The tale of a sleepy character from a Welsh children’s book was used to awaken interest among schools in Powys in using woodlands to teach youngsters.
More than 250 children from 11 schools in the Brecon area took part in a Forest School Open Day event organised by South Powys Forest Education Initiative (FEI) cluster group.
The event featured a number of workshops based on Ruth Lee’s book, ‘Siôn Cwilt’, which relates the story of a young man called Siôn who lived with his mother but had grown so big that his feet stuck out of the window when he slept!
Siôn’s solution was to use a law in Wales at the time that if anyone could build a house in a single day and night, they could keep it and the land it stood on.
Unfortunately, as Siôn was building his ‘Tŷ Un Nos’ (one night house), he fell asleep and had to use his quilt for the roof in order to be allowed to keep it – gaining his nickname, Siôn Cwilt.
The open days were supported by the Forestry Commission Wales Woodlands for Learning team and took place in a woodland and field shared by Mount Street Nursery and Infants School and Mount Street County Primary Junior School, Brecon.
Each school brought one class of children ranging from six to nine years old for a variety of half-day sessions which included:
- Campfire cooking, where children gathered sticks to build a fire and then cooked popcorn on it
- Making bird boxes to take back to school to put up in their school grounds
- Making musical instruments from natural materials found in the woodland and small hand tools
- Through the magnifying glass art – studying small items through a magnifying glass and then drawing what they saw and arranging the drawings to make a patchwork quilt just like Siôn’s
- Making birds nests.
The workshops were run by Forestry Commission Wales, The National Trust, Brecknock Wildlife Trust and local artist Tessa Waite.
FC Wales Education Officer Kate Elias, who is also secretary of South Powys FEI cluster group, said the event’s aim was to raise the profile of Forest School in the area and to show teachers how woodlands can be a stimulating outdoor learning environment.
“We used Siôn’s exploits to give context to the activities and to help children enjoy the benefits of Forest School, such as social and physical skills, concentration, independence, knowledge and understanding of the world,” said Kate.
The event was funded by the Forest Education Initiative and match funded by Careers Wales and the participating schools, who paid £20 each to attend. Powys County Council Foundation Phase Team and Community Focused Services also supported the event.
