Dear Forest School Association Member,

I am writing to introduce myself as the Forest School Association Development Officer and to let you know what I have been doing over the past few weeks. I was extremely pleased and excited to have been offered the position by your Exec in November and I formally started on the 12th. Obviously, this is a completely new organisation and so my first task has been to set up and establish a whole range of organisation systems and structures that will allow your Exec, the working groups, and me to work together. My background is in Environmental and Education project management and business planning so I am used to doing this kind of thing. Actually, I started out in teaching and have a broad background in environmental education although Forest School is new to me. After teaching in Botswana for a few years I moved more into international development and conservation type activities, first in different parts of Africa and later back home in Wales. Most recently I have managed a fairly large European and Heritage Lottery funded project in Merseyside that supports biological recording and which had an education and outreach programme that encouraged thousands of school children and adults to engage with their natural environment. I have my own company that is seeking partnerships with primary schools to establish nature play focused pre-schools.

Your Exec has given me 3 priorities to help develop and establish the FSA as the UK wide voice for Forest School. These are:

1. The FSA website – I hope that this will be up and running by the middle of February of next year. The plan is that, as members you will have access to parts of the website that will be unavailable to the general public. There will be forums and groups that you can join to discuss things like research into FS practice, funding opportunities for FS, environmental and conservation issues, and of course local and regional groups. The website will also be used to manage your subscription fees and access to FS reference materials, CPD opportunities etc.

2. Membership – building a healthy membership base is crucial to the development of the FSA. The organisation is only as strong as its membership. As I came into the post we were just passing the 300 members mark. The purpose of the FSA is to promote quality Forest School in the UK and to support the wider Forest School community. As an FSA member you have an opportunity to shape the direction of the organisation, through participation in working groups etc., and to have a stake in the voice for Forest School in the UK. However, it is important that the FSA adds value for its members and I will be looking at what membership services we can offer. Please let me know if there something in particular that you would like to see being offered and tell your friends and colleagues about the FSA. As a founder member you are helping to get things off the ground. There seems to be a real demand for UK wide representation of quality and professional Forest School. Together we can make it happen.

3. Fund-raising – There is only so much that can be achieved with the resources that we have. We are fortunate to have committed and hard working directors and Exec members who are taking a lead and without whom we would not have got this far. However, for the organisation to grow and develop we need to make sure that we have a clear fund-raising strategy in place. I am working with Jon Cree and other members to get this right.

Each of these areas has a Working Group lead by a member of the Exec. If you feel that you have particular strengths in any of these areas and can contribute to the Working Groups please do put yourself forward and contact me directly.

I should point out that there are other working groups for the annual conference and for research, consultation, and the profile of FS. The board members are also busy putting together policies for the organisation and working with all the other bodies in the UK with an interest in Forest School. I am grateful that we have Directors who are willing and able to give so much of their time.

Finally, a bit of fun. Perhaps you can help me with something? The organisation needs a logo to help with its branding and promotion on the website and in newsletters etc. Going to a professional designer can be expensive and it is also hard to communicate to them the spirit of Forest School and our members. So, the Exec has agreed to put this out to the membership in the form of a competition. After all, Forest School people are a creative bunch – right? The designer of the wining logo will get 5 years free membership.
So, what is the brief for the logo design?

Firstly, the logo should try to communicate the following.

The FSA is an inclusive, democratic membership organisation open to all levels of Forest School professional and supporters of Forest School
We are the UK wide voice for Forest School
We promote and support ‘quality forest school for all’

The logo will be used to emphasise that the FSA is a unique and separate organisation. We are not a training provider and we are not offering delivery of FS. Our role is to support those who do and to give a UK wide voice to Forest School. Many of you will have your own logos promoting what you do. It is not surprising that the colour green, tree/s, leaves and people feature heavily in these designs. The FSA needs to stand out from the branding of the FS professionals and companies.

Can you keep it simple?

Not an easy task – you can see why I am asking for your help.

So what are the rules?

Anyone can enter this competition – you do not need to be an FSA member
You can enter up to 4 designs.
The design must not infringe on anyone else’s intellectual property or copyright.
The design does not have to be your own work – you can get friends and family to help you (an activity over Christmas?).
Designs must be submitted in a digital format by email to the office email address (enquiries@forestschoolassociation.org). This means that you can submit a digital photograph of your design, which may be created in traditional media like pen and paper or ink/paint. Designs built in graphics software are also very welcome.
Each entry must include a name and contact details in the email. Only your name will be publicised although we can call you Anon if you prefer (let us know).
Entries will be short-listed by the Exec – how many we short list down to will depend on how many entries we get. Short-listing will be based on how well the design matches the brief, how easily the design can be used in our branding and promotional materials. There will also be a subjective element on how attractive the design is.
The short listed entries will be sent to the members via email. The members will vote on their preferred design (voting method to be decided).
In the unlikely event of a tie the FSA board will decide the winner – the Chair will have the casting vote.
All entries must be received by Monday 7th January 2013. We hope to be able to notify the winner in February.
By entering your design you are agreeing that the FSA can use it for any purpose and that the design can be altered in any way (we are likely to make changes to it to suit our formatting, marketing and branding needs).
We reserve the right not to use the winning entry as the final logo.
By entering, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these rules and the FSA reserves the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time and in its absolute discretion if the FSA has reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules.
The FSA reserves the right to cancel this competition or alter any of the rules at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.

I really look forward to seeing your entries and to working with you over the coming months to develop the FSA.

With best wishes for Christmas,

Gareth

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