The Great Outdoors

Kids By Neil Shaw, Head of Rose Hill Westonbirt School, an independent prep school for boys and girls (3-11).

Here at Rose Hill Westonbirt School we are lucky enough to be situated in 210 acres of parkland and gardens – we are truly in the heart of the Cotswold countryside. Our location lends itself ideally, not just to looking at nature but to learning within it.

Research has shown that children do benefit from an element of ‘risk’ in learning – and learning in an outdoor environment helps them to think creatively, stimulating them in a way that sitting within the classroom does not. A simple thing in nature can spark a new and imaginative way of thinking – be it a hollow in a tree or a fly caught in a spider’s web. The idea is not to study nature and look at mini-beasts but to use the environment as an aid to help with literacy and numeracy. Sitting on tree trunks and logs in the woods rather than in the normal classroom immediately creates a different and exciting atmosphere for the children.

Since a year last September the Nursery, Year 1 and Year 2 at Rose Hill Westonbirt have benefited from learning outside and it has been so successful that we are now adopting it in every year. Each class from Nursery up to Year 6 has one double lesson a week in the spinney, a wooded area just behind the school. The class is not at the mercy of the weather – if it rains the children are well protected in their raincoats and wellies and we have fitted a waterproof cover between the trees. Indeed, the Forest School motto (where the concept first originated) is “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!”

A member of our teaching staff has attended the 5-week intensive course training in Forest School teaching (Forest School was brought across to Britain from Scandinavia in the mid 1990s) to become accredited with the outdoor learning qualification and we are totally committed to making outdoor learning part of school life here. It makes learning for the children fun and the results have been quite staggering.

We know we are lucky to have our own spinney but other schools can have a go at creating something similar outside if they do not have the ready-made environment. Not only do we have the beautiful grounds which we can use as a teaching aid but we are located opposite Westonbirt Arboretum, so we frequently extend our outdoor learning to trips to the Arboretum – it’s hard to imagine a better place to learn!

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