everything curriculum | July 2021 Establish links with other schools


If yours is a rural school with lots of greens spaces, consider joining up with another school with a more urban setting and visit each other’s premises for a morning or afternoon of lessons. As well as providing teachers with opportunities to deliver different learning activities, it allows children to experience different locations, culture and lifestyles, as well as interacting with new people.


Allow children to take the lead


Involve your class in decision making. Ask what their interests are. Perhaps a pupil is interested in cricket, you could arrange a trip to the local cricket ground. Do you have a keen baker? Take the children to the local shop to buy the ingredients for your baking activities.


Walk to your local park


Physical activity and learning! Taking children to the local park is an excellent way of learning outside in a natural environment. Trees, plants, hedgerows, wildlife, habits, ponds, rivers, bugs, there are lots of opportunities for science and learning about nature, risk–taking and exploration, teamwork, arts and crafts, building (dens, Stickman) and much more. Plus, they will also learn personal safety and wellbeing from wearing appropriate clothing, safety when crossing roads, to looking after each other.


Visit the local library or museum


Walk to your local town


Like visiting the local park, children will learn a lot about looking after themselves and others, building better relationships with the staff through communication and trust. Whilst on the way, ask them to take note of things around them – the houses and buildings, businesses and roads. This can be a gateway to talking about local geography, history, urban design, transport, and people’s jobs.


Involve parents


Often, one of the limitations of taking children away from school can be not having enough staff to look after the children. Ask the children’s parents or grandparents to volunteer. They may also be able to organise class visits to their workplace or site.


Not just for the many books, displays and resources available to young people, local libraries and museums often have free weekly storytime, crafts, or rhyme time sessions.


Bring the experience back into the classroom


Build on your out–of–classroom experiences when you return. Use what you have learned or discovered in arts and crafts, history, drama, experiments, literacy, numeracy, music, show and tell. The children are more likely to be engaged, feel connected to the topic and understand more, all of which will significantly improve their learning.


You can find out more about taking learning outside the classroom and how to get started at: lotc.org.uk


07


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24