TITLE OF DEVELOPING PRACTICE EXAMPLE
Growing Together - Developing the outdoor learning curriculum
built BY
Digitize Pathways in partnership with Tablet academy Scotland and Co.Lab Hub
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CONTEXT / BACKGROUND
Toronto Primary School is located in Howden in Livingston and we are very lucky to be surrounded by amazing spaces within our school grounds and the local community. However, through gathering and analysing self-evaluation evidence and considering the views of pupils, staff and parent surveys, we identified that making better use of these spaces to support learning was a priority for improvement. Research states that planned, quality outdoor experiences motivate our children and young people to become successful learners and to develop as healthy, confident, enterprising and responsible citizens. We believe that developing the outdoor learning curriculum will help us to achieve our vision to support happy children, create a motivated team and achieve improved attainment.
WHAT WE DID
On-going review of the curriculum was already one of our aims, however, the return to school under Covid restrictions was a significant driver in the progress we have made. In addition to our existing self-evaluation evidence, guidance from the Scottish Government encouraged schools to expand the size and configuration of the learning estate where necessary. The message was loud and clear: periods of time spent outdoors would result in lower risk than time spent indoors. This situation let to collective purpose which is an essential element in the curriculum design process.
HOW WE DID IT
We posed the question: How can we make better use of the outdoor space in our school to provide better experiences for our learners?
We considered this question through the four contexts for learning.
Ethos and life of the school as a community: Curriculum development is a process which involves all members of the school community so we needed EVERYONE on board to ensure our learners had a rich and varied experience. It is through this aspect that our school values shine through in our day to day practice.
Interdisciplinary Learning: We planned learning experiences in this area through the context of ‘My Caring World’ and 'My Natural World'. There is a progressive and coherent programme in place and during their learning journey our children explore their local environment, the wider community, global issues and how to care for our environment together. This is helping them to develop attributes such as respect for the environment and will help them to make informed decisions.
Curriculum Areas and Subjects: The outdoor learning environment lends itself to many opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy across learning as well as developing specific knowledge and skills. This provides an excellent opportunity for learning to be relevant to the children, helping them to make links in learning, deepening their understanding.
Opportunities for personal achievement: We value the contributions of everyone and there are many children who thrive in the outdoor environment, demonstrating capacity for learning which isn’t always as evident within the four walls of a classroom. By using the spaces for unplanned learning opportunities we have observed increased creativity, team building, confidence and enthusiasm from many of our learners.
IMPACT / OUTCOMES
We are at an early stage of this development so we will continue to gather evidence of impact on the learners' attainment as the approach is embedded consistently across the school. Early evidence indicates that wellbeing is at the heart of our outdoor learning curriculum and our learners are motivated and highly engaged in their experiences.
FEEDBACK
Please view our Sway for examples and to follow our on-going journey:
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Tags
LA
West Lothian
Where?
Howden East Road, Livingston, EH54 6BN
CONTACT PERSON
Laura Gingell
CONTACT EMAIL
wltoronto-ps@westlothian.org.uk
