A Recap of the 2017 Learning Beyond the Classroom Conference

Here at SOLD, we are proud to be able to offer a range of outdoor learning courses for teachers who are looking to expand their pupils' experiences and positively encourage their development. Of course, aside from hands-on courses, we also offer conferences to those working in relevant fields of education, to allow the sharing of ideas and to celebrate the concept of learning outside the classroom. In fact, the end of last month saw a highlight in our annual conference calendar, as the Learning Beyond the Classroom conference returned for 2017. In case you missed it, we've gone through a quick recap of the event in the following blog.

On the 21st April 2017, almost 100 enthusiastic teachers and educators gathered at High Ashurst outdoor education centre near Dorking, Surrey for the Learning Beyond the Classroom Conference, to share in the ideas and knowledge of those with years of experience in outdoor education. The day started with a bit of at 8:15 am, with the chance to mingle over a light breakfast and refreshments. At 9:00 am sharp we kicked off with the main event, hearing inspiring words of wisdom on outdoor education from our guest speakers.

Jo Lewis' talk regarding the Natural Connections Demonstration Project gave us the data surrounding outdoor learning, and confirmed what most educators already know - that learning outside of the classroom can have a positive impact on children's health and well-being, overall character, outlook on school, and even attainment, as well as provide benefits for the teachers too, including better relationships with their students. Lewis acknowledged possible obstacles to outdoor learning (including budget, lack of teacher confidence, and time constraints), but spoke of how they can be overcome with the correct support and resources. Indeed, she gave a brilliant example of a recently completed large partnership research project focused on helping school children - particularly those from a disadvantaged area - experience the benefits of the natural environment by empowering teachers to bring the outdoors into everyday learning.

Headteacher Collette Morris provided ideas for a number of 'secret garden' activities and spoke about how outdoor learning has revolutionised the curriculum at Christchurch Primary School – in fact, her teachers regularly have their lessons outside, as they can always find a relevant link with the different areas of the curriculum and the outdoors. Her students have also been involved in a number of large-scale projects that helped form a tight-knit community – in particular, they grow their own vegetables, which gives them the opportunity to see the literal fruits of their labour as well as feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. This also provides a more tangible reward for the children's time and effort than the usual check marks and test scores! Morris was even kind enough to give examples of questions to ask children of different ages to further engage them in the natural world.

Before joining Learning Away, Peter Carne was a teacher of Geography at two London comprehensive schools, managed a residential on the banks of Loch Awe in Scotland, set up and managed Greenwich's Environmental Curriculum Service and worked for Learning through Landscapes (the school grounds charity) as Head of LTL in London and later as Director of Operations, making him uniquely qualified to give an insight into the impacts of Brilliant Residentials. After highlighting the key figures from Learning Away's Brilliant Residentials campaign, Carne urged all attendees to pledge support to this fantastic initiative, and shared recommendations on the best ways to get involved.

Professor Tim Gill's presentation was all about risks; how we can learn to manage them and teach children how to assess them. He believes that we cannot keep children safe from everything all the time, but that we can give them the tools they need to keep themselves safe when the situation arises, and that outdoor learning can help with this. It can help them learn about themselves, including their weaknesses and how to overcome them, and strengthen their problem solving so that they're better prepared for future risks that aren't controlled by us. His talk really encouraged us to push comfort zones and attempt to find an acceptable risk level for children to work with rather than attempt to eliminate risk altogether.

After some light refreshments, the rest of the day was devoted to a number of practical and theoretical workshops. Some of these, including "Messy Maths", "Hands on History", "Words in the Wilderness", and "Ecology and Food Chains", looked at interactive and interesting ways to incorporate outdoor learning into typically desk-bound subjects of the curriculum. That's not to say that the more immersive subjects were ignored, though, with "The Science of Combustion", "Wild Art", and "Jungle Gym" giving attendees the opportunity to try outdoor activities that fit in with Science, Art and PE respectively. Other workshops were more theoretical, exploring important subjects such as "Developing your School Grounds for Outdoor Education", "How to make your residential 'Brilliant'", all about "Eco-Schools", and how to carry out a balanced Risk Benefit Assessment.

It was a jam-packed day, but a fantastic conference, and we already can't wait to do it all again next year. In the meantime, happy teaching!

Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development (SOLD) are dedicated to enriching the lives of young people and raising awareness of the benefits of outdoor learning, which is why we offer outdoor learning courses for teachers as well as experiences and residentials for schools and youth groups. If you'd like to receive some training of your own to help supplement your curriculum, then take a look at the professional courses we have on offer and book today!

Further information about what we do can be found elsewhere on our site, or you can also contact us directly with your enquiries, and we would be happy to help.

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