OUTDOOR LEARNING

Outdoor learning aims to foster children’s inquisitive nature and to gain a love of learning. At Morley Victoria Primary School, we believe that all children have the right to experience the unique and special nature of being in the great outdoors, furthermore that it is important to enable children to use the outside environment as a context for learning.

What do we mean by Outdoor Learning?

Outdoor Learning is a broad term that includes: outdoor play [learning through play], school grounds projects, environmental education, recreational and adventure activities, personal and social development, and more. 

Outdoor learning can provide a dramatic contrast to the indoor classroom. There is strong evidence that good quality learning outside the classroom adds much value to classroom learning. It leads to a deeper understanding of concepts that can be difficult to understand within an indoor classroom. Allowing very much a “hands on” approach.

Direct experience outdoors is powerful and motivating. The impact from outdoor learning can be active and instantaneous, having a positive effect on behaviour. It can also lend itself to support different learning styles such as visual or kinaesthetic. Through skilled teaching, outdoor experiences readily become a stimulating source of fascination and can lead to breakthroughs in learning.

Outdoor learning contributes towards the promotion and children’s understanding of the importance of being physically active and developing a healthy lifestyle. It also has a positive impact upon children’s personal and social development. We have further enhanced this in recent years with the introduction of Teach Active and Commando Joe's. Teach Active is an online resource providing our teaching staff with fantastic resources to take the curriculum into the outdoors. We also use Commando Joes to further enhance personal, social, and cognitive skills through tailored activities linking to topics taught within the primary curriculum.