INTENT

At Shakespeare we want to:

• Engage pupils' with learning and increase motivation.
• Develop and extend key skills of communication, problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, leadership and cooperation.
• Give children a greater understanding of our natural environment.
• Enable children to develop respect for their local environment.
• Develop children's understanding of how to stay safe. 
• Allow children to explore and experiment.
• Improve social skills.
• Enhance pupils' overall health and wellbeing.
• Create a positive impact on behaviour.

Learning outside the classroom is successful when it is an integral element of long-term curriculum planning. We value the further opportunities for learning that can take place outside the classroom, including activities within the school’s own buildings, grounds or immediate area.  Outdoor Learning is a broad term that includes: outdoor play [learning through play], environmental education, recreational and adventure activities, emotional health and well-being  and personal and social development.

IMPLEMENTATION 

All staff are responsible for planning and delivering outside activities within their curriculum areas. Staff will ensure that their termly curriculum planning includes sufficient well-structured opportunities for all learners to engage in learning outside the classroom. They will evaluate the quality of learning outside the classroom to ensure that it has maximum impact on learners’ achievement, personal development and wellbeing. They will ensure equal and full access for all learners to learn outside the classroom by monitoring participation in activities by different groups of learners and removing any barriers. 

The Outdoor Learning coordinator will support staff with ideas, resources and implementation strategies. 

Staff will use the school buildings and grounds as a context and a natural resource for learning, as well as the neighbouring environment which includes Fleetwood Beach and Fleetwood Memorial Park. In Early Years they will include the outdoor environment when planning for learning and enable children to access the outdoor areas on a daily basis. They will ensure that the outdoor areas offer children the opportunity to investigate and explore, problem solve, use their imagination and creativity. They will ensure the outdoor areas offer children opportunities to develop their gross motor skills and allow children to enjoy energetic activity outdoors and the feeling of wellbeing that it brings. They will observe, assess and record the learning that happens in the outdoor areas as well as give children the opportunity to plan and have ownership for their learning in the outdoor environment.

Outdoor Learning will help children to care for and respect the outside environment, enable them to work on their own and with others, give them the space and freedom and the opportunity to relax, enjoy and have fun outdoors. 

All year groups will have access to a Beach School programme led by a qualified Beach School Leader. 

All classes will participate in Outdoor Classroom Day.

Outdoor Learning will be linked with STEM activities, Maths, English, History, Art and Environmental studies. 

We will create partnerships with other agencies in the area for example Wyre Rangers,  Wildlife Trust, Rossall Point, RNLI and work on projects alongside them. 

The school’s after school club will be involved in keeping the school grounds tidy, managing the habitat areas and developing their outdoor skills.

IMPACT

Providing exciting, direct and relevant hands on learning activities outside the classroom will help to lead to improved outcomes for pupils, including better achievement, standards, motivation, personal development and behaviour. Pupils will show positive effects of learning outside particularly those who are hard to motivate. They will show an increased enjoyment of spending time outdoors, talk about their experiences positively and want to repeat outdoor experiences. They will be able to offer their own ideas, feel proud of what they achieve and show a desire for new challenges. Pupils will be able to show a higher level of confidence. 

The outdoor areas will provide a range of different environments in different climatic conditions. It will form the basis for assessment practice. Children will be regularly asked for feedback from outdoor sessions and this will be recorded to help measure impact and the positive effects learning outside has had. Pupils will be able to recognise their own strengths and those of others. Observations will be used to respond to children’s interests and experiences and inform future planning.  Photographs, film and pupil voice will illustrate children’s experiences and may be included as evidence of learning.  

BEACH SCHOOL

Pupils actively use our local beach for Beach School sessions. Children gain a greater understanding of their local environment, seeing and feeling seasonal changes. Children love the freedom that being on the beach offers, enabling them to try out new challenges without inhibition, work on skills learnt in the classroom, develop team work, emotional intelligence, and give them the opportunity to think and respond creatively as well as being a great space to embody a sense of health and wellbeing. At the heart of their learning are important environmental messages; keep our beach clean, care for our marine wildlife and know how to protect our coast for our future generations. 

Have a look at our amazing learning!