1. outlook • May 2007
groundnotes July 2009
Schoolgrounds-UK
and varied, not least the weather and
perceived behavioural issues. However,
many schools are solving these issues,
and even finding that their worries are
unfounded – especially in the context of
behaviour, since many of the children who
don’t settle well indoors flourish
and are more on-task when working
actively outside.
The Council for Learning Outside
the Classroom (LOtC) suggests that
throughout the early years foundation
stage 50% of outdoor learning is a
reasonable expectation, 10 to 20%
throughout primary school and into KS3,
and as high as 5-15% in KS4 and above.
Approaches recommended include
planning percentages of curriculum time
for LOtC in every subject or allocating
a regular slot in the week for everyone.
Certainly, thinking ahead is vital
– curriculum planning should include
working out which aspect of a theme,
topic or learning outcome could be
delivered best using the outdoors.
Here to inspire you are some examples
of curriculum activities for all ages, from
Unlocking the potential of a variety of schools, all of which make
good use of the space, features and special
your school grounds nature of the outdoors:
• sensory treasure hunt including
making and tasting herb teas
around your school grounds with new – stimulating, hands-on learning.
eyes – and challenge yourself to identify • making and baking gingerbread
useful features that could help you to men on an open fire – a good
deliver a different key aspect of the core opportunity to learn fire safety.
curriculum, a vital initiative or offer added • finding out about wind resistance
value to the community. After all, your using large plastic sheeting and mesh to
outdoor space is a resource that’s every make dens.
bit as valuable as your school building. • making story thrones – an outdoor
In this Groundnotes, school grounds art project linked to planning a story
professional Felicity Robinson goes back circle. This was big and messy, making
to basics and helps you ensure you are good use of the outdoors.
unlocking your school grounds' full • designing an outdoor stage using
potential, with ideas for: scrap materials – spatial design and
• curriculum delivery problem solving.
• supporting initiatives
• extra curricular activities
How can you make sure you are using
• practical pointers for successful ‘The first-hand experiences of
outdoor experiences.
your school grounds to their full learning outside the classroom
can help to make subjects
potential? Lots of schools up and down
the country – large and small, rural and
curriculum delivery more vivid and interesting
urban – are already using their school outdoors for pupils and enhance their
grounds every day to enhance learning When teachers are asked to estimate the understanding. It can also
and play. Others are keen to offer more percentage of time they use the outdoors contribute significantly to
opportunities to get the most out of their as a teaching environment, it is clear that pupils’ personal, social and
school grounds but need new inspiration older children benefit very little from core emotional development.’
and ideas. Even if you already have time outside – often the figure is as low as Learning Outside the Classroom: how
outdoor experiences embedded in your 0.1% and seldom higher than 5% for Year far should we go? Ofsted 2008
school ethos, it can pay to take a look 6 and above. The reasons given are many
learning through landscapes
2. groundnotes • July 2009 • stay safe – being sun aware, learning
about risk and challenge
• enjoy and achieve – enjoying learning
and socialising through a range of
learning styles and social spaces
• make a positive contribution – being
part of the process of developing
external learning environments
• achieve economic well-being
– developing practical skills, knowledge
and enterprise.
Find out more by visiting www.
everychildmatters.gov.uk.
Healthy schools
You can help reinforce and support many
aspects of healthy schools outdoors by, for
example:
• growing food and promoting healthy
eating
• being active
• ensuring drinking water is available at
all times to all students
• addressing sun-shade issues
• helping to address bullying and
behavioral issues
• supporting emotional health and
well-being
• big art weaving through trees using • PSHE circle debate sitting on the • developing self-esteem.
scrap – a large scale, whole-body activity grass – the Year 6 teachers commented Find out more by visiting www.
for reception children (see above). that ‘The children were more focused healthyschools.gov.uk;
• building raised beds – this involved on the topic than on jostling and www.ltscotland.org.uk/
large scale measuring and ergonomics disturbing each other’. healthpromotingschools
to plan the optimum size. • identifying and drawing 2D and
• fair-testing friction experiments 3D shapes found in the grounds for Growing schools
using pull back cars, meter sticks and maths. Supporting the growth of plants and
different ground surfaces. The plenary • resistant materials (Year 8) caring for animals in the grounds is of
was also held outside around a chalked – identification of structural materials key importance. This can be as simple
feedback ‘house’. The children enjoyed used in the grounds, researching as developing and managing wildlife
the fresh air, space to work, and their properties and considering habitats, or growing fruit and vegetables,
self-management of their task. sustainability criteria. or more complex – for example, animal
• micro-climate survey using wind • geography (Year 9) – students had husbandry. Find out more by visiting
spinners and thermometers to plan to assess 10 places of their choice in the www.growingschools.org.uk.
a new quiet garden and seating area grounds against climate criteria, to plan
– using the special nature of outdoors a good place for eating lunch. Sustainable and eco-schools
for a real-world problem-solving task. • science (Year 10) – students Experiences in the school grounds prepare
• D&T project to design and make performed a demonstration of parallax, children and young people to make
a range of cloches for a growing commenting: ‘We understand more… sustainable choices throughout their lives.
garden – real problem solving, plus you get to join in and test things for Through working in their grounds children
production of practical resources for the yourself.’ understand better what sustainable
garden club. choices mean, and can test, experiment
supporting initiatives and demonstrate sustainable design and
outdoors environmental impact. Find out more
by visiting www.teachernet.gov.uk/
Your school grounds are not just spaces
sustainableschools;
to learn and play – they can also support
www.eco-schools.org.uk.
a wide variety of initiatives aimed at
improving children’s lives. In many cases, Extended schools
school inspections and self-evaluation will Putting schools at the heart of
also cover the contribution schools make communities – with a range of services for
to these initiatives, and making clear how pupils, families and the wider community,
new projects meet these aims may make including breakfast clubs, after-school
funding easier to attain. care, and family learning – is central to
the Extended Schools program. Extended
Every Child Matters activities that might particularly make use
Here are the five Every Child Matters of the school grounds include early years
objectives and suggestions on how your day care, for example, a crèche, adult
school grounds can help meet them: recreation, sport and adult learning. Find
• be healthy – active play, growing and out more by visiting www.teachernet.
eating fruit and vegetables gov.uk/extendedschools.
unlocking the potential of your school grounds
3. Making it work groundnotes • July 2009
Here are some key points for successful
outdoor experiences that teachers
have identified:
• be flexible so you can adapt to
changes in weather. With the right
clothing and footwear much is
possible
• get parents onboard – they
can be very supportive when they
understand the learning taking
place during outdoor activities
• have easy access to clip boards
and other resources
• use pencils outside – they work
better on damp paper
• identify a gathering place and
boundaries for the task in hand
• use a special sound/horn/
whistle to gather children back
when dispersed (for more on
behaviour management see
‘Further resources’)
• develop teacher confidence
with support and observation
– there is sometimes a tendency
for less confident staff to focus
on behaviour issues rather than
learning opportunities
• remember, it does not have
to be a whole session outside
– you might just need a 10 minute
task to gather some data, or do a
demonstration
• take advantage of
opportunities as they arise. For
example, at one school finding Brushwood Junior School is in the were developed through setting up
the remains of a fox’s lunch led to market town of Chesham and takes the dig grid, taking area and perimeter
some impromptu discussion and children from a mixed catchment of measurements, data analysis, working
questions about death, the food affluent and deprived postcodes. Forty per with Roman numerals and investigating
chain, predators and carnivores! cent of the pupils come from two of the tessellating mosaics.
most deprived postcodes nationally. Map-reading skills, arial photos
extra curricular use of In April last year, the school ran a and discussion on settlement patterns
school grounds cross-curricular project focusing on an led to further work in geography and
archaeological dig. The project was DT, including drawing floor plans and
School grounds can be an excellent
planned and implemented with the making model villas, jewellery and
focus for extra curricular activities
support of a professional archaeologist and costumes. The discovery of the artefacts
such as:
students from University College London. led to questioning, interpretation,
• pedestrian and cycle safety Over the easter break the outlines of debate, testing hypotheses and critical
training With links to your school
a Roman villa were constructed in the thinking as well as being an exciting
travel plan, support from your local
grounds, in stone, with relevant artefacts and engaging physical outdoor
authority road safety teams and
buried. Children came back at the activity. Language development was
parent volunteers, your grounds
beginning of term to a week-long ‘dig’ another key outcome with children
can be a safe practice zone to
project, now also a permanent feature that encountering Latin for the first time.
develop pedestrian and cycle skills.
will be a resource for years to come, for all They also learned technical words and
aspects of the curriculum. techniques used by archaeologists.
The school's Ofsted targets are to The project was designed to be
encourage writing and presentation skills, inclusive. One student in a wheelchair
and this project provided many relevant couldn’t get on to the dig site itself
opportunities – including newspaper but he could sift material so his group
reports, story making, re-enactments, excavated some scorched seeds and
writing fact sheets about Roman life and charcoal.
‘dig’ instructions. Headteacher Ray Plimsaul says:
The project also supported science ‘Anyone could set this up. It’s
in a number of ways, including a experiential learning that the children
decomposition experiment, floatation will never forget. The concepts, the
to separate materials, looking at bones, questioning, the richness of language
and learning about convection currents that has come out of this is remarkable.
(Roman heating systems). Numeracy skills The children are living their education.’
unlocking the potential of your school grounds
