Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Progressive Skills Programme

We are extremely proud of our very unique 'Outdoor Progressive Skills Programme' which we have created in conjunction with White Hall Outdoor Learning Centre.

The whole school takes part in our termly 'Adventure Days' and each activity builds on the previous skills which they have learnt. Over the course of their time with us, a child will have attended 21 sessions at White Hall.

The motivation for creating this programme was observing how anxious our Year 6 pupils were when they attended a residential visit back in 2021. They left their residential feeling frustrated as they had not felt confident enough to embrace all of the opportunities available to them. This made the staff feel sad for them, as they should have come away feeling empowered and proud. It was at this point we set about ensuring that this situation did not happen again and it was our mission to ensure that the next time the children went on a residential they would go feeling equipped with all of the skills which they needed to succeed and enjoy their adventure, and so it was that our termly 'Adventure Days' were born.

Below is the programme that we have created in unison with White Hall Outdoor Learning Centre. The sessions are coloured coded by skill so that we can ensure that we are building on specific skill sets over time. For example, with reference to climbing, first of all we climb using the indoor wall without any ropes, then we use the same wall with ropes, harnesses and belays. Then we practice bouldering using the fake boulder on site. Then we begin to take things outside. We visit Higger Tor and Windgather Rocks. We practice putting on our own harnesses and we learn how to belay each other.

The 7 year programme culminates in us taking our Year 6 pupils on a 2 night/3 day residential based in the Peak District. Here the children have the opportunity to put all of their skills into practice and show off what they can do!

During these termly sessions we challenge our children to feel their fears, embrace their fears, but not to let it stop them.

We have had a huge amount of success with this programme. The children speak of them positively and they understand the purpose of the sessions. We bring their experiences back to the classroom and remind our pupils of times when they have found something tricky or scary, but then overcome those feelings and challenged themselves. We then remind the children to think about how they felt afterwards. That sense of pride and achievement.