Learning / School
Let’s go outside
Seeing their eyes light up as they gear up to embark on a sprint across fields and beaches, as soon as they catch sight of their wild and open track. Helping them create a den of their own under a canopy of thick leaved trees in the mysterious woods. As Amelia Earhart said: ‘Adventure is worthwhile in itself,’ and for children, the benefits and joy found in playing and learning outdoors are bountiful. Overcoming challenges, engaging with nature and building confidence are just some of the advantages of outdoor play.
Forest School has a rich heritage of outdoor learning, dating back to at least the 19th century with its foundations laid by philosophers, naturalists and educators such as Wordsworth, Kurt Hahn, Baden Powell and the Macmillan sisters. At the school’s core is to offer hands on learning in a woodland or natural environment.
One way encourage children to getting them engaged with nature, is with an innovative new rail travel scheme. A rail trip to the seaside may not be an average school day but a new project, run by the Severn Side Community Line Partnership, is giving pupils an important lesson in sustainable transport and ecology.
is needed now More than ever
“We wanted to offer school children the chance to experience trains, promote rail travel and a chance to enjoy an outside learning experience,” says partnership manager Heather Cullimore.
The scheme works with schools within walking distance of the Temple Meads to Severn Beach line and Bridgwater to Weston line. Year 6 children are offered the chance to experience train travel – often for the first time. “Children often may not know or be apprehensive about using the train to travel to their new secondary school. We are there to help them learn how the system works and understand that trains are a sustainable option,” says Heather.
Waiting at the end of the line at Severn Beach is forest school teacher Yvette McLoughlin who then takes the children onto the sands for an outdoor lesson on the ecology of the area. “The session is about looking at the natural world and the environment. Initially many of the activities are noticing where we are, understanding what we can do safely and using resources on the beach to develop creative play”.
Yvette reports of a fantastic response from the children. Some of which have never seen a beach or visited the seaside before. It can be a truly momentous and even transformative experience for some children. Those who perhaps find it hard to concentrate in the classroom are “transformed when they are learning outside”, she says.
“For some children it is about being quite practical – Forest School is all about achievable tasks so children feel empowered by the activities we offer. Everybody can achieve something – we can saw together, we can hand drill together, we can make willow fish together and, as a result, children have a real sense of achievement from the day.”
Pattern by Georgia Coote
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