A one-off, a block or a whole term
Plan a single taster, a half-term block or a full term of weekly sessions in one pass. Set the dates once and every session in the block is laid out for you, ready to open on the morning.
Session planning
Forest school session planning, from one day to a whole term.
Forest school planning runs as a loop: you plan, observe what the children actually do, adapt, review, and the review shapes the next plan. In the Forest School App, the plan you write at the kitchen table opens as the session in the wood, and your reflection carries into the week after.
- What it does
- Plan a one-off, a half-term block or a whole term in one pass, each plan carrying its woodland site, capacity, adult-to-child ratio and risk–benefit assessments, ready to open on the morning.
- Who it's for
- Leaders who plan, observe, adapt and review as a cycle.
- What it costs
- Free for individual practitioners. Organisations: Solo £8/month, Team £29/month flat, unlimited woods on every plan, free trial, no card to start.
- What makes it different
- The plan opens as the live session in the wood, and your reflection at the end shapes the week after.
Site, capacity and ratios in the plan
Each plan carries its own woodland site, a capacity cap and the adult-to-child ratio you're working to. Fill in the numbers as you plan and you'll know before the day if you're over capacity or short of leaders for the group you've booked.
Stacked risk-benefit assessments
Pull the risk-benefit assessments you need from your library and stack them onto the plan: fire pit, tool use, the site itself. They're snapshotted to that session, so the day runs against exactly what you signed off, even if the library copy changes later.
The cycle, built in
Plan, observe, adapt, review, and round again.
Anyone who's done the Level 3 Forest School Leader award knows the cycle: you plan a session, observe what the children actually do with it, adapt in the moment, and review afterwards so the next plan is sharper. In the Forest School App your plan opens as the live session, your observations and dynamic risk notes go in as the day happens, and your end-of-session reflection feeds into the next plan.
Autumn term
12 weeks
Tuesday Toadstools · Bluebell Wood
- Wk 1 · Knots & sheltersPlanned
- Wk 2 · Fire & cookingPlanned
- Wk 3 · First toolsDraft
Each week carries its site, ratio and stacked risk-benefit assessments.
Carry your plan into the live session
When the session morning comes, the plan you wrote is today's session. Open it in the field and it works offline. The booked or group register fills from the plan, so the children who signed up are already there to mark present. Your stacked risk-benefit assessments come with the session, ready to check off, and the dynamic risk log is there for whatever comes up on the day. So is the group's charter, the children's own rules in their own words.
Reflect and adapt for next time
At the end of the day, while it's fresh, jot the session reflection: what worked, what you'd change, the child-led thread you want to follow next week. That's the review step of the cycle. It shows against the next session in the block, so you plan the following week from what actually happened, and adapt the site, the activities or the ratios from there.
Reuse your best sessions
Save a session that worked, like the den-building afternoon, as a named template and start the next one from it. Your risk-benefit assessments live in a library and stack onto any date; last week's reflection surfaces against this week's plan; and an idea from The Clearing plans straight into a session, kit list and risk assessment attached. Schedule a whole term ahead from plans you trust.
Free for practitioners: the forest school subscribes
Every leader, assistant and volunteer gets a free practitioner account. Only the forest school running the sessions needs a plan, and one plan covers the whole team and every session you schedule. A freelance leader working on their own is on Solo (£8 a month, VAT included); a forest school with staff is on Team (£29 a month flat, VAT included), and every plan starts with 30 days free, no card needed. See full pricing.
Planning questions
The things leaders ask first.
Can I plan a whole term in one go?
Yes. Schedule a one-off taster, a half-term block or a full term of weekly sessions in a single pass, each with its own site, capacity and stacked risk-benefit assessments. Every session in the block is then ready to open on the day. See scheduling a term ahead for how the dates and the register tie together.
Does my plan really open as the live session?
It does. The plan you wrote becomes today's session in the field, working offline with the register already filled and your stacked RBAs attached. You plan once and run from the same record. New to planning the forest school way? Our guide to planning a session walks through it.
How does reflection feed the next plan?
Your end-of-session reflection is the review step of the plan-observe-adapt-review cycle. It surfaces against the next session in the block, so when you plan the following week you're building on what the children actually did, as the Level 3 award teaches.
Plan your next term the forest school way.
Set your forest school up free for 30 days, no card needed. Plan a session, run it in the wood, and plan the next one from your reflection.