At Whitnash Primary School we are taking a whole school approach to outdoor learning. There are many benefits of outdoor learning, including increased engagement of children, mental and physical health benefits of being outdoors, gaining a connection to nature and respect for the environment. We feel it is important for children to experience the outdoors and build up their knowledge of nature as well as using it to enrich their curriculum-based learning. Often learning outdoors can also be more memorable for children and helps to create deeper level learning.

 

Your child will be taking part in an outdoor lesson once a week. During their outdoor learning time teachers will be leading curriculum-based lessons, outdoors. This is learning that they would have been doing in the classroom, delivered outside in a different more active way. This is not to be confused with ‘Forest School’, as the children will not be following a ‘Forest School’ curriculum in these sessions. These sessions will therefore be referred to as ‘Outdoor Currriculum Learning’ sessions.

 

What do children need:

On their designated day children need to bring in a pair of wellies. Both wellies must be clearly labelled with your child's full name and class. They will put these in a box at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day they can collect them from the box and take them home. They will be outside for a longer period, so it is important they have the right clothing. During the colder months, your child should come to school with a warm waterproof coat. On colder days, please also provide your child with some extra warmth with items such as a hat, gloves, and a scarf. During the summer if it is a hot day, it is important that you apply sun cream to your child before they come to school and send them in with a sun hat.

 

What children say about their outdoor learning: