I’ve been summing up every “year in review” since 2016. It has been my way of journaling Forest School Singapore and my journey through the FS experiences.
This year I quietly walked through the past 12 months of true rest, discovery and rebirth for myself. I realise the stars truly align when we show up, do our best and go with the flow.
“All is in good time” – the sea
In the beginning of the year, I was in the 3rd month of my self-designated respite from all things Forest School. I went on a trip to Taiwan, to attend a series of dinner events and prayer to remember my late ancestor Guo Ziyi (a great leader in the Tang Dynasty). I met with many fellow Taiwan and regional clan community members. It was a very different community space to what FS does. But in this journey, I found myself learning from the mostly elderly community what it is like to be wealthy, and connected. I went shopping with my fellow clan friends in the posh area of Taiwan 101, and learnt how the branded goods company constructs an ecosystem of ritual and meaning that supersedes just money. It got me thinking really deeply about the situation of equality in society. I also realise that everyone is probably pursuing the same happiness and dreams at the end of the day. It’s just that the form may be different.
Through the respite months, I had a glimpse of what retirement life feels like. A tinge of meaninglessness wraps around you daily. There is no grounding if we just allow ourselves to float. Hence I decided to show up at A Public Living Room by Stranger Conversations, an initiative by a friend, just to help sweep and mop the floor, with some pockets of packing the logistics. It wasn’t much, but it gave me a simple routine to show up and do my best without over thinking about goals or directions.
In the same season, I showed up to a space in the Alexandra Forest every Wednesday, to hang out and chatted with anyone who is willing to come to the space. It gave me some time away from the urban, into another realm to rest and reflect.
During the month of February to April, I took an extended road trip with my wife (Zoe), around the South Island of New Zealand. It’s a huge island. We travelled for a total of 35 days, staying at 10 different locations. We experience the stars, lakes, mountains and sea. It really changed our biochemistry and neuro-psychology in a way that no words can explain.
Through the watching of the lake and mountain, I realise that in order to expand/increase space and time in our world, we will need to exercise our emotion and reflection respectively.
Being in touch with our feelings, we enable the emotional capacity to enlarge our personal Space dimension, hence increasing our mental and metaphysical vessels. We will experience more Space in life.
Being in the moment of reflection, we warp the weight of Time around us. Causing Time to slow down around us. In reflection, we access the memories and stories of the past. We “time-travelled”, hence expanding the personal capacity of Time around ourselves. We will experience more time in our life.
The gentle time and space spent with the Stars during the nights in New Zealand, made me realise the impermanence of everything in this universe. It was so surreal and empowering, to realise that a single being can be of the same power as the stars. We can do anything, once we realise we are as much the stars, as we are to the ants or the dust. There was a force of life realized within myself.
No conditions or limitations of life could hold down this life force.
Returning back to Singapore, with this amount of empowerment, really got me jumping around and vibrating at a different frequency for quite a while. I met 30 friends in 30 days for coffee/drinks/hikes. It was a dizzy yet calm state.
A little event series called “Darren & Friends” sprouted from this spirited phase.It was a little experiment that started a few beta series of events, training and workshops that I did from May to July. Some worked, some didn’t stick, but everyone of them taught me something about the Forest School and Education situation in Singapore. It also showed me the high speed and lack of space that we live in, in the urban modern-centric city of Singapore.
During the liminal time when I was closing Forest School Singapore, taking a break and experimenting, I found myself involved in Play Collective (advocating for Play in the children/education scene), The Purple Parade Leadership Program (mentoring and supporting the special needs scene). Everything I was involved in, opened my eyes to a whole range of perspective and empowered force of life. So many good folks out there in society, doing good work.
The 2025 General Election took up quite a bit of my early May time, as I went down to various political rallies and events, to watch, learn, observe and distill. It was a 9-day festival period for me, with plenty of buzz and energy across all the interactions I had during that period. I even spoke up for a political leader whom I fully support, with regards to her character and dedication, because of my time working with her as a Grassroot Leader at Telok Blangah Constituency. I said what I experienced. It was an enriching period.
In May, I also stepped down from my Board of Director role in 3pumpkin (Tak Takut Kids Club), to go to the ground, to formally be part time contracted, to help kick start the second location in Lengkok Bahru with the famous “Lets Go Play Outside (LGPO)” outreach approach. I was teamed up with two amazing ladies (Esther Ng & Dina), who really blew my mind, with their energy and capability. This journey wrapped up half of my time in the next 6 months.
In my work at TTKC Lengkok Bahru (LB), I learnt what poverty really is like in Singapore. There are still children who go hungry in Singapore, even with all our resources. I realised how much most Singaporeans are bubbled up. The time and commitment spent there, really surfaced a lot of emotions and feelings. Something that I have not felt for a while since my time with my special needs children and families.
The stories and insights of my time in TTKC LB, will require a full article story on its own. I will stop my TTKC story here for now. I will link the article here when I complete that piece.
The liminal space of 2025, also had the guest and long-term appearance of the remnant of the Forest School Singapore work, popping up. FSS (represented by Ben Yang Zhongwen, a Master Practitioner of Forest School Singapore) had the honour of being included as a contributor to the Singapore Standard’s Code of Practice for Outdoor Adventure Education (SS 710:2024), after 2 years of being part of a working group to produce the 100page document to validate and give outdoor adventure education in Singapore a more rigorous system to act and reference upon.
We also managed to finally execute the “Leave No Child Indoor” Forest School session for children from the lower income families in August till November. It was done as part of a NIE-NTU research project to study the effect of outdoor nature-inspired play on the well being of children from lower income families. It was a long process that stretched for 3 whole years from pre-good death in 2023 till the liminal 2025.
I was also invited to participate and contribute to two significant engagements that I personally care about a lot.
I was linked up by a friend to go support a befriending and nature walk with a young adult with autism (Raymond, name is changed to protect his privacy), together Li Ling and Calvin. It was an enriching experience for me to just be there as a friend to Raymond, not looking to change anything about him. Getting to know each other as a human being to another, in simple friendship. I learnt so much from Raymond’s mum about the arduous journey she, Raymond and the family took navigating the post-18 special needs scene. It was clear that there was a huge gap in the “Enabling” Initiatives in our society.
Interestingly, F.S.S. was also invited to present about inclusion at the SUSS Re:imagine Conference for Inclusivity in Education, Work and Community. I learnt so much from all the presentations of the many passionate individuals who contributed so much to the scene, even though there are still large gaps everywhere.
Both engagements were separate from each other, but yet the overarching theme and journey was clear for me. All the learnings and experiences from them both showed me a deeper understanding of all the challenges and hope that circles the special needs and different-ability community. There is a huge emotion and generation of space within me, that I desire strongly to do my best for. This is a scene I want to contribute to in my next chapter. I am sure.
“Stars align when we show up and be truly authentic with our intention and energy.”
With all the flurry of engagements and events in the liminal season, the stars started to align unbeknown to myself. The stars aligned in a non-linear flow.
But I knew I wanted business partners for the next phase of my journey. So in the months of June and July, I approached a few ex-FSS friends whom I wanted to partner with.
Shin Ee was the first friend I approached. We were meeting often (almost weekly) to just hang out and chat about life and philosophy. I met her as an intern for FSS in 2023. She subsequently took on the research and marketing role in FSS till the good death. We worked together on various research projects and ideas. We flew to the UK together to present a Forest School Research Paper together in 2024.
All that work and time spent together made us realise we can work together. Our skills and energy compliment in creating impact, especially in the field of research and sense making of educational practices.
Genevieve was the next friend that I approached. Her wonderful work of embodying Forest School in so many things and engagement she does, really shine through as a beacon of the spirit of Forest School. I met Genevieve in 2021 at FSS. She attended almost every internal training offered, read almost all the articles on the FSS Library and showed deep dedication to the art of the FSS approach. Genevieve was the “death doula” and unofficial curator for The Good Death of FSS in 2024.
Our friendship stretched across different realms of community and life. It was clear to me that I wanted to have Genevieve as a co-trainer for any subsequent endeavours of the journey.
A business partnership was formed from here on in under my company, Coach Darren LLP. The business name wasn’t decided yet at this point.
Then one fateful night on the 1 August 2025, all the stars aligned.
I couldn’t sleep. It was 3am. My mind started flooding with visions and visuals about what the next journey was going to be like.
There are 3 different Forest School trainings (Coach, Leadership, Practitioner-Diploma), 2 weekly Clinics (for introductorial and outreach) targeting Parents and Educators, and 1 monthly Open House for the Forest School community and fellowship to congregate.
All the details of these initiatives flooded my mind, making it impossible to go back to bed, as I tried to close my eyes and rolled around the bed for the next 2 hours.
I knew I had to wake up and pen down all the details. 4 full A4 pages were filled.
It was like the Universe was showing me a movie with so much excitement and a clear force of life.
It was unmistakable. This is it. This is the endeavour we will chart.
The name, “Forest School Singapore” resurfaced in my mind. That’s the business name.
The word Rebirth came.
The stars have aligned.
Over the months of August to November, the rebirthed Forest School Singapore team, worked really hard to create the communication materials, logistics and programmes for the Rebirth that we were going to announce on the 8 November 2025.
Everything lined up, as we progressed to the official announcement day. Many friends and communities showed up on the announcement day, where we unveiled the new logo of Forest School Singapore, the mushroom. It was a sign of who we are now. After the Good Death of the Tree, sprouts another form of life, resembling the cycle of life in Nature.
The Rebirth of Forest School Singapore, signalled our intention to go full on towards training and research, leaving the Forest Schooling of children to the other Forest School communities and leaders.
We are going to GO AT the sources of society where the mainstream population reside… the Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and the Community Centres.
“When we lay our heart and intention clearly to the universe, things fall into place unassumingly”
F.S.S. rebirth brought plenty of good energy. It was an exciting buzz for a few weeks. The trainings and clinics begin to receive registers and enquiries.
I spoke to a few key leaders in the field I truly care about, and want to work the Forest School magic with.
I met with Bernard Chew (CEO of St Andrew Autism Centre), to chat about the special needs scene, and how we can bring Forest School practice and experience to the individuals with severe autism and their supporting ecosystem.
I met with Biyun and Jiaman (Officer in charge of People Association’s Youth Network, Headquarter), to chat about developing Forest School capacity for the Youth Leaders in CC, through F.S.S. Training.
I also met with Desmond (Minister of Education, Singapore), for a coffee chat about the situation of Education and Nature Outdoor experiential learning. We ideate upon how we can bring Nature-Education in an experiential way to the mainstream education of all the MOE schools, through training the capacity and empowering the nature-centric mindset of the people in the ecosystem.
All these conversations and connections came about through a gentle flow. It happened because we sensed each other's heart and dedication.
On the ground, F.S.S. began to reach out to community groups and people beyond our usual Forest School ecosystem.
A group of us, FS leaders and friends, visited the Indigenous Orang Seletar community in Johor Bahru, Malaysia with the coordination help of a fellow Forest School Practitioner (Indigenous anthropology expert, Ilya). We learnt a lot about the stories, rhythm and essence during the trip. Friendship was forged.
We also went on a trip to Ground Up Initiative (GUI) to visit their new site, with the guidance of Bingyu (President of GUI, and a good friend/fellowship). My F.S.S. partner, Genevieve, organised it, bringing together our research friends from the NIE-LNCI project and her own relatives & friends. It was inspiring seeing how far the grandfather of all the green movement has come. And still they continue to hold space for soooooo many people in Singapore to connect with the land and their soul.
Lastly, we participated in the Living Earth Festival, organised by Living Soil Asia, by having a little library of books valued and contributed by FS practitioners, where we brought the “Forest” to the People.
One thing leads to another. The cosmic lays out the constellation in a mystical way, when we set a clear beam of light to the space we choose to be.
We also endeavoured into a few small experimental projects while being in the liminal space of pre and post Rebirth.
There was a little project, where we tried to do a Forest School-like session for about 30 old folks and families in a Chinese Surname Clan Association. It was quite a learning journey, exercising our practice on a different demographic of people. They actually shared with us that they want more knowledge, skills or activities, than our usual F.S.S. approach. We listened, we reflected.
I ran a monthly Nature Play session with Telok Blangah Community Centre’s Grassroot, Pulai Eco Club, to try and see if we could get F.S.S. Approach and flow into a CC ecosystem. I did it in the capacity of Grassroot Leader with the Pulai Eco Club. I realised this initiative is not that easy, due to the differences in operation and commitment capacity of the volunteer facilitators (which they lean the Nature Play on). There is a gap between FS Practitioner and Community Volunteer Facilitator. We listened, we reflected.
I also brought my old Forest School kiddos (who are now Teenagers), out to the Forest to hangout and chat every month. It was nice to catch up with them, and see them grow so much. They suggested many ideas to bring the community together periodically to hangout and exchange learnings/stories. It’s spiritually fulfilling. One of them even semi-volunteered to do up the poster for these events. They have grown so much. We listened, we reflected.
Not everything we do will work or become successful. Some of them will be paused or cancelled after a few runs. But all of them are signs shown by the stars. They lead us towards a constellation that will meet with our intention.
The year of 2025, was really a mix of buzz, fog and pockets of light beams. In gently following the flow of them all, I experience 2025, with plenty of fulfilment and meaning. I could sense many of the twists and turns of the flow. It was clear.
“Show up
Do your best
Go with the flow”
One thing lead to another
The rest will come
The stars will align
Written by : Darren Quek
Edited by : Shin Ee
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