Our Outdoor Learning Journey
Outdoor Learning has always been a very important part of our curriculum and to highlight this, it became one of our school drivers when we created our Curriculum Rationale in 2017. It is an integrated part of our curriculum that allows us to optimise an active learning approach to learning about and through the Global Goals for Sustainability. At the time of creating the Curriculum Rationale, we were in the very early stages of developing a School Farm and Forest, using funding from a number of places including Greggs and Tesco. Our Parent Council has also heavily supported our work in this area by providing materials and resources – and in terms of strengthening our equitable approach for families, they funded a whole-school set of waterproof jackets & trousers and wellington boots.
Our work has come on a long way since then as we continue to develop our knowledge and skills in using the outdoor space to optimise learning and the appreciation of the natural environment in a holistic way. We have an allotment and from there we developed an award-winning (Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise winners; BBC Food and Farming Runners-Up) social enterprise Community Cafe. A short time after this monthly cafe began, we started keeping hens so that we could learn how to care for them and so that we could use their eggs in baking. We have employed a qualified chef as a Classroom Assistant to further enrich the learning experience across school. We regularly cook outdoors and we use natural materials as much as possible to support and enhance learning.
We shared our work in the area of Community Resilience nationally, after it was felt that we have a model that other schools might like to know about and adapt for their own setting.
Just before the first COVID lockdown we created and shared our first Outdoor Learning Passport, which contains the National Trust's 50 Things to do Before 11 3/4, with the organisation's permission. We are creating creative ways of completing some of these in school and some at home, with opportunities for all children to take part at some point. More information is available below.
More recently, our social enterprise has adapted due to the lack of cafe events during the pandemic and at the time of avian flu. Working with our local farming community, the children have learnt about the process of cleaning, carding and felting raw wool. They have sold items at numerous events and are in the process of exploring the possibility of creating a social enterprise business model in this area. This is a wonderful example of the way outdoor learning extends beyond our own vast school boundaries.
In addition, we are currently developing a year-long plan to use a newly-developed local visitor centre, Loch of Blairs. This is just a short drive from the school and the hope is we will take small groups of children there over the course of a year to look at a wide range of things, including seasonal changes, animal tracking, plant and tree naming and much more. We are going to share our work with other schools in Forres and hopefully develop collaborative projects with them as time goes on.
Here is our Outdoor Learning Passport. The Outdoor Group choose an activity to focus on each month and we share these in the newsletter. We would love to see photographs of families enjoying the activities - please email these to admin.logiep@moray-edunet.gov.uk.