Through deepened connection with natural spaces local to their schools, teachers and students will foster lasting relationships with the land, with their communities and with each other.

Forest Site School weaves together the immersive inquiry approach core to Inquiring Minds Site Schools with the child-led experiences central to forest and nature learning.

2025 Application Criteria

Edmonton Forest School Society (EFSS) will select two teachers and their classes to participate. Forest Site School will follow a seasonal rhythm instead of the conventional Inquiring Minds model of five consecutive days. Seasonal teacher workshops held at Gold Bar and/or Kinsmen Parks and without school students will begin in Spring 2025, and continue once per season in Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026 (4 total). Site school sessions with the teacher and students will take place in Fall 2025, Winter 2026, and Spring 2026; each session will be one- two full days. Site school sessions will be held at outdoor locations within walking distance of participating schools. Participating teachers and classes commit to learning outside regularly in between EFSS visits.

Applicants are required to submit a proposal (maximum 2 pages). Please include the following information:

• Teacher’s name, grade and school.
• Why have you chosen Forest Site School? How does participation serve your larger school community?
• What cross-curricular learning outcomes do you hope to achieve through participating in Forest Site School? Please provide specific knowledge, understanding, and skills and procedures examples where appropriate.
• Provide a specific inquiry question or topic you will be exploring with your students all year. Expand on how participating in Forest Site School will support connections to this driving question/topic.
• Illustrate how you will prepare your students for inquiry learning throughout the whole year including how to ask questions and use skills of observation. Be specific!
• Various modes of journaling are an essential part of Inquiring Minds Site Schools. How will you prepare your class to journal? What strategies will you use to develop journaling skills throughout the school year?
• How might different community perspectives inform your site school experience?

Please consider connecting your proposal with Edmonton Forest School Society’s 2025 strategic priorities to:

1. Contribute to the health and sustainability of natural environments;
2. Prioritise child-led learning and corresponding skill development;
3. Uphold treaty responsibilities;
4. Nurture relationships with community members, local organizations, and industry experts;
5. Grow forest and nature education/educator communities of practice; and
6. Ensure accessible programming for all through equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives.

We are so grateful to our project funders for supporting us in this work: