A FOREST School has been opened to help pupils learn more about the outdoors within their own school grounds.

St Joseph's RC Primary School in Malvern has officially opened a Forest School with its own two Forest Leaders.

It is one of a number of sites across Worcestershire to complement the first Forest School at Bishops Wood Environmental Centre.

Teachers Mary Davies and Frances Sharps have been trained as leaders and have led groups of children from reception and Year 5 classes through a range of exciting tasks, promoting thinking skills and independence.

The activities aim to build children's self-esteem while developing team-building skills and the learning covers many aspects of both the National Curriculum and Early Learning Goals.

The Year 5 pupils have been working on a pilot programme of activities closely linked with their everyday curriculum.

On Monday, the two year groups met to use the Forest School. The older children used their literacy skills to create stories for the younger children. They will use these as a starting point for their practical activity - to design a shelter for the main story character Teddy.

"We're delighted to have this unique resource for learning right here in our own school," said Ann Marie Wallbank, headteacher at the Newtown Road school.

"We believe that in the few short months we have been running the Forest School project there has already been a noticeable impact on the children's communication skills."