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Session One - Saturday 1st October 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 8:34AM 
A warm October morning greeted 33 Year Eight students from across Newham. The sun shone brightly on our ESIP Forest programme.
Penny Goodman, Head of Forest Girls' School held a reception for parents in the Dining Hall with a light breakfast of teas, coffees and muffins. The reception was well attended and the parents asked good questions.
The girls started their ESIP experience with breakfast club, getting to know each other. They then grouped into smaller school groups to start induction. The Forest mentor team comprised of nine Year 12 girls were on hand to reassure and support.
Induction guided the girls through an introduction to ESIP and it's four main objectives. We learned about our 'inner hedgehogs', ESIP as 'game space' and how to develop robust aspirations, a few additional learning skills and the role of resilience in success.
The group then split into half to investigate English and Art respectively.
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The English session focused on Ways of Seeing. The girls interpreted paintings, discussed the interpretations and challenged each other. The lesson ended with all the girls created poems and with presentations to the class.
"I'm overconfident. I'm good at listening to myself but today I've learned to hear other peoples opinions and to be able to listen to other people."
The Art session provided an opportunity to look at objects and the impact on their surroundings. Ably supported by Forest's Art Scholars and an inspirational art teacher in Ashia Oozeer, the girls split into four groups to draw, conceptualise and then build willow sculptures and give presentations back to the group.
The sun began to beat down harder and the thermometer reached 29 degrees providing an excellent backdrop to a practical exercise in the outdoors.
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The girls came back together for Reflection Time, an opportunity to consider what they had learned, the difference it might make and to make commitments on what they will do to build on this.
After a group photo, the girls went home having thoroughly enjoyed the day.
You can see photos of the experience in the Gallery.
Next stop is Session Two - Philosophy and Critical Thinking, back at Forest School on Saturday 12th November.
