Forest school started this summer with Abi and her team. It’s been extended beyond the summer in to the Autumn. The woodland is alive with children’s voices, feral face painted kids – a benign Lord of the Flies. The next days I find arrows, wool in trees and wood piles waiting for the next time.
I arrived at the close of school one day, and see a mother keeping back.
They’re about to do the Circle and I don’t want to distract!
‘Circle now’, echoes through the wood.
Another mother arrives.
‘Thank god it’s Monday, she says. ‘I love Mondays, my kid is totally OK after Mondays here, not hyper not grumpy, but full of the day, and tired at night – yes, I love Mondays. This is a magic place. Whoever got this wood has done marvels.’
One of the mothers comes from Norwich – it’s the nearest forest school which offers a whole days schooling so she can go to a library and study her Open University work undistracted.
Kaliwood 