Our forest school in Prenden

Forest Days of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School

We have our own school forest in Prenden. Every week, grade six has a whole day in the forest. Students from other grades also explore and learn in our forest. Through tried and tested methods and lessons in nature, we want to prepare our students for a more respectful, enlightened and compassionate approach to the environment and the world in general.

We want our students to build relationships with the natural world through a deeper understanding and to develop behaviours that keep their bodies, minds and spirits balanced and healthy.

For us, school means that we train pupils to become lifelong learners who experience that spending time in the forest and in nature is good for the body. This creates a deep bond between them and nature, which they will instinctively protect in the future.

Spending time in the forest and in nature…

• reduces heart rate, blood pressure and stress,
• awakens the senses, creativity, concentration and cognitive skills,
• reduces anger,
• stimulates the immune system,
• increases dopamine and lowers cortisol levels.

NATURE CURRICULUM

Since our inception, we have placed special emphasis on activities that take place in nature. Our forest school has its cradle in our Berlin Cosmopolitan School programme of extracurricular learning and has grown since 2003. As a learning organisation, we will continue to align this concept with current research and adapt it to changing needs, together with teachers and learners.

Since 2003, we have regularly gone out into nature, where we learn and teach through primary experiences in the community and through individual exercises. At each stage of development of the pupils, pre-school and kindergarten children, we use nature close to us to develop social, emotional and physical skills.

Our educators regularly spend time with children in nature and have developed our concept for several age groups. In 2017, based on almost 15 years of experience, we founded our own forest school on our own piece of forest and published the concept in our book “Forest Days” in 2022.

Photos on this page ©Marcel Schwickerath