Sheffield’s hills, woodlands and green spaces shape a city where families explore together and children grow up with nature on their doorstep. At Sheffield Girls’ GDST, their innovative Explorers programme embraces this outdoor spirit, weaving Forest School principles into an approach crafted for pupils from Reception to Year 4 and focusing on child-led exploration and meaningful risk-taking. Each session helps girls take supported risks, trust their judgement, work as a team, express ideas confidently and develop resilience – skills essential in school and life.
The youngest pupils experience outdoor learning every week, exploring autumn leaves, noticing winter changes, planting in spring and investigating minibeasts in summer. This hands-on experience nurtures early scientific thinking and encourages a natural sense of wonder.
In Key Stage 1, girls move into imaginative, sensory-rich activities rooted in storytelling and creativity. Through foraging, potion-making and using real tools to create tree cookies and wands, they build fine motor skills and self-belief, all within a world of play and possibility.
As they grow, so does the challenge. Girls learn key knots using paracord, build shelters, navigate using maps, work with tools such as peelers and sheath knives, and take part in bushcraft activities. These sessions develop practical problem-solving, leadership and teamwork, alongside a clear understanding of safety and responsibility.
Explorers is more than a set of outdoor activities. It is a thoughtfully crafted curriculum that gives girls time to think, space to move and the freedom to try, fail, try again, and succeed. It is where muddy hands, imagination and determination come together. Where friendship grows around a fire pit. Where girls discover that courage feels a lot like climbing into a den you built yourself.
Go online to learn more and book your visit in spring
- Infant and Junior School Open Evening – Wednesday 15th April 2026
- Infant and Junior School Open Week – Monday 27th April to Friday 1st May 2026
