Jennifer Lewis, ETL
Field Studies Council Amersham. February 2026
As an outdoor educator with over 20 years’ experience and a background in Forest School I was very excited to learn about the new Experience Outcomes and begin to put them into practice.
A little encouragement to help uncertainty turn in to curiosity
My first opportunity following the education training came on a very wet day in early February, teaching a group of Year 11 pupils from an academy in Slough who were studying Biology. The school is currently rated as “requires improvement” by OFSTED and situated within one of the top 15% most deprived areas in England according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
Although the session began with some uncertainty in the classroom, a little encouragement quickly helped students engage with the activity. Before long, they were confidently matching key terms with their definitions, answering questions, and beginning to form their own hypotheses. After gathering wellies and coats, we headed out to the pond.
Despite another slow start outdoors, made even slower by the steady rain, the group soon became increasingly enthusiastic as we began invertebrate sampling. Their excitement grew with each new discovery, and the energy of the session shifted from hesitant to genuinely curious and engaged.
Turning data collection into a source of joy
We caught newts, dragonflies, and leeches and “a whole family” of greater water boatmen. We overcame some fears and embraced the squelchy mud. Not long into the dipping one student came up to me and said “I’m LOVIN this Miss. I might even go into this, you know?” she also went to tell the teacher the same. When asked, lots of them enthusiastically said they were having fun. After collecting some data, but more importantly enjoying a very engaging session, the students returned to the classroom for some brief conclusions and a lunch break in the dry. After lunch we took the longer scenic route through the forest to do an edge of woodland transect, matching colours to paint sample cards and noticing the many shades of brown and orange, as well as the acidic green of the moss glistening in the rain. We listened to bird song in the woods, admired a red kite circling, hugged some trees, talked about lichen, spotted the bluebells shoots just coming up in the woods and stroked moss growing on the base of trees.
“Can we just come here for free miss? I love being here”
“I wish there was somewhere like this in Slough we could go, I have to get the bus everywhere.” I chatted with the students about how being in the woods is scientifically proven to make you feel better, lower your heart rate, and calm you down.
The students carried out their edge of woodland transect, we admired some Witches Butter fungus (“it looks like Haribo, can I eat it?”), squelched in the mud, the teacher took loads of photos, and we saw some Scarlet Elf Cup fungus glowing through the gloom on some damp logs. One student said to me:
“it smells so GREEN here doesn’t it, smell that” (we took lots of deep breaths). Another commented “I’ve never been somewhere this…. earthy. It’s really fun”.
Back in the classroom, we wrapped up with some conclusions and evaluation, and I took a moment to chat with the students about how their day had gone. When I asked for a quick poll, every single student gave a thumbs up to show they’d enjoyed themselves, and 99% waved to say they’d done something they’d never experienced before. It was a lovely, genuine moment that really highlighted the impact of the day.
One student came up to me when we were tidying up,
“I just want to say thank you miss it’s been a really fun day, and this has inspired me to do A level biology”.
The ultimate 5-star review!
The power of leaving your comfort zone
Despite the challenging weather and very muddy conditions, the students approached the day with determination and grew in confidence as the activities progressed. With encouragement they embraced new experiences outdoors and supported one another through moments that were outside their comfort zones. By the end of the trip, they had not only consolidated their curriculum knowledge and enjoyed themselves but had also overcome personal challenges to try new things.
This was a fantastically rewarding experience as an educator, though not without its challenges (namely the weather and lack of much growing in early spring!) It reminded me why I chose this career and the impact even just a few hours of environmental education can have on so many young people. I’m really looking forward to continuing to embed these outcomes into our sessions going forwards. Get out there and touch some moss!
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