5 years ago local teacher Kristen Simonson and her husband purchased an acreage north west of the city and she has now turned this space into a classroom through the Sage Creek Prairie School.

Simonson details her motivation for starting the forest school.

"An acreage north west of the city of Swift Current and its native prairie. It borders on to a really pretty aspen saskatoon structure coulee and I am a teacher, so as I was looking at this property for the first time I realized it would be a pretty neat space to bring kids to teach them."

Although the school just started up this summer, Simonson who is a teacher at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School has been bringing students out to her property for years. 

She provides details behind the concept of a forest school.

"I was introduced to the idea of forest schools which are not very common in this part of the world but they are very common in Europe which is where they originated. And it is the idea of bringing kids of all ages into nature and telling them to explore, do risky play, creative play and a lot of learning with a teacher, not as a teacher but more of a facilitator."

Simonson then decided to get certified in this form of teaching which she did over a number of years. 

The school has already run a couple of camps this summer including the kids in the coulee program for ages 3-5 which took place over 6 days with different sessions each day all of which were child-directed. There were free play activities including a mud kitchen, water wall, and lots of creative play opportunities as well.

Coming up on August 21st is an adult retreat where adults can come to learn some basic outdoor skills, some basic knife work, fire building, and possibly even some medicinal/edible plant foraging. 

Simonson says there is an overwhelming amount of data that says that play is the best way of learning anything for any age group. If you enjoy what you are doing and enjoy where you are you are going to learn things at a deeper level. 

Simonson adds that there isn't a formal program as they adapt to where the kids are and there isn't really any form of assessment or certificate at the end as the focus is more on the process.

In terms of the future of the school, Simonson says this summer was similar to a pilot project to see how things went and they are planning on running sessions in the fall as well. She says they are still remaining very cautious as their target age group of kids that attend are still under 12 years old and cannot be vaccinated. 

Those interested in registering for one of the programs or finding out more information can do so on the Sage Creek Prairie School website or they can also be found on Facebook and Instagram.