Acorns to Oaks

05/06/2026

Lots of wildlife activity by the pond this week, froglets, baby frogs and a beautiful female Broad Chaser Dragonfly. We had spotted Dragonfly larvae in the pond previously but found this in the long grass along side. She must have just emerged from the larvae stage as she couldn't fly but was gradually stretching her wings as the day went on.

Hopefully we will see her on the wing for the rest of the summer term and meet her young in the water soon.

30/05/2026

The Lottery money dropped this week, so we now have to decide how exactly to spend £20,000, what a fun task! What would you Forest School people out there do?

Essentially we have a two acre space with thousands of saplings and want to create an amazing resource for Fender Primary School and the local community. We have our own ideas but would love to hear other people's.

The picture is a quick mud kitchen we put together this week with some left over bits and pieces.

14/05/2026

£20,000 Lottery award today for Fender Forest School! Acorns to Oaks put together a bid for the National Lottery Community Fund to develop Fender Primary's Forest School area.

We will be installing a roundhouse and outdoor kitchen amongst other items, and will opening up the space to community groups.

And as of September we will be running Forest School sessions two and a half days a week in the space, up from one day this year.

If you would like us to have a look at how your outdoor space could be developed or are interested in our Forest School services please get in touch.

04/05/2026

So the training can begin! I have completed my shadowing and can now run Level 3 Forest School courses.

Two are booked so far with spaces available on both. There is an eight day intensive summer course near Birkenhead from 10th to 16th August and four half days in September. To book please go to https://bookwhen.com/cambiumforestschooltraining/e/ev-s4ihp-20260810000000

Then there is a blended course near Northwich in September and October with six days face to face and two days online learning. This is on September 11th and 18th, and October 2nd, 8th, 16th and 23rd. To book please go to https://bookwhen.com/cambiumforestschooltraining/e/ev-s0213-20260911000000

Both will be school based sites so will provide an ideal opportunity to learn how to establish new forest schools within an education setting.

Both courses are £1200 including VAT for schools and £1100 for independent students.

For any further information about these courses, about forest school in general or if you would like to visit our base on the Wirral please get in touch.

Forest School Training at Levels 2 and 3

25/03/2026

I have recently undertaken my Level 4 Forest School and Outdoor Learning training with Cambium Sustainable.

This means that from July I will be running Levels 1 to 3 courses of Forest School and initially Level 1 in Outdoor Learning.

The first Level 3 will be an eight day face to face course in the latter half of the summer on the Wirral, and the second is a blended course with six days face to face in the Autumn term in East Cheshire.

I have been running school based Forest School sessions for the last 14 years and have recently established a school site from scratch. This means I am very experienced in the practicalities of delivery within a school setting and can give trainees the knowledge and advice they need to develop their own Forest School.

If you are interested please get in touch.

The picture shows the woods in the distance where I have been doing my training this week, it did not actually involve sheep.

15/03/2026

Petrified Forest School, some shots of a 7000 year old forest on Cresswell Beach in Northumberland yesterday morning. You can see the trunks and roots sitting on and in a layer of peat that is being eroded away as well as WW2 tank defences that have sunk.

06/03/2026

We refurbished the F2 play area at Town Lane Infant School, removing and replacing redundant elements and creating a covered communication space.

This is a really cost effective way of bringing play areas back up to scratch rather than having to scrap or fully replace the equipment.

09/01/2026

We have launched an updated website for Acorn To Oaks Saunas including a price list!

Please share and drop me a message if you fancy coming round to see one of our saunas - it has been awesome coming out of the sauna into the freezing cold this winter

https://www.acornstooaks.org.uk/acorns-to-oaks-sauna

03/12/2025

01/12/2025

Our first garden sauna