Outdoor Learning

What does an Outdoor Learner look like at Margaret Wix Primary School?

• Great levels of originality, imagination and creativity
• Excellent listening and collaboration skills
• Total respect for other people, their views, our outdoor equipment and our natural world
• A keen eye for spotting weird and wonderful things in nature
• Strong resilience skills – for their activity and for the weather!
• Fantastic communication skills
• A passion and commitment to sustainability and supporting the natural world
• Green fingers for sowing seeds and gardening
• True self-belief that things can go wrong, and that you can overcome obstacles to achieve anything you wish when you put your heart and soul into it!

Intent - Why are we teaching this?

At Margaret Wix we believe in providing a rich variety of outdoor play experiences where children can learn to explore our Learning Powers further. Your children will be learning to build resilience, be curious about our world, demonstrate respect and kindness for others as well as the natural world, develop social, emotional and behavioural skills, gain self-belief, manage risk, problem solve, be creative and have fun! We are so fortunate to have the vast green space and outdoor play areas that we do at Margaret Wix. We know that children of all ages thrive in the outdoors and that time spent outside can improve physical and mental wellbeing hugely.

In order to support this, we have decided to expand and enhance the breadth of our curriculum by embedding Outdoor Learning across the school. As well as focusing on our school Learning Powers, children will be encouraged to:

• Enjoy collaboration and celebrate teamwork
• Improve their life skills and experiences
• Transfer negative behaviours into positive ones
• Be children!

Through some intensive and interesting intervention led by Diane Miller from Learning through Landscapes,  all staff Margaret Wix received training on effective play, the use of our new play equipment and how best to encourage children to do this with minimal adult support. The above aims will be covered through an exciting variety of play equipment and games at play times and lunch times, led by teaching assistants; as well as during Outdoor Learning lessons, led by class teachers. These strategies will not only seek to aid the children in their learning, but also be provided in a positive, enjoyable and creative manner that will allow them to transfer their skills and knowledge from Outdoor Learning sessions into the classroom and life outside of school.

Implementation - How are we teaching this?

To ensure that our Outdoor Learning can become truly embedded and sessions reach the awesome standards of teaching and learning that we pride ourselves on at Margaret Wix, we have implemented a progressive curriculum that begins in EYFS and grows until children leave in year 6. At least one session a half term will be taught involving our extensive and beautiful outdoor environment; whether that looks like a year 5 maths lesson on perimeter and area being taught on the school playground, a year 3 history lesson on the Bronze Age being taught in our woodland area or a year 6 writing lesson beginning on the school field where children can be inspired by what their senses pick up on.

As well as these engaging cross-curricular opportunities, children will have discrete experiences in Outdoor Learning through our new den building and outdoor play equipment that is timetabled for the playground on certain days at play times and lunch times. They will be able to use all of their Learning Power, social and emotional skills to be creative and hands on through child-led, independent play.

At Margaret Wix, we are blessed with a beautiful outdoor environment ranging from the fields, to two adventure playgrounds, a sheltered woodland area and an allotment and it is here that we want our children to use all of their skills and become more familiar with the natural world around them.

Impact - What effect is this having on our pupils?

Once the implementation of the Outdoor Learning curriculum has been rolled out across the school, our children will become more robust, well-rounded individuals. They will learn to be more resilient learners and demonstrate kindness and respect for others around them as well as our natural world. They will navigate negotiation with peers in a more effective way in and out of the classroom, demonstrate self-belief and become better at regulating their social, emotional and mental health, allowing them to perform better in collaborative tasks as well as independent learning – preparing them for life as an adult. Through this, they will also understand the importance of risk; understanding, assessing and managing it, teaching them that life is full of risks, but that risks can reap wonderful rewards. It also encourage curiosity in our children – teaching them what their own limits are and that they can push past those barriers if they are truly resilient. We want the impact of the Outdoor Learning curriculum to show our children that we are not the mistakes we make, that mistakes aren’t failures, they are a crucial part of learning and that we can keep trying again, and again, and again.

Aspirations for the future:

• Landscaper
• Gardener
• Tree surgeon
• Farmer
• Forester
• Teacher
• Lecturer
• Environmental lawyer
• Naturalist (scientist)