Outdoor Learning

At St Peters our aim is to provide opportunities for our children to engage with the outdoor environment, as a pathway to learning both inside and beyond the curriculum.

Overwhelming research points to the fact that the outdoor environment provides endless inspiration for all educational levels, allowing the children to interact with nature, whilst developing teamwork, resilience, cooperation; applying new skills in new and exciting contexts.

       

In recent years, our own on-site Outdoor learning environment began to take shape. Governors, teachers, pupils, former pupils, volunteers and members of the local community formed an enthusiastic working party in order to break ground, dig, plant and shape a new, exciting learning environment.

           

Learning outside, in our natural surroundings, is of course, not just fun but also a place where much crucial learning can happen. Learning about the natural world, noting the changes in seasonal growth, life and weather patterns in our area, appear alongside the opportunity to develop our interaction with others, personal responsibility, calculating risk, critical, creative thinking and physical literacy.

Our curriculum is based on providing each year group with a range of topics throughout the year, these will tie together (where possible) ideas and opportunities within: English, science, geography, history across the full breadth of the curriculum; our outdoor learning environment allows us to extend this reach further.

Our planning seeks to allow us to engage with our outdoor environment for a wide variety of opportunities, helping to develop those personal skills, alongside practical applications, deepen pupils understanding of themselves, their natural surroundings and their knowledge within our year group topics.