An array of subjects is being taught in the great outdoors at an independent junior school with pupils enjoying lessons in a new outdoor classroom.
Bradford Grammar Junior School has been working with an outdoor education company to incorporate outdoor learning into its curriculum following evidence of a range of benefits, including improved concentration, confidence and wellbeing in children as well as fostering resilience.
Kerry Howes, headmistress, said they had been working with the School Outdoor Learning company (SOuL) alongside school staff for months to ensure they had the right training and the freedom to adopt outdoor learning into the curriculum and to ‘make it their own.’ The school then created a new outdoor classroom, featuring wooden seating and a fire pit.
Said Kerry: “While we want to see our children adopt skills, such as resilience, there’s evidence to suggest that pupils retain more information after lessons spent in nature and that some pupils, who might find it difficult to concentrate in a classroom environment, will find they’re more able to engage in the next lesson if they’ve studied outdoors. It can also lead to a greater understanding of nature and the environment.
“We’ve had some great outdoor education days so far. The children seem to love learning in nature and we’re busy planning further lessons.”
In a study funded by DEFRA and Natural England, 95 per cent of teachers and pupils said outdoor learning made subjects more enjoyable and 92 per cent said it improved pupils’ health and wellbeing.
Mike Hargreaves, operations manager with School Outdoor Learning, said: “It’s been fantastic working with Bradford Grammar and Kerry. She and her team really get the notion that learning can happen anywhere in the school grounds and be enriched by the context that nature provides. Children thrive when being able to move while learning and this is partly why we’re seeing a surge of interest in schools adopting this philosophy of education, which underpins everything we teach at school.”
“While we want to see our children adopt skills, such as resilience, there’s evidence to suggest that pupils retain more information after lessons spent in nature and that some pupils, who might find it difficult to concentrate in a classroom environment, will find they’re more able to engage in the next lesson if they’ve studied outdoors.
It can also lead to a greater understanding of nature and the environment.”
Be Social!