Forest school ratios explained (and how to get them right)

Is there an official forest school ratio?

Not in the way people often hope. There is no single statutory number stamped on the words "forest school". You won't find a law that says every woodland session must run at a fixed adult-to-child ratio. What you do have are two solid anchors. The first is the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, which sets minimum staffing ratios for early-years provision and applies whether your room has four walls or none. The second is your own risk-benefit assessment for the specific activity and place.

As a rule, EYFS ratios are tighter for the youngest children (more adults per child for under-twos and two-year-olds) and ease as children get older and more independent. The exact figures, and the conditions attached to them (qualifications, who may be counted, when a ratio can flex), are set by the framework and are revised from time to time, so always confirm the numbers against the current EYFS statutory framework that applies to your setting rather than a half-remembered figure or a number from a training course years ago. Treat the EYFS ratio as your floor, the legal minimum, and then ask whether your site and your session need more. Often, outdoors, they do.

How EYFS ratios apply in the outdoors

The EYFS doesn't stop at the gate. If you're caring for early-years children, the same minimum ratios travel with you into the woods, the meadow or the beach. What changes is the environment, and the environment is exactly what your risk-benefit assessment is for. A ratio that feels comfortable in a familiar hall can feel thin on an unfenced site near water, in failing light, or with a group that doesn't yet know the boundaries.

So the right approach outdoors is layered: start from the EYFS minimum, then adjust upward for the things that make the outdoors the outdoors: distance from help, terrain, weather, proximity to water or roads, and the experience of the group. The framework gives you the baseline; your professional judgement, written down, decides whether the baseline is enough for today's session on today's site.

Why you start high and reduce with confidence

Experienced forest-school leaders tend to begin a new group with generous adult cover and ease it as the group settles. On the first few sessions nobody knows the boundaries yet, the children are excited, and you're still learning who wanders, who climbs, and who needs a gentle eye. A higher ratio at this stage isn't over-caution. It's how you build the very independence that lets you reduce it later.

As the weeks go on and the group learns the routines (where the boundary markers are, what the "come back in" call sounds like, how to move around the fire) you can step back. The children earn the space, and your ratio reflects the trust you've built. The key is that the reduction is a deliberate, recorded decision tied to what you've observed, never a quiet drift caused by a missing volunteer. Start high, watch closely, and reduce only when the group has shown you it's ready.

Ratios for tool use, fire and water

The headline ratio for a session is not the whole picture. The moment you introduce a higher-risk activity (knives, saws, loppers, a lit fire, or anything near deep or moving water) you work to a tighter ratio within the session for the children taking part. Tool work is frequently run at very close supervision, often 1:1 for fine cutting tools or a small, closely managed group for activities like sawing or whittling, with a clear tool-use zone the rest of the group stays outside of.

Fire is the same story: a campfire needs a named adult responsible for it, a defined safe circle, and enough supervision that no child is ever near the flames unwatched. Water raises the bar again. None of these tighter ratios are about replacing your overall session ratio. They sit on top of it, for the children in that activity, for as long as it runs. Your risk-benefit assessment is where you set and justify them.

Counting helpers, parents and volunteers

When you work out whether you're meeting your ratio, be honest about who actually counts. The EYFS is specific about which adults can be included in the required staffing ratio, generally suitably checked and, where relevant, qualified staff, and that's the figure you measure against. A parent who has come along to help, a student on placement, or a willing volunteer can be enormously valuable and can absolutely raise the level of supervision, but they don't all automatically count toward the statutory minimum in the same way a qualified staff member does.

The practical rule: know your required ratio from named, countable adults first, treat extra helping hands as a welcome bonus on top, and never let a session quietly slip below the minimum because you've mentally counted a parent who can't be included. If a key adult doesn't arrive, that's a reason to adjust the plan (fewer children at the fire, the tool activity postponed) not a reason to carry on regardless.

Recording your ratio for every session

A ratio you can't evidence is a ratio you can't defend. If a parent, a manager or an inspector ever asks "what cover did you have on the third of October?", you want to reach for a record, not a memory. For every session, keep a simple, dated note of how many children attended, how many countable adults were present, the ratio that gave you, and any tighter ratios you ran for tools, fire or water, alongside the risk-benefit assessment that backed your decision.

This is exactly the sort of thing that's easy to promise and easy to let slip on a cold, muddy morning, which is why it helps to have it built into the way you take the register rather than as a separate form. The Forest School app calculates and records your ratio on each session register: as you mark children present and note who's on, it works out your adult-to-child ratio for you and stores it with the session record, so the evidence is there without a second job. You can see it in action on the register and booking pages, or start free and run your first session in minutes.

Ratios aren't a box to tick. They're how you keep a busy, joyful, slightly muddy group safe enough to take real risks. Start from the current EYFS framework, layer your own risk-benefit judgement on top, begin generous and reduce with confidence, tighten right up for tools, fire and water, and write down what you ran. Do that, and the question "what ratio should I be on?" answers itself, session after session.