Our aim is for every child to experience life and lessons beyond the classroom walls as a regular part of growing and learning. We want children to take part in a range of progressive and creative learning through regular, frequent, enjoyable, and challenging opportunities outdoors. Over time, our vision is for outdoor learning to become fully embedded in the curriculum, offering learners many opportunities to deepen and contextualise their understanding within subject areas, and to link learning across the curriculum in different contexts and at every level.

How We Incorporate Outdoor Learning into Lessons

We look for opportunities to take learning into the outdoor space within our school grounds, making links to outdoor learning across a wide range of subjects, including:

• - Science: plants, animals, weather, and biomes
• - PSHE: links to emotional wellbeing
• - Geography: land usage, beach visits, river visits, and exploring the local area
• - History: mock archaeological digs, changes in land use over time, and changes in the       local area

Learning outdoors can make a significant contribution to literacy, numeracy, and health and wellbeing. In literacy, there are opportunities to engage with different texts: the spoken word, charts, maps, timetables, and instructions. In numeracy, children can measure angles, calculate bearings, and work out journey times. In PSHE and PE, there are opportunities to become physically active in alternative ways, and to support emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Caring for Our Environment

Outdoor learning also connects closely with our work as a Green Flag Eco-School. Through the efforts of our Eco Councillors and wider pupil leadership groups, children take real responsibility for their local environment, developing their understanding of sustainability and their role as responsible global citizens, learning that starts, quite literally, on our own doorstep.

What Will You See in a Lesson?

Outdoor learning can take many forms. It could be as simple as taking a lesson that would normally be taught indoors out into the garden or playground. Ultimately, you should see children exploring, taking risks, problem-solving, collaborating, and asking questions independently. Children should be dressed appropriately for whichever subject or season they're learning in.

What Does Learning Look Like Outdoors?

Learning outdoors looks vastly different depending on the subject being taught and the location of the learning. Reading lessons might take place in the garden, sitting on tree stumps. Maths lessons might happen on the playground, using chalk or counting leaves. The opportunities are endless. Children learning outdoors are likely to be more engaged, curious, and keen to ask questions and collaborate with others to solve problems.