Alfresco Learning (Outdoor Learning Consultants): The Power of Outdoor Learning

This episode is a first for The Teachers’ Podcast, as Claire is interviewing not one, but two guests: Jenny Wood and Hollie Hindle from Alfresco Learning, a company focused on helping teachers to find ways in which to use their outdoor environments to deliver lessons across the curriculum. Having both been teachers themselves, Jenny and Hollie give useful advice for teachers still in the classroom. Jenny and Hollie had quite differing views on their futures before teaching at the same primary school: Hollie always wanted to be a teacher and even used to teach her teddies, whereas Jenny wanted to be a zookeeper, or at least something to do with animals! Holly did her degree in Primary Education, going straight into teaching from there, whereas Jenny completed a Chemistry degree, and was inspired to go into schools by another student on her course. Jenny found that she loved the environment of being in primary schools and so finished her degree, became a TA and then completed a PGCE. While Hollie was taking a break from teaching, she worked as a learning mentor at Jenny’s 3-form entry school. After her break, she took up a role teaching at the school and worked closely with Jenny in leadership roles in Key Stage 1. They soon discovered they were very similar in their teaching styles and beliefs, and after building up their own repertoire of outdoor lessons, they decided to take the leap and start their own business. In the podcast, Jenny and Hollie discuss what teachers can do to introduce more outdoor lessons into their planning and how they can find the confidence to overcome worries about behaviour and having to justify why they are going outside. They offer examples of lessons that can be done outside and ideas of how to embed outdoor learning into your school’s curriculum. KEY TAKEAWAYS Taking children outside can change behaviour.Children who find learning and sitting still in a classroom challenging can become observant, inquisitive, curious and will talk to others about what they have found and observed if they are taken outside to learn. Don’t be afraid to get creative!Use social media for starting points then develop your own ideas for taking children outside. Start off small and slow; play boundary games with the children so that they (and you!) are getting used to them moving around so much. The amount of outdoor learning will depend on what you have planned (and the weather!).Aim to get outside in all weathers but if it’s a particularly wet week, it doesn’t need to be every day! Have an objective so children are still doing what they need to do.It should be about developing and deepening their learning, not just being an add on. By meeting curriculum objectives when you go outside, it is also easier to justify to SLT why you are doing it and to demonstrate the benefits. Have a class ‘floor book’ for use outside.Instead of taking their actual books outside, have a class ‘floor book’ that can be taken out where post-its, photos and other evidence can be gathered. You don’t always have to have lots of resources – just get outside!If you are in an area where natural resources are sparse, task the children with collecting natural resources on a weekend and bringing them in; have a designated space for the children to put them so that it becomes part of normal classroom practice. Leave chalk markings on the playground.If you’ve used chalk, and you leave the markings that the children have made, the children will usually revisit the learning at lunch and break time. Learning outside creates experiences.It also consolidates and deepens the learning that has happened in the classroom. In Key Stage 2, if you are struggling for ideas, start with Science.This is a subject that naturally lends itself. Explore friction with a shoe on different things that are found outdoors: tarmac, wet leaves, dry leaves, dry grass etc. In Key Stage 1, try a journey stick.Select a story and make the main character out of the stick. Attach things to the stick to symbolise what they did/where they went on their journey. By bringing it back in the classroom, children are able to retell the story. In Early Years, use the senses to develop language and vocabulary.Encourage children to touch things outside (some things will be less pleasant like nettles and holly – but it is still important for children to experience it). Barefoot walks – trays with pebbles, leaves, grass and sand – are also a different way of exploring touch. Risk assess verbally with the children.If you include the children in agreeing what the rules are and why they are that way when they learn outside, they’ll take responsibility for sticking to them! Some children benefit from going out individually before going out with a full class.Children who need to get used to learning outdoors can benefit from going out with an adult to do small tasks outside first, before heading out with the whole class. BEST MOMENTS “I started taking [the class] outdoors, with other staff with me, as a way of having a little break from the classroom; having a little break from the noise… giving them a break; giving me a break; giving the other staff a break, and it started like that, and it was when I saw how their behaviour changed outside - that’s when I realized: actually, the outside is what this class needs.” Jenny “I was very passionate about play-based learning for a long time, so the outdoor learning was kind of a natural progression from that.” Hollie “I was given a group of children from across the 3 classes who were particularly low in phonics; they weren’t on track for passing the screening check… I looked at them and thought, ‘This just is not working. This style of learning is just not working for you. You need something different.’ And that’s when I started taking them outdoors and doing very physical activities… [using] chalk to write across the school walls; writing in mud… suddenly the digraphs started to stick, the blending started to come along, and we started to see progress.” Hollie “Occasionally, it takes a little bit more to think about in terms of, ‘How could I take this outside? I really want to do something outside, but what could I do?’” Jenny “It’s something that you build over time… As you get used to being outdoors and using the resources that you’ve got out there, then new ideas start to come to you… Before you know it, you’ve got this whole repertoire of activities and ideas that you can use.” Hollie “Sometimes we’d have a maths week where every single maths lesson was outside and then we’d have another week where we just used natural resources, but we did it inside.” Jenny “We didn’t force it but did it enough that the kids were still engaged and knew that we would do it but didn’t do it all the time.” Jenny “Being outside all the time, if you’re in a school, is quite challenging… it takes a lot more energy to be outside and even though the benefits are amazing, and you see all the benefits… I don’t think I could do it every single lesson of every single day.” Jenny “If you do it regularly, the children get into those routines of what’s expected of going outside.” Hollie “[We were] very conscious of what they needed to know by the end of the year, what they needed to know for the SATs… It was always very much a curriculum focus, so we’d go outside but there would always be an objective covered with that… Because we approached it in that way, it was actually taken on board a lot better by SLT.” Jenny “It was extending their learning, and developing and deepening their learning, rather than doing something completely different.” Jenny “Some schools might have a garden area and they might have trees which will then bring them sticks and leaves and things like that, which are really great for using as loose parts for your maths or any kind of activities… [In] other schools, you might need to do a bit of preparation in collecting those natural resources but what we say is: Get the children involved!” Hollie “One thing that I always kept in my cupboard which helped me go outside, even in the spur of the moment, would be chalk… Regardless of whatever you’re teaching, chalk will get you a long way: you can do so much with chalk.” Jenny “We used to build up a bank of spare clothing for those children that might come in and they’ve not got a coat… so we would ask for donations of clothes that had been grown out of that we could keep.” Hollie “[Children] feel a little bit more free outside. It does feel a little bit like freedom for them and that brings them out in a whole different way.” Jenny “There are so many ways you can approach a problem outside... There’s always opportunity for lots of groupwork and teamwork.” Jenny “Our curriculum is very focused on knowledge and it can be really difficult to work the skills into your lessons… When you’re outside, there’s all the communication, there’s the social skills, there’s the emotional responses to what you’re doing and all of the time, while you’re teaching something else, children are developing those skills.” Hollie “There’s also research into the effects of nature on the brain, and the pre-frontal cortex in the brain, and actually the waves change in your brain when you interact with nature in that it kind of slows down. That part of your brain is responsible for focus and attention. It refreshes that part of the brain that’s crucial for learning.” Hollie “You could use iPads and things outside but you wouldn’t necessarily teach children how to log into a laptop by taking the laptop outside, but then when they know how to use the iPad, you can then take that outside to deepen that learning.” Jenny “[As a teacher], you work hard, and you do start to get burnt out, particularly towards the end of a half term and being outside is so good for your well-being too – experiencing that fresh air and that peacefulness.” Hollie “It really does develop their ability to work together and talk to each other... They’ll challenge each others’ thinking a little bit without you even having to do anything.” Jenny “Don’t feel like you can’t just take the curriculum outdoors.” Jenny “If I could wave a magic wand, I would change what OFSTED was looking for.” Hollie “The thing I remember about her [my favourite teacher, Mrs Murgatroyd] was the life skills that she taught us… She cared about more than the curriculum; it was about developing these young children.” Hollie “I think [education] definitely needs to keep moving towards skills-based learning.” Hollie “Fundamentally, it’s a right that every child should really experience nature.” Jenny VALUABLE RESOURCES Alfresco Learning:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alfrescolearning/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alfresco_learning/Information on the impact of nature on your brain:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/01/call-to-wild/ The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ ABOUT THE HOSTClaire Riley Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.   The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.