Low ropes build for OsForest
During half term the build that was the culmination of a year’s work with Learning through Landscapes - Bringing learning to life outdoors after successfully applying for a Local School Nature Grant XL (Learning through Landscapes - Grants) back in July 2025. Ali Aspin from Learning through Landscapes and Adrian Goodhand from Coast and Forest Education met with Heidi Hack Forest Leader and spent the day building a low ropes course to broaden the forest offer for our pupils. As well as the obvious benefit of improving gross and fine motor skills, research shows that low ropes courses consistently increase social development, with significant improvements in trust, confidence, and empathy.
The three of us have been working towards the final build throughout this year, by first consulting with pupils to ask for their designs and getting them to try out some elements of a low ropes course, site visits and the purchase of a shed to store the necessary equipment in. It was good to get the views of Ali Aspin from LtL, who visits outdoor learning provisions and forest schools all over the South and South East of the UK and to discover her view that our forest and grounds were exemplary and a great asset to our school. Adrian’s twenty-five years of experience in conservation and education and expertise in rope skills and outdoor education in general was invaluable in designing and building us a flexible low ropes course that will challenge and provide countless hours of fun for our pupils, but is also achievable both in terms of our pupils and in putting the course up and changing it for different abilities. We had a lot of fun building it and trying it out and I’m really looking forward to working with our pupils and finding out their views on our work! Huge thanks go to Ali and Learning through Landscapes and Adrian for all their hard work over the year. Thanks are also due to Friends of Osborne School and Sonia who agreed to match fund the grant money in order for us to provide a low ropes course which will deliver such benefit to our pupils (as well as a LOT of fun!).
