School choice

Forest school or Mainstream state?

The difference between Forest school and Mainstream state is mostly one axis: measuring it. Forest school sits firmly toward no grades, no tests; Mainstream state sits toward graded and tested regularly. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Forest school

Long sessions outdoors across the whole year, led by the children, with real tools, real fire and real risk assessed rather than removed. It is a pedagogy rather than a school type — most children get it alongside something else — and where it runs as a whole setting, formal academics start late and the body does most of the learning.

What it asks of you

  • Kit, laundry, and genuine indifference to weather
  • Accepting a higher rate of scrapes as part of the design
  • Checking it is the actual model rather than an outdoor afternoon with the name attached

Mainstream state

A national curriculum, same-age classes, regular assessment, and an intake drawn from whoever lives nearby. It is the default rather than a philosophy, which is exactly why it belongs on this list: choosing it deliberately is a different act from ending up in it. The mixed intake is a real feature and, for many families, the main argument in its favour.

What it asks of you

  • Accepting that you get the school you get, and that teaching quality varies inside it
  • Being willing to supplement at home where the school is thin
  • Sometimes, moving house — which is how selection works in a system without fees
Side by side

Where they differ

Forest school is the filled marker, Mainstream state the hollow one. Widest difference first.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Forest school sits firmly toward no grades, no tests; Mainstream state sits toward graded and tested regularly.

E2Outdoors and the body
learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

Forest school sits firmly toward outdoors and hands-on is the point; Mainstream state sits a little toward learning happens at a table.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

Forest school sits toward mixed-age groups; Mainstream state sits firmly toward classes of the same age.

L1Who directs the day
the child chooses what to dotimetabled, and directed by adults

Forest school sits toward the child chooses what to do; Mainstream state sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults.

L4Where the curriculum comes from
it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Forest school sits toward it emerges from the children; Mainstream state sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance.

L2When formal academics start
when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

Forest school sits firmly toward when the child is ready, and late is fine; Mainstream state sits a little toward early, and ambitiously.

E3Technology at school
kept out until latebuilt in from the start

Forest school sits firmly toward kept out until late; Mainstream state sits a little toward built in from the start.

C2Money and distancewhat your life allows
free and local, or it is not an optionwe can pay, and we can travel

Forest school sits a little toward we can pay, and we can travel; Mainstream state sits firmly toward free and local, or it is not an option.

V3What it is for
childhood is the pointit should set up university and a career

Forest school sits firmly toward childhood is the point; Mainstream state sits a little toward it should set up university and a career.

L5What a teacher is
a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Forest school sits toward a guide who steps back; Mainstream state sits toward an authority who instructs.

C1What the family can put inwhat your life allows
school has to run without the parentsbeing in it, daily

Forest school sits toward being in it, daily; Mainstream state sits toward school has to run without the parents.

V2Who else is there
a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Forest school sits between the two; Mainstream state sits toward a broad, mixed intake matters most.

V1A view of the world
school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Forest school sits between the two; Mainstream state sits toward school should stay neutral.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing