensible way complying with all legal requirements. We aren't out to make a quick buck -we want long term relationships with our customers. We will adopt a sensible pricing policy based on real costs and continually look to pass on savings.
Waste Promise. We will reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can and comply with environmental legislation.
Learning
We want to give every child the greatest opportunities to learn in our sessions and beyond. To do that we invest a lot of time in planning but are also prepared to deviate from that pragmatically to ensure child led learning.
Our learning promises:
We'll suggest follow on activities.
Planning Promise. All our staff are supplied with a meticulous plan of their session which they will happily share and discuss with teachers. Written by teachers the plans have specific learning objectives, a timing plan with extension activities and plenary to assess learning via key questioning.
Child led Promise. We ensure safety and welfare of your pupils so we can concentrate on learning. We will manage their behaviour with fun and engaging activities. We’ll respond to their questions and differentiate. We will use a variety of learning styles.
Support Promise. We support teachers and the school by giving them access to our session plans with clearly defined learning objectives, differentiation and assessment strategies. We will recommend other activities to carry out in class for once we’ve gone. We invite observations by other teachers, governors and inspectors.
We value those we do business with
No company can exist without maintaining good relationships with those it does business with - our customers, employees and suppliers.
Our relationship promises:
Customer Promise. We will listen to our customers. We will ask for feedback and actively encourage evaluation.
Employee Promise. We will encourage staff to achieve their potential so they can do the best teaching possible. We will never pay below the living wage for our paid employees. We will support interns and volunteers to get the experience they need to succeed in whatever career they choose to follow.
Supplier Promise. We will pay for goods and services as promptly as possible.
We are proud members of the Forest School Association FSA and subscribe to their members code of conduct for our Forest School Activities. For long term programmes we adhere to the full principles and criteria for good practice . Our short term sessions are meant as taster sessions to help centres of learning see what Forest School could achieve with the adoption of a long term programme. Find out more here about the FSA here.
Would you like to work for the Fairy Forest School?
We’re currently looking for new employees with our values to join us. We are seeking candidates to fill the following roles:
Fairy Forest School Leaders: You should be a Forest School Practitioner level 3 and will be involved in delivering an exciting well resourced experience as part of our programmes. You will be expected to supervise assistant/support staff or volunteers to ensure safe and efficient delivery of the fairy forest experience.
Fairy Forest School Assistant: You will be responsible for leading some activities under supervision. You should have experience of working with children and a love of the outdoors. A Forest School qualification or experience of working in schools or nurseries is desirable.
Fairy Forest School Support: You will be responsible for the smooth running of Fairy Forest experiences such as maintaining fires, gathering wood, assisting children and preparing resources on site. Some experience of working with children or nurseries is desirable. You must have a love of the outdoors.
Currently we can only offer part time casual work but are intending to recruit full time staff soon. Please contact us and send your CV and covering letter.
Volunteer for us:
We’re also looking for volunteers to act as support or assistants to our leaders. Ideal for those that want to experience teaching in an outdoor or school environment. Volunteers are entitled to claim reasonable expenses.
Please note that all our roles involve working with children and will require a DBS (previously CRB) check.