Outdoor Learning at Chalford Hill Primary School
"I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand"
- Confucius
Studies have highlighted many benefits of outdoor learning, including:
· Improved physical health
Spending time outside is proven to have a positive effect on children’s health and sleeping patterns.
· Improved mental health
Venturing outside improves self-esteem and confidence, and reduces anxiety.
· Improved concentration
Spending time in nature replenishes voluntary focus and has benefits for attention, motivation, concentration, and working memory.
· Greater appreciation and understanding of nature and the environment
Being given the time to be surrounded by nature allows us to fully appreciate it.
· Development of key skills
Communication, team-work, interpersonal, problem solving, initiative, resilience, confidence and independence.
Exploring and making sense of the world around us is a crucial part of childhood that often provides the most memorable and meaningful learning experiences.
At Chalford Hill Primary School, we are committed to Outdoor Learning and are very proud that all our children enjoy regular curricular and cross-curricular Outdoor Learning opportunities within both our school grounds and our locality. We have seen for ourselves how the outdoor environment offers motivating, exciting, different, relevant and easily accessible activities for Reception through to Year 6.
Opportunities for Outdoor Learning exist within and across all curriculum areas and help to develop personal and social skills, communication, problem solving, thinking skills and teamwork as well as English, Mathematics, Science and other curriculum areas.
At Chalford Hill, we try to use the outdoors as an extension of the classroom, another space in which to deliver our curriculum. The aim is to find the best space to bring our learning objectives to life, whether this be the playground to learn maths, the pond to discover pond life, the outdoor classroom to enjoy stories and circle times, the woodland to unearth mini-beasts, the canal and viaduct to learn about transport links in the past, the park to explore forces, or Outdoor Adventure centres to further develop personal and interpersonal skills. The use of the outdoors should be meaningful and add to the learning.
Our Journey
Our journey started back in 2012 when we carried out training in Pembrokeshire and as a result were the first school in England to be awarded ‘Outdoor Schools’ accreditation.
In 2013, the Woodland Trust used our Year 1 class as a case study to show the positive impact of outdoor learning on pupils and awarded us with the Woodland Trust Bronze & Silver awards.
From here, all staff undertook training and met regularly to share ideas and good practice and to review the impact on learning and in 2013 Ofsted reported that: ‘The school provides numerous stimulating and exciting learning opportunities, especially outdoors’.
Through close links with the Woodland Trust, WWT at Slimbridge, Westonbirt Arboretum and the Stroud Valleys Project, we were able to continue to move forward with our drive for high quality Outdoor Learning opportunities. As we gained confidence and expertise, we were able to host two hugely successful Outdoor Learning Conferences in 2014 and 2015 where we offered high quality training to other local schools. As a result of our continued commitment to Outdoor Learning, we were delighted to have been chosen to be a beacon school in the WWT Learning in Natural Environments Collaboration.
Once well established as a leading school for Outdoor Learning, we joined together with a cluster of local schools, who were also confidently moving forward in order to provide one-another with support, expertise and training.
During the academic year 2021-2022, we were awarded the RSPB Wild Challenge Gold Award in recognition of our commitment to Outdoor Learning.
Where we are now…
Outdoor Learning is well established and is part and parcel of our curriculum delivery and our whole school ethos REACH; it is not an add-on, but a means of teaching and learning in meaningful contexts.
As well as obvious opportunities such as PE, there are regular outdoor learning activities in each year group.
Much of Reception’s learning takes place outdoors; the Early Years curriculum requires the children to have free-flow access to their outdoor learning space at all times, and we're incredibly fortunate to have such a large and well-resourced outdoor space for our Reception Class.
We also have such a rich outdoor environment on our doorstep, which includes a local woodland that the whole school has access to and visits regularly. We employ a fantastic Forest School teacher who delivers high quality Forest School sessions to our KS2 pupils. These sessions both support and enrich our curriculum.
In addition, we have a committed team of Governors and parents who regularly support different year groups in their outdoor activities and who continue to work hard to ensure that our playgrounds, school garden and woodland areas are well maintained and resourced.
Woodland Trust Green Tree School
We work hard to develop awareness of environmental issues, which goes hand-in-hand with our outdoor learning approach. We are proud to have achieved the Gold award from the Woodland Trust Green Tree Schools scheme, recognising our achievements in this area including tree planting initiatives, developing our outdoor areas and woodland learning days.
Outdoor learning experiences are often remembered for a lifetime. Integrating learning and outdoor experiences, whether through play in the immediate grounds or adventures further afield, provides relevance and depth to the curriculum in ways that are difficult to achieve indoors. Learning outdoors can be enjoyable, creative, challenging and adventurous and helps children learn by experience and grow as confident and responsible citizens who value and appreciate the natural environment.