Outdoor Classroom

Outdoor Classroom!

The Outdoor Classroom utilises the amazing grounds we have at our school to provide a balanced education to the young learners at Bradley Barton. The curriculum stems from the Science section of the 2014 National Curriculum. Not only is our Outdoor Classroom an exciting opportunity to explore science in a 'real life' interactive way, we provide a unique opportunity for the children to learn practical outdoor skills through fun and engaging projects.

The children all contribute to the development and upkeep of our various gardens and suggest ways we can improve our environment to promote wildlife and conservation. We are mindful of the unique opportunity we have to promote children’s wider life skills, and we take every opportunity to encourage the development of self-confidence, independence and resilience.

"Pupils appreciate the extensive grounds and outdoor learning environment. One enthusiastic pupil said, ‘The outdoor classroom is the best. We learn a lot about science and nature out there!’"

OFSTED REPORT 2017

Features of Outdoor Classroom

Gardening, Growing and Food Production 

In every Outdoor Classroom lesson the children are able, with the support of our gardening expert Mrs Heath, to learn all about growing various plants. The children are taught where their food comes from, what food plants look like and how to harvest them. They also learn how to maintain the various gardens and planters we have on our school grounds. 

Science Curriculum

With the support of the outdoor classroom teacher, the children will be guided through the science curriculum with engaging projects, experiments and exploring the outdoors. Through this, the children are learning all about the world around them, without always being confined to a classroom. They will also be learning vital interpersonal skills, for example, how to work in a team, managing disappointment (not every seed will grow!), resilience, becoming an independent learner and many more! 

What to wear for Outdoor Classroom lessons

We like to spend as much time outside as possible and to enable us to facilitate this, we ask the children to bring wellies or old shoes on the day of their outdoor classroom sessions. Sometimes we require the children to wear old clothes when doing tasks that may damage school clothes. However, this is not required every week and we will let you know in advance of the lesson, so keep an eye for Dojo or text messages. Most importantly, we do require the children to bring a warm, waterproof coat to school, and remember, there is no such thing as poor weather - only poor clothing!

Our Outdoor Classroom Learning