Jan 7, 2020 | Early Years Outdoors, Whole School
How do you demonstrate that your setting truly values the outdoors? This is a crux question that can be surprisingly difficult to exemplify. In my work, I visit a lot of early years settings. I am often told of the importance of outdoor experiences. However the...
Oct 26, 2019 | Community Involvement, Early Years Outdoors, Whole School
Since 2015, Fort William Stramash Outdoor Nursery has celebrated bonfire night in style. It is one of the most popular events in the Stramash calendar with hundreds of tickets reserved and crowds of present and past children and their families coming along to...
Feb 22, 2019 | Technologies, Whole School
“Where’s the games?” When children explore my iPad, this question always arises. The contents on my iPad are not what children expect. It is almost entirely a range of apps for use outside. Once children fathom this out, one of two things...
Aug 6, 2018 | Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Whole School
Upper Sturt Primary in South Australia used to be an ordinary state primary school. Since September 2015, the school has been predominantly an outdoor and nature-based school. The children are outside almost all the time, all year round. Whilst I plan to blog about...
Jun 12, 2018 | Community Involvement, Whole School
BIO stands for Both Inside and Out. It is an approach to topic work that the children at Upper Sturt Primary School use almost on a daily basis. In their words, it is “an integrated subject, which is employed as a whole school approach. Explicit texts are used...
Apr 1, 2018 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Whole School
In 2015, early years outdoor education consultant, Jan White wrote a book Every Child a Mover published by Early Education. It is a fabulous read that puts physical development firmly at the heart of good early years provision. There is lots of sensible practical...
Dec 8, 2017 | Early Years Outdoors, Whole School
‘In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it.” Simon Nicholson In 1971, Simon Nicholson wrote an article in a Landscape Architecture journal...
Oct 15, 2017 | Maths Outdoors, Whole School
This guest blog post is courtesy of Crianlarich Primary School. Back in September, I had the privilege of working with the school for a morning to kickstart using their school grounds and local environment for raising attainment in maths. How would use this maths...
Oct 3, 2017 | Literacy Outdoors, Whole School
In July 2017, Ian Gilbert quietly published The Compleat Thunks Book which is his third on the topic. This is a form of question where the thinking, reasoning, logic, panic and irritation used to arrive at an answer, or deviate from it, creates conversations that make...
Apr 24, 2017 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Whole School
A couple of years ago the environmental services manager in Aberdeen City asked his staff about their work with local schools and nurseries. The response he received was quite considerable. It includes: Help the school to design, develop or revitalise school green...
Apr 1, 2017 | Early Years Outdoors, Whole School
With the rise in popularity of schools and nurseries providing fairy gardens for these magical creatures to inhabit, I thought it was appropriate to consider what you may need to put in your risk benefit assessments relating to their care and wellbeing. Admittedly, I...
Aug 1, 2016 | Whole School
At this time of year, there’s lots of advice flying around for newly qualified teachers embarking on their first job. Here’s some advice from the outside about some essential resources to help get you going. Let me know what else you would add to the list...
Mar 26, 2016 | Whole School
Over Easter it can be fun to enjoy a few videos. I realise I’ve never posted ones which I love and enjoy. So, take a beverage of your choice, get comfy and enjoy the show. Get ‘Em Outside This was first outdoor video clip that I saw that I felt had a...
Mar 15, 2016 | Whole School
It’s not often you stay up late to witness the publication of a school inspection report. However Middleton Park Primary School and Nursery in Aberdeen is doing an exceptional job of providing an excellent education for their children. I’m delighted that a...
Dec 5, 2015 | Whole School
When I ask children and young people what they like about learning outdoors, many cite “space and freedom” as a reason. It is a consistent theme across the ages and is also echoed by teachers. Every teacher knows the challenges of having to teach...
Oct 10, 2015 | Whole School
One of the strengths of learning outdoors is that educators and children have really good opportunities to make connections between the work they are undertaking and what is happening in society. With Learning for Sustainability a core part of the GTCS teaching...
Sep 6, 2015 | Whole School
One year ago I spent two mornings working with a small group of teachers at St Geradine’s Primary School in Lossiemouth. The Depute Head, Fiona Stevenson, who was leading the outdoor learning improvements, contacted me in August to let me know how the school was...
Jun 9, 2015 | Whole School
Rob Bushby is UK Manager of the John Muir Award – the John Muir Trust’s environmental award scheme. In this detailed guest blog post, he takes in the view of the strategic landscape of Outdoor Learning in Scotland. How about this for a statement of intent...
Aug 26, 2014 | Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Whole School
Saules Gojus is a remarkable school based just outside Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. Established in 2004 by Laima Sirutiene, it is a vision of education which recognises the value of humanity and learning from each other. German and English are spoken in...
Mar 18, 2014 | Whole School
Have you ever been told or heard of some thing that you may or may not do outside with children on the the grounds of health and safety? Has this made your stomach churn, out of guilt that you may have allowed this “forbidden” activity to happen despite...
