Outdoor Learning
Outdoor learning at Ravenswood Community Primary School
We are currently developing outdoor learning across the school. All children will have the opportunity to develop valuable life skills to aid them in becoming respectful and responsible members of the community.
Outdoor learning allows the children to explore the natural world around them and encourages our children to take responsibility for themselves, their learning and the environment so that they understand how to use and look after it. Most importantly, they learn how to enjoy being out in the natural world and how to use our natural environment for learning.
In order to support children to do this, many opportunities are provided to be out in the environment where learning situations and questions are created based upon events happening in that moment and those linked to our topics happening inside the classroom. The children are encouraged to problem solve independently and think critically about what they are going to do next and the implications of their actions.
It also promotes our school’s characteristics of learning providing the children with more opportunities to develop these characteristics and further a deepened love and motivation towards learning.
Ravenswood key principles for outdoor learning:
- Mutual respect (for each other, the environment and attitude towards learning)
- Team work,
- Independence,
- Communication.
All outdoor activities require the children to be co-operative and responsible for their own learning as they will be allowed the freedom to explore and carry out these tasks whilst supervised by an adult.
Before lockdown, Year 1 enjoyed their outdoor learning sessions and were very excited to be working outside on our school meadow. They have:
- Built hedgehog houses using natural materials found outside.
- Explored seed dispersal.
- Sorted different types of leaves.
- Listened to environment.
- Been on a scavenger hunt to find different natural objects.
- Place value of numbers using sticks and stones.
- Learnt how to learn safely outside and independently.
‘Outdoor learning day’
This took place across the whole school on Thursday 23rd May 2020 and it was enjoyed by all pupils and staff.
As part of the day:
Nursery went on a scavenger hunt on the meadow looking for signs of spring.
Reception: were looking for different natural objects by their colour which they then used to make magic potions!
Year 1 and 2 went mini beast hunting.
Year 3 and 4 were identifying different types of leaves out on the meadow which they then used to make necklaces.
Year 5 and 6 had to design a mouse and keep it warm! They did this by collecting natural resources to build a nest for their mouse and monitored the temperature over a period of time to see what would happen.
