Let’s Go Outside!

The last 2 years have taught us a lot. One thing we’ve learnt is to appreciate the world around us more and enjoy the outside spaces we have. Whether it be going for walks, getting out in the garden or heading to the coast, we’ve all developed a new found love of being outside. 

As a school, we’ve always embraced being outside and many schools are now, more and more, taking learning outside when they can. 

Come rain, wind, sun or (without doubt) snow, you’ll find outside learning appearing on the timetable of one of our classes. 

We are lucky as we have a forest area and have developed our status as a forest school over the past few years. Regularly, you’ll find children in the mud kitchen or making dens or cooking marshmallows over an open fire. But it’s not just the forest area. All of our outdoor spaces are regularly used by classes to help with learning. 

We have an outdoor stage which is used for drama performances and music sessions. We have a gym trail which is used in PE lessons. We have a large field, which is always being used for many different activities. Our playground can often be found with chalk markings on where a class has taken to the ground to develop maths understanding or Geography skills. 

When an opportunity arises, we look to take our learning outside. Over the past few years we have enriched our maths curriculum by having Active Maths sessions outside. These are never a ‘tag on’ or just an excuse to be outside. They are well planned out activities using the outside space to develop maths learning. 

I will never forget at the end of the day once when we had an Active Maths lesson earlier in that day, a child came running up to me and said in surprise, ‘Mr G! Mr G! We haven’t had maths today. You forgot to teach us that lesson! (pointing to my timetable on the board)’ 

How immersed in the learning and in the outside space they must have been to not realise that they had actually completed more calculations in that session on whiteboards and on the playground in chalk than they had done in their book the previous day. 

That’s just one example of how a well planned out session where the learning is taken outside can have real impact. 

It’s not just the academic learning that’s taking place outside and benefited by being outside, it’s breathing in the fresh air, it’s working together, its taking in all the sights and sounds that outside brings, it’s encouraging healthy lifestyles. 

I can’t think of any subject in the curriculum where there isn’t some benefit to taking the learning outside at some point. In English, why not head out and think about story setting descriptions thinking about the senses. In Maths, do an arithmetic trail around the site (turn it into a competition too!) or have maths relay races. In History, create human timelines (by spreading the children out you can get a real feel for the ‘time’ between events). In art, sketch! In Geography, play Around the World with different stations set up with information and sources from different countries and cultures. In science, take out the iPads or chrome books and carry out investigations and write ups outside (especially those messy ones! The cleaners will appreciate that!). In History, set up an archeological dig. 

The most important thing to think about is how being outside can bring more to the actual learning that’s taking place. If it’s just getting outside for the sake of it (although I’d argue that this is still vital too), try to plan more effectively to really think about the learning and the outcome of what you want from the lesson. 

These lessons live long in the memory of the children. Being outside is not only an effective way to teach some areas of our curriculum, it has so many other health benefits and social development benefits too. 

So, when you can and if you see a benefit to learning by doing it, get outside with your children!