In the 19th century, the Empress of Austria Sissi spent three weeks in Sassetot-le-Mauconduit, near Fécamp (Seine-Maritime), to “take the waters”.
Nestled between lush meadows and thick forests and within reach of the nearby sea spray, the village is never far from nature.
But in our modern societies, the link with nature has weakened, among urban children but also among certain rural young people, who have sometimes never set foot in the forest or run on the beach.
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It is to remedy this in part that William Paesen founded the association MAVD (for active movement for a sustainable life) 12 years ago and, with the animator Élodie Bestault, he intervenes in schools to promote and explain the environment and sustainable development through workshops.
Better still, near the woods of Petites Dalles, whose path descends to the beach, yurts were built in 2012 surrounded by a vegetable patch and a pond "to bring schoolchildren into nature".
Yurts as a classroom
“With teachers from across the department, we are building day programs.
In 2019, they are more than 2000 to have come ”, details Élodie Bestault.
But the association has decided to take a new step.
At the request of the parents and after a meeting with the specialist educator Mélanie Lavenu, MAVD is preparing to create a nursery school inspired by the Forest School movement, born in the Nordic countries several decades ago.
“We will be the only one in Normandy.
The principle is to bring children into nature so that they experience their need to know.
They learn at their own pace, supervised by adults, they learn the subjects and find solutions together ”, summarizes the facilitator.
Ten children aged 3 to 6 to start
From the start of September, under the yurts that will serve as a classroom, dormitory, awakening room and canteen, ten children aged between 3 and 6 will be surrounded by a teacher, currently being recruited. , and Mélanie Lavenu, under the control of the volunteer director Marie-Cécile, who practiced this profession for 32 years.
“This is not a school where we will do anything!
Hours and holidays are the same.
They will not be schoolchildren outside the system.
Moreover, parents make an educational choice.
They want a place and a method where their children can flourish, gain self-confidence.
We already have more requests than places, ”says Élodie Bestault.
Private, the forest school is currently buckling its budget thanks to several grants.
To reduce registration fees, it also participates in the Fabrique Aviva prize, a national competition for social and solidarity entrepreneurship created by the insurer.
In 6th position out of 140 projects, it still needs to obtain the maximum amount of support.
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