Outdoor Learning in School

I know lots of Forest School Leaders are doing a great job of flying the flag for Outdoor Learning. I am biased, but it is a great part of OL and feeds into all others as well as classroom life. I know many FSL have found life within a pandemic was frustrating as sessions were cancelled or reduced, and now that we are emerging into a world with a better understanding of covid, getting children outside has suddenly increased in demand.

For all those independent Forest Schools I hope this growing interest leads to a surge in sessions to make up for the lost time and money to your businesses. The children do need you!

For all those independent FSLs out there, I hope schools are snapping up your services and making the most of the expertise out there and are bringing it into schools.

I also know that neither of these options are that simple in practice. But they are in theory. Parents and schools and other organisations need to be thinking about the summer and planning for the new academic year in September.

For all those, like me, attached to a school, I also know from messages and friends that things are just as complicated! Schools are moving forward with the realisation, and even the intention, of growing their Outdoor Learning, but are having to implement it with minimal guidance.

There are great resources out there, but they are not from the Government -
which has 'catch up' as a priority.

It seems some FSL are either being overlooked in the debate or expected to lead it with no support. They are finding the curriculum seeping into their sessions or they are having sessions reduced so catch up lessons can take place. Some who have dual roles have found themselves relocated within the school and Forest School on hold.

I wish I had a solution for all of these issues. To be fair, every school is different, every school has its own challenges and issues, and every school will need to prioritise different aspects of learning.

In a world of 'catch up' curriculums, Forest School has the potential to play a huge role. True Forest School with no specific learning intention will improve children's attitude to learning and transfer into the classroom. 

If a school wants to introduce more Outdoor Learning it needs to enhance the curriculum, not add to it, and it must be a whole-school approach. 

There are some simple and easy steps to doing this, some of which can start after half term!

1. Hold the class back after playtime for 10 mins, or go out early: Chapter read a book across the week (English). Do a daily weather report (geography). Plant something in pots/the ground and tend it daily (science).
2. Take a lesson outside: Quiet reading (English). Take clipboards and draw outdoors (art). Take the music trolley outdoors (music). Do circle time outside (PSHE). These literally need no adapting.
3. Link a lesson outside: Times table hopscotch (Maths). Measure the circumference of trees or sheds (Maths). Describe what you see/alliterate it/rhyme it (English).
4. Plan a lesson outside: Test the strength of rocks (below Geology/Science). Make a human timeline to give perspective to time (History). 
   
   
   
   

I know of a KS2 lesson where the cardboard models of Tudor homes were taken outside, arranged like a (date appropriate) map of Pudding Lane, and then burned as per Fire of London. The children had notepads and wrote words and observations to feed into their writing when they went back in.

I've also had children outside with phonics digraphs having to hop, walk, jump, to at least one other person with a digraph that makes yours a word. It also worked finding someone with one that makes the same sound as yours.

Taking learning outside doesn't mean adding the subject 'Outdoor Learning' into a packed timetable. Start with the achievable. Some areas of the curriculum scream 'take me outdoors'! 

There are a series of books, plus a facebook group, all about taking the National Curriculum Outdoors. Written by Deborah Lambert, Michelle Roberts, and Sue Waite, which are a good investment for any school about to prioritise Outdoor Learning.

Also, for those of us stuck with the English Government guidance and curriculum, a long look at both the Welsh Education and Upstart Scotland resources will produce a lot that can be adapted!

Some is aimed solely at the Foundation Stage, and other info, ie 'Play is the Way', is a great read for anyone focusing on EYFS and KS1. 

None of it sees a cut off the moment children reach Year 3. Many schools imbed Continuous Provision throughout KS1 and beyond. This is a great way to sneak in more Outdoor Learning!

It sounds ridiculous to say 'get the children outside at least once a day' until you think about it sensibly. 

If they have PE outside on one day, now you are looking at four days not five. If they have Forest School once a week you are down to three. 

Yes it is 'cheating', but it starts to change the mindset of all when it becomes 'the way we work'. An ethos of 'outdoors everyday' doesn't have to dictate what kind of outdoors, and it is a foundation to build on.

The weather is improving a bit. This is the prime time to start taking learning outside.

What is learned between half term and the end of this school year, will carry into September. When the weather will slowly decline! It's best to have Outdoor Learning embedded BEFORE the seasons' change as that adds excuses not to do it!

There is no such thing as wrong weather for OL, just the wrong clothes! 

Just because schools insist on bringing children in from playtime when it rains (as if kids are dissolvable), doesn't mean lessons are cancelled!

It's a cycle schools have trapped themselves into! 

I look forward to finding a school that has banned wet play!