Today we met at Forres Academy and shared what we have been doing outside. Ideas I like include;
-Using ‘past, present and future’ as a way to focus a project on mapping.
-using GPS devices- you can programme a set of handsets so that each one leads to a different marker / item. The children use one device then bring it back and swap it for another until they have found all the clues etc.
-Mud kitchen – need to use clean topsoil without faeces in. Teachers have observed that children are using the language of learning (e.g. measurement) in their kitchen play.
-Charleston Academy SFL group – a small group are taken into the woods for an hour every morning. They have taken ownership of their patch.

We talked at length about risk. The ‘Young Report’ (2010) suggested that schools move towards reduced paperwork and an annual permission / consent form to cover all activities.

The future seems to be ‘risk – benefit’ forms. These forms include details of the activity, the benefits, the risks and precedence (who has done it before). We concluded that risk assessments are work in progress at the moment and each authority is different. Head teachers are able to add in another level of assessment if they wish. We were given an article written by the HSE ( School trips and outdoor learning activities- tackling the health and safety myths).

We discussed the issues that I have surrounding T – the runner in my class. Someone said that in order to be inclusive the school has to provide someone to accompany this child if his mother can’t come. Alternatively, someone else noted that if my risk assessment identifies T as a risk, when he is unaccompanied, I am within my rights to eliminate the risk by leaving him in school. I need to have this point clarified by the Moray Council.

We also talked about the different systems we have in place to manage our children outside. Someone uses a word (e.g., she shouts a dinosaur name) and her class then freeze and listen for instructions. We noted that this wouldn’t work with all children (especially my class who are spread over a wide area and are much older etc.). Whistles are good for small voices too.

My next steps; give children responsibility to plan our outdoor learning.
-use a questioning approach as a start to our next project.