Outdoor Curriculum Days
OUTDOOR CURRICULUM-LINKED ACTIVITY DAYS, ON OR NEAR YOUR SCHOOL SITE – We come to you saving you paperwork and expensive travel costs!
One really popular option for schools is that we visit you.
We work with you and a particular curriculum area to get the children outside for a full day to enhance or replace their indoor learning.
We have recently run days around the following topics… the Stone Age, Anglo Saxons / Vikings, the Mayans, Autumn, the Circulatory and Respiratory system, your Senses, Habitats, River Processes, Outdoor Poetry, Materials, the Local Area... These are run either in the school grounds or local area (within walking distance of school). Some example programmes are below…
Anglo Saxons / Vikings
We build a wattle and daub hut – weaving willow, digging for clay, mixing and smearing on the frame. We then farm, hunt, make fire, make Saxon food and eat it, with all the grisly bits!
Stone Age
We head outside on a nomadic journey – around the school grounds and local area. We forage, both for food and fire making materials, develop hunting strategy, make fire, use stone tools for grinding and cutting, and cook.
Your Heart and Lungs
We use them…we run…then we dissect real hearts and lungs outside before making them into haggis! (and making a fire and cooking and eating it…)
Outdoor learning is proven to enhance children’s physical activity levels. It also provides a way to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding relating to safe participation in the outdoors both in and out of school, and as such meets the criteria for PE and Sport Premium funding.
The benefits of outdoor learning are widely acknowledged and accepted, and increasingly schools are realising the potential and opportunities that outdoor learning has to offer. Children and young people become engaged in their learning in a way that it just not possible inside the classroom.
Outdoor learning can deliver the curriculum through creative, contextual activities which not only raise attainment, but also support the development of the whole child, increasing confidence and self-esteem, enhancing social and practical skills, and developing core skills such as communication, problem solving, leadership and teamwork.
A Project to develop a curriculum-linked outdoor day for each class at Sedbergh Primary School
interview with the Head – Matt Towe
What did you want to achieve?
We wanted to develop children’s horizons and enable them to develop a greater understanding of their local environment, landscape, heritage, conservation issues etc. We also wanted to better know how we could use the outdoors to deliver our curriculum and bring certain aspects to life (rivers, wildlife, materials etc). We were keen to understand how the ‘boring’ bits of the curriculum could be brought to life outside – maths in the outdoors for example.
What we really wanted was to get the children outside more and learning more as a result – creating vivid experiences that are memorable and deeper than an afternoon sitting at a table.
Did you get what you wanted?
We certainly did – lots of ideas and positive experiences, increased staff understanding, confidence, ownership and the permission to go outside – that it is not a waste of time adding to the burden of teachers but a valid experience with better outcomes than staying inside.
Any thoughts from teachers re: the days themselves?
Personally, it was great to see children lighting fires and trying things out, taking risks within a framework. It reminded me that children are very flexible and open minded and do seriously engage when they are in a different environment. Teachers were very positive. You gave us more examples of days in school that children remember, out of the ordinary, different, engaging, permanent memories that mean permanent learning.
Outdoor Curriculum testimonials