Wilderness school expands in qathet inviting students’ curiosity

Educators, families and doctors are increasingly encouraging people and, specifically, young people, to spend more time outdoors in order to improve mental and physical well-being.

In the education realm, the want to learn outdoor survival skills, basic outdoor knowledge and resilience is seeing a resurgence in popularity with families.

Fianna Wilderness School is a Comox Valley-based organization that expanded to the Westview neighbourhood of Powell River three years ago, upon request from parents in the area.

Candice Seagull, facilitator of the nature connections program for Fianna Wilderness School, moved from Salt Spring Island to the qathet region and began instructing students beginning in September of 2022. 

“I have been running three weekly programs out of Willingdon Beach for ages four years old to 12 years old,” said Seagull. “Next school year we will be expanding [the program] to run five weekly and one monthly programs ranging from ages three to 17 years old.”

The program will still continue in Westview at Willingdon Beach with another one at Sunset Park in Wildwood. Most students attend the nature-based program once a week as a supplement to regular schooling.

“One of the core skills we teach is carving, that’s a big one,” said Kester Reid, co-founder and lead instructor at the wilderness school. “Fire making, shelter building, tracking animals and following footprints are other examples of the core skills we teach.”

Reid emphasized that if students know how to pay attention or notice something, such as when birds give their alarm call, it brings students into their senses, and allows them to be part of the story when they are outside or on the land.

A big part of the program is what the school calls passion-based learning, meaning that what facilitators do depends on the group’s interest.

“We are looking to cultivate curiosity, whatever gets them excited, we step in and keep feeding them more,” said Reid. 

All of the programming takes place outside with the intention of building resilience and the ability to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors (students are encouraged to bring suitable clothing depending on the season). The type of learning depends on the seasons. For example, plant identification would be in the spring whereas shelter building and learning how to make a fire would be a winter activity.

“Kids are naturally curious about what’s going on in the world, but in our culture we don’t rely on those [outdoor] skills as much,” said Reid. “But it’s really exciting, to track an owl or see two birds fighting over a nesting area; kids get excited about that.”

Both Reid and Seagull believe young people have creative minds and that the facilitators’ job is to try and tend that through sensory exercises, games and hand-on projects.

“I have seen a huge increase and improvement with students’ ability to focus on a project that is weeks long, not just an hour,” said Seagull.

Starting in September 2023, the school is offering new programs for students ages 13 to 17. The groups are small, mentor-based, and go deeper into survival skills such as carving, flint knapping (stone tools), building animal traps, hide-tanning, mapping, knots and shelter making.

“At that age they have more capacity to focus on projects such as building a bow, fire making or outdoor tracking,” said Reid. “With teens they have a great capacity for skill building and resilience; when they are outside in their rain gear getting wet, it genuinely builds physical capacity, resilience and confidence that they can do it.” 

Reid mentioned that the program also includes important social skills such as learning to work in a group, negotiating with each other and making decisions collectively.

On the younger side of the spectrum the school is introducing a program in September for those ages three and four years at Sunset Park in Wildwood. It’s a nature-based learning program that focuses on developing empathy, awareness of others and respect for the environment, and imaginative play.

The five to seven year old groups focus on learning, “sensory awareness skills, responsible harvesting, medicinal and food plants, natural materials, wild crafting, navigation, tracking, bird language, ancestral heritage and local ecology,” said Seagull. “With the eight to 12 year old groups we balance our time between engaged learning and free play that develops the social-emotional capacity of kids.” 

But like all the groups, a big part of the program is guided by student interest and what skills they would like to develop, while at the same time learning awareness of the natural world.

For more information, go to fianna.ca/powell-river-yearlong