Outdoor Learning in Fordbank Primary School
In Fordbank Primary, Outdoor Learning is valued as an integral aspect of our learning and teaching approaches. Every class has a timetabled OL session each week as well as teachers taking regular opportunities to take children outdoors to learn across many areas of the curriculum. More recently, we have been providing opportunities for children to do PE outdoors as well as regular Daily Mile walks.
We have created a wonderful Outdoor Learning Garden which is used on a daily basis by our Primary 1 and 2 children and plan to continue to develop our outdoor school space to provide opportunities for children across other stages to use the school grounds to learn and develop important skills. Over the past few years, we have used some of our Pupil Equity Funding to support the development of OL including the recruitment of our Early Years Officer and purchasing a wide range of OL resources.
We also use our local area as an important resource and classes across the school make regular use of areas such as the local ‘woods’, where children are able to develop their social skills through motivating and engaging activities – muddy but lots of fun!
We kindly ask parents/carers to support the school by ensuring that children have appropriate clothing and footwear on their OL days – teachers will share this information with you. If you require any support with this, please don’t hesitate to contact the HT/DHT to arrange a confidential time to talk.
Learning outdoors is about engaging children and young people in many different ways. Practitioners frequently act as facilitators, using multi-sensory and experiential approaches. This encourages children and young people to become involved in emotional, physical, aesthetic, spiritual and cognitive experiences as part of their learning.
The benefits of outdoor learning There is now a substantial base of national and international evidence about the benefits of taking learning outdoors. The impact of outdoor learning on children and young people’s health and wellbeing, wider achievements, attainment and personal development is often recognised by practitioners. There are some general benefits from taking learning outside within and across curriculum areas:
- connections are made experientially with the real world outside the classroom, helping to develop skills, knowledge and understanding in a meaningful context
- outdoor environments and surroundings act as a rich stimulus for creative thinking and learning. This affords opportunities for challenge, enquiry, critical thinking and reflection
- children and young people find that not everything outside matches the models or the textbooks. This does not mean that what they have found is ‘wrong’. Instead, it develops awareness of the complexities of the real world and can help to develop critical thinking skills
- children and young people are able to understand the relevance of a subject taught in school to everyday life
- children and young people can sometimes behave differently outdoors. Quiet pupils may speak more, others become calmer and more focused when outside, especially in a natural space
- the multi-sensory experience outdoors helps children and young people to retain knowledge more effectively. There are opportunities for pupils to learn with their whole bodies on a large scale
- learning in a less structured environment can provide a different learning experience from that of the classroom
- being outdoors can be a more relaxing learning experience for many learners
