School Trips
Great Wood Farm provides an exciting destination for any school trip, to learn hands on about the countryside.
In February 2009 we set up a Forest School with our nursery, and now have 13 qualified Forest School Level 3 Leaders delivering Forest School to all ages across the nursery on a regular basis. Three of our Forest School Leaders; Kate Robinson, Robert Marlow and Jessica Jack specialise in Forest School with primary school children and lead working with primary schools and local colleges. We can deliver a range of school trips for primary schools as well as deliver Forest School skills training workshops for teachers. We run a series of training workshops each year for schools who are Inspire + members. In November 2017 we were awarded the Recognised Forest School Provider Award from the Forest School Association (FSA), the first setting in Lincolnshire to achieve this. This status recognises settings who are doing Forest School in it's true form, on a regular basis all year round. In 2024 we were awarded the Education and Learning Award from the Royal Forestry Society.
Kate Robinson is the Nursery Manager and has a background of a BSc in Countryside Management and began her career by leading outdoor education trips for residential or day learning trips in a field studies centre. On returning to Great Wood Farm Kate completed her post graduate course in Early years Professional Status and Forest School Level 3 Leader Award and set up the Forest School. Robert Marlow has a scouting background and has been a Forest School Leader for many years, he helps coordinate Forest School at Great Wood Farm and leads our Holiday Club as well as many school trips a year. Jessica Jack is our Pedagogy Lead Teacher, and is sister to Kate! Jessica has a PGCE and began her teaching career in primary education in 2013, after teaching a range of year groups and subject leads she joined the family nursery in 2024. Jessica also leads Forest School one day a week across key stage 1 and 2 at Ropsley Primary School.
Here at Great Wood Farm we offer a variety of trips to suit your needs:
Forest School Trips
Children learn to take calculated risks through climbing trees, using tools and building fires, through a combination of adult led activities and child initiated explorations. Forest School is aimed to be a programme over a few consecutive weeks and through this achieves deep level learning and the active learning style helps to improve behaviour, concentration and develops a child’s emotional intelligence. A Forest School taster session will give an insight in what can be achieved and how it benefits the children.
Environmental Education Trips
These trips develop children’s knowledge and understanding of the world through a captivating hands on approach.
You can choose one of these options or a combination of a couple to build a full day trip to the farm. School lunches can be eaten in a field as a picnic, in a base camp on tree stumps or in straw bales in a barn.
Farm Government Funded Trips
These trips are part of the Environmental Stewardship scheme and are run through the farm. We have 25 free trips a year available to groups. Groups can be school parties wanting to learn about food production, farming, wildlife conservation, landscape and historical features. Each visit will last for two hours and can be arranged for a morning or afternoon.
Here is a link to an article in the Grantham Journal from when Little Gonerby Infants School visited Great Wood Farm:
