Our Classroom Under The Sky

At our school outdoor learning lies at the heart of the curriculum. It develops children’s knowledge and understanding and increases the child’s vocabulary by giving meaning to words. It provides the opportunity for collaborative learning in many curriculum areas. It promotes risk taking and further develops a respect for the world around them. Our outdoor curriculum instils a lifelong love of nature and promotes other core values.

At Whitefield Infant School, we use the outdoors as our 'Classroom Under the Sky', which is roofed only by the clouds! It acts as an outdoor classroom where children can explore, investigate and discover the natural environment, alongside developing their language and gaining first-hand learning experiences. It provides a valuable teaching tool for teaching and learning in all curriculum areas. Our 'Classroom Under the Sky' uses the Forest School Principles, interwoven with our own visions and values and beliefs about how our children learn.

Our EYFS Classroom under the sky - outdoors education for all seasons at Whitefield

All our favorite things: Campfires, Popcorn, Wildlife and, WE BUILT A WATERSLIDE!!!

Building swings, hammocks and looking after our spring plantings

Investigating rocks and roots and the April showers come a month late!

Finishing our new planters, building and planting potato towers and we built a tadpole pond out of an old sink!

Tending to our compost, preparing new planters, providing nesting materials and food for the birds. Spring is just around the corner!

Providing wintery outdoor learning for our key worker children during lockdown. Ice and snow investigations, tool use, ice tree decorations, feeding the ducks on the frozen canal, sledging on our hill and even some winter plantings!

Campfire fun! Building campfires, using tools to prepare firewood, cooking popcorn, finding the first ice of the year and decorating our trees for Christmas.

Collecting leaves and making leaf patterns, rolling conkers, having pumpkin races and rolling ourselves down the hill!

More snow and frost melting into mud! Painting snow, snow sledging and keeping warm with campfires, popcorn and hot chocolate - oh my!

Winter Finally Arrives @ Whitefield (kind of)! We went sledding down the hill, smashed ice and splashed water getting very muddy and used our new forest school made ladders to feed the birds in this lean time of the year.

We have been 'hitting the gym' in forest school as well as making, playing with and sculpting birdfeed playdough, recycling used Christmas wreaths into becoming part of our our natural 'forest school floor' and even doing a little pre-spring cleaning getting rid of fallen Autumn leaves before winter properly sets in.

More of a 'wet' than a 'white' Christmas! Painting pinecones, making conker garlands and leaf tinsel, hanging, hiding and finding baubles, using paint and water to make reindeer footprints and rainbow roads and finally having a little sneaky peek at a likely icy January to come.

Halloween and firework fun: finding Mr Bones, making spider webs, collecting leaves, drilling, cutting, racing and composting pumpkins and enjoying our newly opened 'Tough Terrain' outdoor gym!

Discovering conkers, drilling holes for autumn bug hotels, making stick men, harvesting corn, autumn colour hunts and much more!

Our new school year! Exploring our forest school setting, harvesting our tomatoes and playing in the water with hook-a-duck and load-a-toad.

Building and sliding down waterslides, climbing trees, making and playing with stickmen, investigating light and shade and preparing and sewing our wildflower mini-meadow for the new school year.

Summer's here! Exploring plant growth (and plant decay through composting), discovering minibeasts and habitats, moss painting, playing with boats in the water and further improving our setting with child-built outdoor bookshelves and bird feeding tables.

A Royal baby, planting watermelons for summer and pumpkins for autumn, installing a new canopy for shade, playing in the sun with water, looking after our spring planting and ... THE PEG GAME!!!

Stickplay, forest school games, planting and building our own frames and greenhouses using forest school materials

Muddy March! Polishing pennies (and painting some red for red nose day!), making a wishing penny tree trunk, muddy play and embracing the rain!

The 'Big Freeze' followed by the 'Big Thaw', building bird feeders and feeding the birds!

Winter Wonderland: feeding the birds, playing in the snow, making ice decorations with natural materials and building winter vocabulary

Christmas is coming! Popping popcorn, decorating our trees and keeping warm!

Rolling pumpkins, drilling pumpkins, hammering pumpkins, sawing pumpkins, carving pumpkins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin racing, pumpkin birdfeeders ALL THINGS PUMPKIN ! ! !

'Bonkers for Conkers II' learning and working together to roll conkers down our dry waterfall

Going 'Bonkers for Conkers' finding and shelling these wonderful types of nut! We even made patterns using conker nuts and their shells.

Our KS1 Outdoor Clasroom

Independent tasks. As well as our planned activities, children are free to explore and interact with our wonderful setting. Children are free to make use of our climbing ropes, waterfall, planting areas, mud kitchen as well as free-choice activities such as pattern making, going on a colour hunt, stacking the stones, building with sticks, mud and stones, playing with fairies, investigating outdoor creaures and plants and having lots of fun into the bargain.

Why learn outdoors?

Key Features of our outdoor classroom:-

Allows every child to have a voice, especially those who find it difficult to communicate in the more conventional learning environment.
The use of a natural outdoor environment.
Child-led approach to children’s learning which is fun and unhurried.
A high adult to child ratio allows children to undertake new experiences and challenges whilst taking appropriate risks.
Long term programme that allows repetition where children come into contact with nature using all their senses.
Supports personalised learning.
Builds children’s confidence and self esteem as they are responsible for making their own decisions and are carefully supported to achieve.
Trained adults are facilitators and observers, rather than leaders and directors.

At Whitefield we take these features and weave them into our outside learning, linking them into the curriculum making it become more alive, exciting and real.

Our Outside Learning is.....

Fun!
Regular and ongoing
A way of raising confidence and self-esteem
Safe, outdoor play and education
A way to learn how to manage risks
The chance to develop emotionally and physically
An opportunity to learn about the curriculum in a natural environment
Encourages the children to connect to nature and the great outdoors.

What children do in our Classrooms under the Sky .....

Build dens and shelters
Games and physical activity
Explore the environment
Music and lots of noise
Trails and Treasure hunts
Creativity and Art
Using tools safely to make natural items
Fires, cooking and healthy eating
Science and technology