Guide

Forest school first aid: training, kit and the common injuries

Most first aid at forest school is a splinter, a scraped knee or a cold child. Being ready for the rarer things, a deep cut or a burn or an allergic reaction a long walk from the car, is part of what lets you say yes to fire, tools and climbing.

Published: 18 October 2026 · en-GB

This guide is a starting point, not training. Always follow your own first aid training, your organisation's policies and any advice from the emergency services or NHS 111.

The first aid training forest school leaders hold

The Forest School Association's criteria for good practice expect a Level 3 forest school leader to hold a 16-hour first aid qualification, and every practitioner to keep an up-to-date first aid certificate, with paediatric content where they work with young children. In practice most leaders take a two-day course that covers both.

Outdoor first aid and paediatric first aid

  • Outdoor first aid is usually a 16-hour, two-day course. It assumes help may be a long time coming: you learn to look after a casualty for longer, keep them warm and sheltered, improvise with what you have, and manage things like hypothermia and getting help to a remote spot.
  • Paediatric first aid is about babies and young children: resuscitation at their size, choking, seizures, allergic reactions and the illnesses that come on quickly in small children. In England, early years providers work to the EYFS framework, which sets a full paediatric first aid course at a minimum of 12 hours, to be renewed every three years, and says someone holding a current certificate must go with children on outings.

Many training providers run a 16-hour "forest school first aid" or "outdoor and paediatric" course that aims to meet both needs. If you work in early years, check the course says it meets the EYFS paediatric criteria before you book.

First aid and the Level 3 forest school leader qualification

Level 3 training providers typically ask for a current first aid certificate, usually a 16-hour outdoor course, either before you can qualify or before you start leading sessions. Providers differ: some accept a three-day First Aid at Work certificate, while others will only take a two-day outdoor or forest school first aid course and say a one-day course is not enough. Check your provider's requirements before you enrol. Our guide to forest school qualifications covers the rest of the route.

Certificates typically last three years. Put the expiry date somewhere you will see it well before it runs out.

What goes in a forest school first aid kit

There is no single required list. The Health and Safety Executive's advice is to base a kit on your own assessment of what could happen, and kits sold to the British Standard (BS 8599) are a useful base. For forest school, a sensible kit includes:

  • Disposable gloves, in more than one size.
  • Plasters, including fabric ones that stay on when hands get wet.
  • Sterile dressings in several sizes, and a couple of large ones for heavy bleeding.
  • Triangular bandages and safety pins.
  • Sterile eye pads, and eyewash pods for grit, ash or smoke.
  • Cleansing wipes, and clean water for washing out a wound.
  • Fine-tipped tweezers for splinters, and a tick remover.
  • Burns dressings (gel dressings) and cling film for covering a cooled burn.
  • Tough-cut shears that will go through clothing.
  • A foil blanket or survival bag.
  • Instant ice packs.
  • A pen, a notebook and the accident form.
  • Each child's own medication, named, with their care plan: inhalers, adrenaline auto-injectors, antihistamines where a parent has given consent.

On fire and tool days, carry plenty of water as well. A burns dressing helps, but the first thing a burn needs is cool water for a full 20 minutes. Check the kit before every session, restock after use, and replace anything past its date. Our forest school equipment list covers the rest of what you take to the woods.

Common situations at forest school

A short reminder of the usual first steps for the things that come up most. Your training goes into each one properly.

Cuts from tools

Put the tool down safely, then press firmly on the wound with a clean dressing and raise the injured part if you can. Small cuts can be cleaned and covered. A cut that keeps bleeding, gapes, is deep or has something in it needs medical help, and heavy bleeding is a 999 call. Afterwards, look at what happened: the tool, the working space, the supervision.

Burns and scalds

Get the burn under cool running water at once, and keep it there for a full 20 minutes. With no tap to hand, bottled water poured over it or a towel soaked in cool water will do. Rings, watches and clothing near the burn come off, but leave anything that has stuck to it. When it has cooled, cover it with a loose layer of cling film laid on top. Keep creams, butter and sticky plasters off, and leave blisters alone. A burn that is very large or deep, on the face, genitals or bottom, or caused by a chemical or electricity is a 999 or A&E matter. If you are unsure what to do, NHS 111 can advise, and is the number to ring about a child under five.

Splinters

Wash round it with soap and warm water, then ease out a splinter that is near the surface with clean tweezers, pulling at the same angle it went in. Wash again and cover. Leave a deep splinter where it is and get the child seen by a GP or a minor injuries unit.

Stings and bites

If a bee has left its sting behind, push it out sideways with a card edge or a fingernail. Tweezers can squeeze more venom in. Wash the area, then hold something cold on it (an ice pack in a cloth) for 20 minutes or so. Watch the child afterwards.

Swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, wheezing or struggling to breathe, sudden floppiness, pale or blue skin, or a child who is suddenly very drowsy or confused can be anaphylaxis. Call 999 and use the child's adrenaline auto-injector if they have one, following their care plan.

Ticks and Lyme disease

Ticks live in long grass, bracken and woodland, and a small number carry Lyme disease. Long sleeves and trousers tucked into socks help, and a tick check at the end of the session, or at home that evening, catches most of them. Tell families how to check, especially around the hairline, behind the ears, in skin folds and around the waistband.

To remove a tick, take hold of it right where it meets the skin, using fine-tipped tweezers or a tick remover, and draw it straight up, slowly and steadily, without squashing it. Clean the bite and let the family know the date and where on the body it was. A rash, which may look like a bullseye, or flu-like symptoms in the weeks afterwards (sometimes up to three months) are a reason to see a GP or call NHS 111 and mention the tick bite.

Getting cold, and hypothermia

Cold, wet and still is the combination to watch, particularly with small children and on windy winter days. Signs to look for: shivering, pale and cold skin (lips may look blue or grey), slurred words, slow breathing, and a child who becomes tired or muddled. Get them into shelter, swap wet clothes for dry ones, wrap them up including their head, and give a warm (not hot) drink and something sugary if they are fully awake. Warm them gently, never with a hot water bottle or by rubbing their hands and feet. If you think a child has hypothermia, call 999. Spare clothes and a foil blanket in the kit, and a hot drink at the fire, prevent most of this.

Allergies and medical conditions

Before the first session, know every child's allergies and conditions, have their care plans with you, and make sure everyone on the team knows who carries which medication. Check snacks and fire food against the register. Some plants and fungi in the wood can irritate skin or are poisonous to eat, so a "nothing in your mouth unless an adult says so" rule matters, especially with the youngest.

The emergency action plan

Every site needs an emergency action plan that anyone on the team could follow. Write it for the person standing in the wood with a phone in one hand. It should say:

  • Where you are: an OS grid reference, a what3words address, the postcode of the nearest road, and directions an ambulance crew could follow.
  • Where an ambulance can reach, the gate or track to meet it at, and who goes to meet it.
  • Where the signal is: which networks work, and the spot to walk to if they don't.
  • The nearest A&E and minor injuries unit.
  • Where the first aid kit lives, and who the first aiders are on each session.
  • The recall signal (three blasts on a whistle, say) and what everyone does when they hear it.
  • Who stays with the casualty, who looks after the rest of the group, and who phones home.

A grid reference works from any OS map without a phone. Many UK ambulance services also take a what3words address over the phone. Walk the plan through with your team, and with the children too, so the recall signal is something they already know.

In the Forest School App, each wood carries its emergency plan (grid reference, what3words, nearest hospital, vehicle access, recall signal, where the kit is), and it opens on your phone with no signal. See setting up your wood and its emergency plan.

Recording accidents and incidents

Write it down while it is fresh. A good record says:

  • who was hurt, the date, the time and exactly where on the site;
  • what they were doing and what happened;
  • the injury, and where on the body;
  • the first aid given, and who gave it;
  • who was told (the family, a manager) and when.

Tell the family the same day. If you are an early years provider in England, the EYFS framework requires a written record of accidents and first aid, and that parents are told on the day or as soon as you reasonably can. Record near misses as well: they are the cheapest lessons you will get. Then look back at the risk-benefit assessment and change it if the incident showed something it missed.

A few serious incidents have to be reported further. Under RIDDOR, for example, the Health and Safety Executive must be told when someone who is not at work is taken straight from the scene to hospital for treatment after an accident connected with your activity. Check HSE's RIDDOR guidance and your own policy for what applies to you.

In the app, an incident is logged from the session on your phone as it happens: what happened, who, where on the body, the first aid and who gave it, and whether the family has been told. It joins the session record with everything else from the day. See running a session.

Keep the fire and the tools going

Good first aid cover is what lets a forest school keep its fire and tools. For the controls that sit behind them, read fire and tool safety and writing a risk-benefit assessment.

See the risk assessment app Start free

Sources

Keep reading

The emergency plan, in the wood, with no signal.

Each wood's emergency plan, the register with contacts, and incidents logged as they happen, all on your phone.

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