Outdoor Learning

At Waterfoot Primary School, our learning goes beyond the four walls of the classroom!

Outdoor time often provides the most memorable learning experiences and helps children to make sense of the world around them by putting their learning into a meaningful context.

Being outdoors has a positive impact on children’s sense of well-being. It offers opportunities for exploring learning in different ways and on different scales than when indoors. It gives children first-hand contact with weather, seasons and the natural world and offers them freedom to explore, use their senses and be physically active!

We are extremely fortunate to be set in large grounds which will positively enhance our educational provision. We are developing this area and phase 1 will start soon.

Our Early Years and Key Stage 1 classrooms allow for secure indoor-outdoor education.

Opportunities for outdoor learning will be planned to enhance our curriculum, as well as to develop personal and social skills, communication, problem solving, thinking skills and teamwork.

Outdoor Learning Day 2020

Key Stage 1 had amazing fun. We played Woodland Hide and Seek, we matched colour cards to the natural things around us, we played letter hunt by looking for log slices hung in the trees and we had a wonderful time toasting brioche and drinking hot chocolate around our campfire.

Lower Key Stage 2. We made symmetrical leaf crowns, had a colour scavenger hunt and toasted marshmallows whilst drinking hot chocolate around the fire!

Upper Key Stage 2

Below are some photos from our Outdoor learning day where we investigated the best place for a dormouse to live, went on a scavenger hunt, played hide and seek and toasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate. What a great day we had.

Our woodland area has had a fantastic transformation over the summer holidays. What's more exciting is that there is still more to come! Children and staff couldn't wait to take a look and plan lessons to take place in our grounds. Aren't we lucky?

KS1 took part in an outdoor workshop all linked to our topic on the Great Fire of London. We learnt how to make a wattle and daub wall using sticks, mud and straw. We had fun playing fire and water tig and we sorted different materials into groups. We then had to design out own bakery for Thomas Farriner using only the materials we agreed on in our groups. We used sticks, stones and clay to make the model of his new bakery. Finally, we sprayed it with water to see if it was waterproof and whether it would protect Thomas.

National Geographical Day

As part of our National Geographical Day celebrations, KS1 carried out some fantastic fieldwork where they identified the human and physical features shown on an aerial map of the school. It was great fun and we found that we were quite good at recognising the features shown on the map. Here are just a few photographs of Chestnut Class.