NOCN Level 3 Certificate in Forest School Programme Leadership (RQF)

This course is an opportunity to train to become a Forest School practitioner.  The course will equip you with the skills and knowledge to develop and lead Forest school in your setting at the level 3 standard.  The course takes place mostly outside in the woods and uses a variety of games, activities, discussion, reflection and skill practice to develop the learner to become level 3 qualified.  This is evidenced through completion of 20 tasks throughout the course and at home.

This Forest School Level 3 course is aimed at individuals who have a minimum Level 2 qualification in Youth Work, Child Care, Teaching, or relevant experience in working with children.  Please talk to us if you are unsure about any aspect of this prior to the course.

The course content of this qualification is based on up-to-date research surrounding aspects of:

• Holistic development
• Neuroscience
• Theories of Learning and Development
• Woodland conservation, history and management
• Wellbeing and nature connection
• Risk benefit assessments

Course Duration

• Training days: 3 days initial training, followed by 3 days skills & theory training and 4 days consolidation and assessment.
• Portfolio work – candidates take away their portfolio to work on (For about 7 months)
• First Aid – Candidates will need to complete a 2-day ITC outdoor paediatric first aid course at their own cost (this is not provided by Bright Futures Educational Trust, but we can recommend good providers. This also does not need to be arranged prior to the training, we will discuss it during the training).

Participants on this course will need to complete a paediatric outdoor First Aid 2 day course before completing their Forest School training. (First Aid not included in price). Participants will need to have a first aid certificate (or another adult with them with one) for when they deliver their 6 forest school sessions with children during the course.  These sessions will take place after the May training dates (for the course starting in March 2025) and after the November training dates (for the course starting in September 2025).  They will need to have personally completed the outdoor first aid qualification before they finish the whole course.  

The cost of this course includes 10 days of training, course materials, and ongoing support during the course.

Janet Green from Bright Futures will be delivering the course.  Janet has been mentored by Lily Horseman and continues to work in partnership with Kindling Play and training whilst delivering this course.  Lily is a fully endorsed Forest School Association training provider and Janet is also working towards this endorsement.

Training dates:

March 2025 cohort:

Training Block 1 Tuesday 25^th March- Thursday 27^th March 2025

Training Block 2 Tuesday 20^th May – Thursday 22^nd May 2025

Training Block 3 Monday 3^rd November – Thursday 6^th November 2025

September 2025 cohort:

Training Block 1 Tuesday 23rd September – Thursday 25th September 2025

Training Block 2 Tuesday 25th November – Thursday 27th November 2025

Training Block 3 Tuesday 21st April – Friday 24th April 2026

Attendance at all course dates is essential as these form part of the learning hours of the course requirement.  Timings each day are 8:45am – 4:45pm for participants.

Venue:

Lime Tree Primary Academy and local woodland (car share to get to the local woodland may be helpful if you are willing to, it will be approx 5 minute drive away).

What you will need to bring: 

Waterproof and warm coats and pants  (we will be out in all weather apart from high winds or thunderstorms).

Waterproof footwear (walking boots or wellies)

Clean footwear for inside working

Notebook and pen

Lunch

Refillable water / drink bottle

A sense of excitement and adventure

Payments

Invoicing for this training will take place in two parts. Once your place has been booked and confirmed, we will require a £475 non-refundable deposit. We will invoice for the remainder of the fees once you have attended the first session.

About Janet Green

Janet has been working with children, young people and families since 1996.  Janet initially started her working life in Youth and Community work, where she led and developed teams to deliver street based and building based youth work in both the statutory and voluntary sector.

Janet trained to become a Forest School Practitioner in 2013; her love of the outdoors and her passion to see young people accepted as they are and able to play in nature, very much the driving force behind this.

In 2014 Janet started her journey at Lime Tree Primary Academy where she took on the role to lead Forest School and develop the outdoor learning for the children and staff.  There she has developed the school grounds, supported teachers with outdoor learning as well as lead the forest school sessions which have recognised provider status from the Forest School Association.

Janet has been facilitating the Trafford teaching School Alliance Forest School network group for the last 5 years and has experience of supporting other schools to develop their outdoor settings.   Janet delivers workshops and grounds development work for Learning through landscapes and is a LTL accredited professional.

Delivering Forest School training has always been a dream for Janet as she loves to share her passion for working with children and connecting with nature. Now, training alongside Lily Horseman of Kindling Play and Training, this is a new beginning of Janet’s Forest School journey and hopefully an exciting one for you as you embark on your forest school adventure.