Bradford Grammar Junior School is expanding its outdoor play and classroom provision as it looks to welcome Reception and Year 1 pupils from September. Headmaster, Richard Ribeiro, says it’s all part of creating a challenging and rich play environment – and bringing an element of risk-taking back into education.
The birds are singing loudly after the long winter, the wind whispering through the trees while the faint sounds of the city hum quietly in the background. You wouldn’t know there was an urban landscape beyond the walls of the outdoor play paradise being created at Bradford Grammar Junior School.
Andy Carley and his team at School Outdoor Learning (SOuL) are busy transforming the natural greenery here. So far, smooth robinia wood poles lay across sturdy oak trunks, which will form the basis of the school’s new playscape area, and a partially built amphitheatre full of exciting promise of magical peformances to come.
“We chose robinia and accoya wood because it doesn’t need any chemical treatment and it will last for 30-40 years. This oak has come from the edge of the New Forest and the stone has come from nearby,” says Andy, founder and owner of SOuL, which has designed and is installing the scheme.
“We keep everything as natural as possible, which is why we leave the bark on the oak. Nothing is contrived. There are no pirate ships or monkey bars here, because the kids don’t need it. Our aim is to make play as imaginative and as unstructured as possible so children can use their creativity.”
While Andy and his company are in demand, particularly since the COVID lockdown, this project is one of the biggest they’ve undertaken in a school. The plans include creating a three tiered amphitheatre with gabion walls, a seven sided decked area which looks over more greenery, soon to be sown with wild flowers, a replacement outdoor classroom, a natural playscape area and a ‘loose parts’ section (for building dens with and other fun things).
“There are places for balancing, climbing and swinging, so children can feel that sense of peril, and, of course, there are lots and lots of places to hide!” says Andy.
“There will also be plenty of rustic outdoor furniture for formal teaching and to be used as social spaces during periods of play, because not all children want to charge about during their free time.”
The outdoor space at BGS is already used in many ways – to support curriculum learning, for exploration, by its nature club, by its STEM ambassadors, for bushcraft and for its ever-popular gardening club.
Junior School Headmaster, Richard Ribeiro, says: “There’s evidence from a number of studies of the educational benefits of being outdoors. Connecting with nature supports our cognitive development, provides opportunities to develop executive function and draws on children’s natural curiosity to inspire creativity.
“What Andy and his team have created is exactly what we want – a natural, challenging play environment. We don’t want to wrap our children in cotton wool. We’ve become too sanitised in lots of ways and I’d like to challenge our children physically as well as mentally.”
Andy agrees: “It should be about all the things that can go right rather than all the things that can go wrong. We look at risk benefits. We do all the appropriate rigorous risk assessments and train staff, but overall it’s about having fun and being creative. It’s about bringing back childhood and it’s wonderful to be a part of creating that. It’s a genuine vocation for us, a love of all things nature.”
The first Reception and Year 1 pupils will be welcomed this September. To find out more about our development and joining our Junior School, contact the admissions team at [email protected] or call 01274 553713/553702. To register for a future open event, visit bradfordgrammar.com/signup.
“Our aim is to make play as imaginative and as unstructured as possible so children can use their creativity.”
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