Outdoor Learning

Intent – What is the purpose of our arts curriculum?

At Tranmere Park Primary, our school vision is for all members of our school “to be the very best we can be”. As part of this vision, we expanded and enhanced the breadth of our curriculum by incorporating a designated outdoor learning curriculum that will become part of our weekly routine. It is our aim that this new LOtC (Learning Outside the Classroom) will uphold the high standards and expectations that our school sets for its pupils and serve as a cornerstone to increasing their life skills and experiences throughout their primary school education.

We aim to:
– build self-esteem and confidence in children.
– build resilient, determined and independent learners
– encourage personal, social and emotional development.
– develop and encourage creativity
– encourage collaboration.
– develop and build the ideas of risk management and risk benefit
– improve children’s life skills and experiences
– enable children to gain a respect for the natural environment and wildlife.
– transfer negative behaviours into positive ones.
– let children be children

These aims will be covered with a variety of Forest Schools and outdoor learning teachings and strategies that not only seek to aid the children in their learning but provide opportunities in a positive, enjoyable, creative and inspiring manner. We will allow our children to transfer the skills and knowledge from the LOtC lessons into the classroom and life outside of school.

Our Children will:

Our Teachers will:

•Be intrinsically motivated – they are eager to build on their existing skills and understanding. •Be willing to practise new skills in a range of different activities and situations (alone, in small groups and whole class) and are keen to apply these skills to achieve high levels of performance. •Be resilient to mistakes and persevere when faced with a challenge; they are able to lose and can handle disappointment. •Possess highly positive attitudes towards being outdoors and learning something new. Well-being, exercise and physical activity and will be aspirational.

•Provide a progressive and challenging curriculum which is sequenced to enable all children to develop the competence to excel in a broad range of activities. • Ensure a wide range of skills are taught (see Knowledge Progression). • Ensure each child has access to the outdoor curriculum. • Provide the children with a rich curriculum of carefully crafted lessons that ensures time for practise and consolidation. • Encourage children to try new things and be confident to make mistakes.

 

Implementation – How do we do it?

The Learning Journey

To ensure that this LOtC curriculum reaches the high standards of teaching and learning that we pride
ourselves on at Tranmere, we have implemented a progressive curriculum that begins in Reception and
continues and grows until its culmination, when children leave in Year 6. Discrete outdoor learning lessons will be timetabled once a half-term allowing each class six sessions a year of discrete, high-quality outdoor learning. This will be in addition to the cross-curricular outdoor learning the children will engage in with their class teachers as a part of our everyday offer.

Forest school is a globally recognised teaching system that aims to meet the intent of this curriculum through holistic learning. It is through this method that we strive to provide our pupils with the widest range of skills and opportunities available to us. Due to its child led nature and focus on social development, Forest School engages children in a manner that is hard to imitate in the classroom. This creates new opportunities for learning and development that might not be accessed during regular day-to-day schooling. As we know, every child is different (as are their learning habits) and this something that we recognise, encourage and utilise at Tranmere Park.
At Tranmere, we are blessed with a beautiful outdoor learning environment ranging from the school grounds area to the school’s allotment. It is here the majority of the learning will take place, but it is our aim to also expand our outdoor learning into the wider community and environment to give the children a wider range of experience and allow them to become more familiar with the world surrounding them.

Monitoring

There is an ongoing cycle of subject monitoring at Tranmere Park Primary. The Subject Leader will be allocated a block of time during the academic year to monitor work against an agreed criteria from SLT, to organise a theme week for the whole school to address an objective which has been highlighted in the subject evaluation form and finally organise a challenge day for children who show a particular aptitude or interest in Outdoor Learning. Results of monitoring will inform the Subject Leader’s future plan. The Subject Leader manages the long-term plan for Outdoor Learning alongside the curriculum manager. In addition, the Subject Leader reports to the assessment manager at the end of the academic year referring to each class’s art end of year outcomes.

Impact – What knowledge and skills are obtained?

At Tranmere Park, every pupil will:

● Show support and collaborate with other children in outdoor learning experiences ● Can explain current issues around the environment and propose how to tackle them ● Actively choose outdoor learning experiences. ● Can design and complete investigations and fieldwork in their local environment. ● Confidently communicate with unfamiliar adults

Outdoor learning is supportive of those with SEND needs as it provides opportunities to learn in a different way.  From pupil voice, we know that our SEND children enjoy spending time outside and actively choose outdoor experiences.

As exposure to outdoor learning takes place across the school, our children will both enjoy and respect the environment around them.

Further to the above, our Curriculum, at Tranmere Park, is designed to ensure that each child is a confident and successful learner who demonstrates our core values:

The Team Tranmere Way
Be Yourself		Be Your Best		Be Team Tranmere
Our children will learn to like who they are; they respect themselves and live their lives in their own way, regardless of the opinions of others.		Our children ‘give it everything they have got’ to achieve their full potential across the curriculum.		Our children are a part of a community and have respect for the resources and people in it and that surround it.
Our Learning Values and Behaviours
Self-Manager	Effective Participator	Independent Enquirer	Team Worker	Resourceful Thinker	Reflective Learner
Our children set their own goals and manage their own time, motivation and concentration.	Our children participate in lessons and persuade and encourage others to do so.	Our children set goals for their research with clear success criteria.	Our children understand that we are stronger together and implement this.	Our children are problem-solvers who can adapt to new or difficult situations.	Our children critically analyse their work ensuring future improvements.