The Wild Warrior framework is for learners between the ages of 3 and 14. It is a totally inclusive award and suitable for learners of all abilities, including SEND, EYFS, primary and secondary. We have a wide range of customers from various settings, including primaries, secondaries, SEMH, SEND and alternative provision settings, nurseries and home education groups. Both schools and freelance Forest School providers use our framework and have been thrilled with the benefits.

Each Wild Warrior framework is a complete bank of downloadable resources, linked to a Wild Warrior badge, e.g. Fire Lighting. An individual badge toolkit includes: Wild Warrior Learning Journal This is an editable journal, including space to jot down plans and resources for sessions, record session reflections and add photos or drawings. These can be used as a single central record, kept by the practitioner and printed on completion as a record of achievement for each learner, or can be printed for individual learners to fill in week by week. (Downloads in MS PowerPoint). Wild Warrior badge specific assessment template/Printable tracker Each assessment template contains a set of progressive descriptors unique to each badge. Every template has space to complete assessments for up to 30 learners. The assessment template calculates the level each learner/participant is working at (Between 1-10) based on their engagement. Wild Warrior Certificates Printable, badge specific certificate to celebrate engagement and participation. Wild Warrior Practitioner Guide A guide to support implementing and using the Wild Warrior Education resources in your setting, including how to fill out the assessment templates and use the Learning Journals to support child-centred planning, observation, reflection and celebration. Wild Warrior Printable Badges 40mm, full colour awards badges. 20 per sheet. Beautifully designed with a space to write in the level of award achieved. Simply print out and then share with your learners. Why not stick to wood cookie medals? Or print directly onto sticker paper. Alternatively, order pre-cut and printed recycled stickers from our shop. Wild Card The Wild Cards are activity ideas linked to each award. There are 5 ideas provided for each award. These are suggestions for you to adapt and give you a little inspiration for you and your learners on those days a little inspiration is needed!

The Wild Warrior framework is split into 3 core award areas: Skills, Knowledge and Holistic. Badges within each of these core areas are organised into a collection of similar badges, identified as a category e.g: Core area: Skills Category: Tools Badge: Bow Saw Skill badges focus on developing specific skill areas linked to outdoor learning e.g. using knots or techniques in outdoor cooking. Knowledge badges develop understanding of and connection to the natural world, such as understanding native flora and fauna. Holistic badges focus on developing invaluable interpersonal qualities and skills in learners, such as leadership and teamwork.

Any setting with an outdoor space and plenty of enthusiasm for the outdoors! Every educational setting is different, it may be urban, rural or somewhere in between. There are over 50 badges to choose from, so you're guaranteed to be able to facilitate something your learners are interested in. Nurseries, SEND, EYFS, Primaries, Outdoor Learning Centres, CICs, PRUs, secondary settings, afterschool clubs and home educators all take advantage of the learning resources available from Wild Warrior Education with fantastic results!

Whenever you are undertaking outdoor learning or Forest School! Encourage learners to use the badge menu as a stimulus for what they would like to do in the outdoors. This could be displayed in your setting, or shared at the beginning of sessions. Conversely, when facilitating learners interests, it may be more natural to match their interests to a badge. The progress descriptors on the assessment template are great to use as ideas for activities but certainly don’t need to be used as a prescriptive set of learning activities. Some badges may be better for a specific season, such as the Bug Hunter Award, which will be more suited to warmer seasons.

There are several approaches to Forest School and outdoor learning and many factors can put pressure on how this type of learning is carried out, but a commonly held principle is that outdoor learning should be carried out over a sustained period of time to really allow learners to be connected to the outdoors and consolidate their interests. After several weeks, or when a unit of sessions conclude e.g. half term, would be a great time to fill out the assessment template and celebrate learning and development. Each learner has space for 3 separate end of unit assessments, these are great to show how learner engagement is progressing over time, especially with a handy graph at the bottom!

The Wild Warrior framework is totally flexible. It is designed to use as a standalone framework and is suitable for Forest School or other outdoor learning. Naturally, it does link to other areas of the curriculum, such as Science, English or Maths. Select the badges most appropriate for your learning purpose. You can be guided by the progress descriptors on the assessment templates but these are not exhaustive and are not designed to dictate learning experiences, which means that they can be used very flexibly and woven into the interests of the learners or needs of the curriculum if this is most suitable for your setting or learner needs.

The Practitioner Guide contains everything you need to know about how to fill out the assessment template for a specific badge when you are ready to reflect on the engagement of your learners at the end of a unit, e.g. at the end of a half term. The MS Excel templates have space to assess up to 30 learners, including 3 different assessment points for each learner. Simply type the name of the learner at the top, add the date of assessment and then rate the level of engagement against each badge descriptor. The spreadsheet will do the rest of the work for you and then you will be ready to give out your certificates and badges.

The assessment templates are time efficient. Once you have a feel for the 10 engagement levels, it is easy to assess the engagement level against each of the descriptors for a badge.

The framework assessment is designed carefully to be inclusive, with a strong focus on engagement, enabling learners of all needs to demonstrate development. We believe this is a crucial part of outdoor learning, ensuring that everyone has access and their development is valued. The framework is not designed to be 'completed', think of it more as a 'pick n mix' library, where interests can be met as and when needed.

There are 10 progress levels, linked to learner engagement, from Experience all the way through to Mastery. These are explained in more detail on the assessment templates and in the practitioner guide.

No problem! There are lots of funding grants and bursaries available for outdoor learning and you could use these to purchase the Wild Warrior framework to use in your setting. Because of the extensive benefits of outdoor learning, it will be simple to evidence the importance and impact of this for funding purposes. Outdoor learning and Forest School can also be considered as part of the Outdoor and Adventurous programme within PE. Primary schools receive a funding premium for PE and this could be a great way to use this funding. Alternatively, some settings may be able to fundraise or ask for parental contributions to enable your setting to implement the framework.

The Wild Warrior framework has been designed by an experienced Level 3 Forest School Leader and SEND Teacher to support child-centred learning at Forest School. Many of the badges do not require any specific training, just a passion for being in the outdoors and enthusiasm for learning. However, key badges have been designed with specific Forest School/bushcraft type activities in mind and require that settings have appropriately trained staff and risk assessments in place to carry out activities linked to those badges. This responsibility is solely on the education setting or company implementing the framework. All activities are suggestions and not obligations. Appropriate risk assessments, qualified practitioners and health and safety procedures must be in place, Wild Warrior Education accepts no responsibility for any injury or loss caused as a direct or indirect result of implementing our resources.

The assessment template is set up for a maximum of 30 learners. Each learner has space for 3 separate assessment points. Input each learner name and then the date of assessment in the first column for the learner. Then, read through each of the descriptors for the award in the left hand column, these are progressive and gradually increase in sophistication. You will find a drop down box corresponding to the descriptor for each learner with the numbers 0-10. Each number corresponds to a level of engagement, from Experience through to Mastery. Full descriptions of engagement at each level are indicated on the template. Use these to decide what level the learner is working at for each descriptor. If the descriptor isn’t relevant, or hasn’t been covered, no problem. Just leave it blank. When you have completed each learners assessment it will auto-generate the award level they are currently working at. Fill these out for all learners at the end of a series of sessions, unit or half-term. We appreciate your setting is different to others, so do what works for you. When you revisit skills at later points, you can then fill out a newly dated assessment and see the progress automatically generated on the graph included in the template.

There are 2 ways to do this. 1. Badges can be ordered as a pack or single sheets at the time you download the toolkit, that way you have them to hand as soon as you need them. 2. Alternatively, order them after you have completed the assessments, so you know exactly how many of each level you need. This is a great way to make it cost-effective. Badge stickers are printed in sheets of 20 for a single level e.g. a sheet of 20 stickers for Level 1.

The Learning Journal is a digital download (MS PowerPoint). It is fully editable on your computer or device and includes quick to use sections to add photos from your session. They are also easy to print off so your learners can reflect on their sessions and fill in their own. The Learning Journal is a simple way to implement a planning, observation and reflection process. Simply jot down loose ideas for sessions and reflect on what happened. It is filled in week by week and is a great way to document the skills, knowledge and holistic experiences of the learners. If edited on the computer, it can be easily printed and kept as a record for each learner, or sent home for parents and carers to enjoy! The Learning Journal also works brilliantly printed as a blank booklet, ready for learners to use as an individual journal for reflection. Rather than adding photographs, they can draw pictures in the available sections.

If you encounter any problems, we are just an email away! We want to make sure you and your learners are getting the most from your outdoor learning, so we are more than happy to ensure that happens. Contact us at hello@wildwarrioreducation.co.uk and one of our team will be more than happy to help you.

Get in contact! We’d love to hear from you and your ideas and would be more than happy to collaborate and create you your very own bespoke badge, complete with assessment template and badge design. Get in touch here. The sky is the limit!