Children kiss their parents goodbye and make their way to class. Some are still sleepy, while others chat noisily. At first sight, it looks like any other school drop-off scene.
But here, instead of filing into a classroom, students head into a colourful yurt. And where you would expect an asphalt playground there is a large garden where rabbits, hens and sheep roam together.
We are in a ‘forest school’ called Les Petites Ruches, located in Seine-et-Marne, south-east of Paris.
Like other forest schools around the world, it follows an outdoor education model in which students use natural spaces to learn personal, social and technical skills alongside their academic studies.
The rise of alternative schools in France
Forest schools are well developed in Nordic countries and in Germany. In France, however, there are only around 40, according to Sylvain Wagnon, professor of education sciences at the University of Montpellier.
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“These schools are still very marginal,” he says.
However, in the past few years their number has grown and Mr Wagnon conceded: “We are seeing a greater appetite for teaching methods that differentiate from public schools.”
Pupils at Les Petites Ruches start with the same ritual every day: the “emotion circle”.
Each one picks a card stating an emotion and creates a sentence with it: “I’m happy to be in school,” says one. “I feel scattered – there are a lot of things in my head,” adds another.
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The high ceiling of the wooden yurt lets the bright sunlight in.
“Walk and talk quietly”, “Listen to each other”, read the Yurt rules posted on the wall.
Children are then split into several small groups. Older students study geography while the younger ones learn how to read.
Teachers encourage them to help each other: “Salomé, when you are finished, can you help Oscar with his reading?” asks one.
The school opened in 2023 and welcomes 22 students aged five-to-10 in a single class. Some children have a neuro-atypical profile, such as autism, and have specific needs.
“This is an inclusive school,” says Sasha Bogdanoff, the school’s co-founder.
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Emma Carega, a specialised educator, goes even further: “It’s a community; it’s more than a school.”
The team, trained in nature pedagogy, also counts two teachers and three assistants.
“This freedom in teaching is valuable,” says Ms Bogdanoff.
The school is regularly inspected, and teachers must have the necessary degrees to be allowed to teach.
While pupils are quietly studying, a hen shows up at the window. It is soon joined by the students who happily rush outside for their next activity.
Teachers hide pieces of paper with a sentence, conjugated in the past, present or future. Wearing rubber boots, the children clamber up fruit trees and run around the hen house and vegetable garden in search of them.
“Clara likes spinach now,” reads one of them.
“The present tense describes what is happening right now,” explains the teacher in front of a focused group seated on wooden logs.
Every Friday, class takes place in the nearby forest. Activities include exploration games, plant studies and working with the soil.
“In nature pedagogy, subjects are merged in a transdisciplinary way,” says Sylvain Wagnon, who is also the author of several books on the subject. “For example, when weighing fruits you do maths but also learn about nutrition. Collecting, observing, smelling are things that can’t be done in an indoor classroom.”
“We notice that when in the forest, children are more open to discussion. We know our students very well,” added Emma Carega.
For Mr Wagnon, this type of teaching enhances a child’s development and their learning: “There are psychological and behavioural benefits. A child needs to be active, to feel, to observe, to be surrounded by others.
“It’s also better for memorisation and learning. When you experience something, you have a better understanding.”
He also believes it makes children care more about the environment: “They are aware of how fragile it is and that we have to respect it.”
Funding struggle
Hors contrat schools receive no state funding so the founders of Les Petites Ruches relied on fundraising to launch. Parents pay €500 a month per child to cover staff salaries and school operating costs.
“It is still complicated opening this type of school in France,” says Ms Bogdanoff.
Mr Wagnon believes the high price of this type of education is a “major barrier” to it being more widespread in France, while public schools are free.
The state encourages public schools to follow nature pedagogy by providing outdoor teaching resources and acknowledges that “outdoor classes are beneficial both from health and educational perspectives”.
However, the practice is still limited. “Public schools are trying to change, with more and more outdoor schooling”, says Mr Wagnon, “but we have to change our education system.”
