Beyond the Classroom Workshops
2024 Workshops
Another great line up of inspiring keynote speakers from the world of outdoor education and twenty one new curriculum-focused workshops for 2024.
The perfect Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all outdoor educators from Key Stage 1 (KS1) to Key Stage 2 (KS2).
To book and secure your preferred workshop places, you need to first book your conference ticket.
- Feeling Crafty
- Design and Technology outdoors
- Hands on History
- Practical and positive ways to teach about sustainability and climate change
- Using your outdoor space for well-being
- Cooking on fire
- Engaging with English in nature
- Creating Nature rich learning environments in your school grounds
- Outdoor and Adventurous Activity(OAA) in the PE curriculum
- Creating wonderful woodland spaces
- Wilder Grounds
- Sensory Science
- Numbers in Nature
- Curriculum Linked Orienteering
- Outdoor Learning for Developing Character
- Balancing the risks of learning outdoors with the benefits
- Supporting you to develop your learning beyond the classroom
- Making your school garden grow
- Whatever the Weather
- Music, Nature, Technology and Creativity
Feeling crafty
Speaker Jo Prior, SOLD.
Workshop description
This workshop will give you some fantastic ideas for teaching craft activity in your outdoor space using natural materials.
These activities will have a seasonal theme to them so that you have some lovely ideas all year around using affordable resources.
Design and Technology outdoors
Speaker Kate Hall, SOLD(Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
Workshop description
Your outdoor space offers wonderful opportunities to experience a range of natural materials, structure and design. This workshop will explore how you can develop innovative design and construction techniques and encourage children to evaluate their creations.
Marvellous Maps
Speaker Ross Packham, SWT, Surrey Wildlife Trust.
Workshop description
It's easy to bring geography to life -use your school grounds as a starting point for mapping features and then link these into the wider landscape.
We will show you a range of techniques you can use from traditional paper and clipboard to free apps linked to Geographical Information Systems.
We will also show you real world applications that the students can get involved with to apply their skills and better understand their setting within the wider landscape
Hands on History
Speaker Andy White, SOLD(Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
Raid like a Viking, conquer like a Norman and march like a Roman!
This 'Invasions' themed workshop aims to provide plenty of ideas for bringing history to life. Explore fun activity ideas that you can run in your school grounds.
Practical and positive ways to teach about sustainability and climate change
Speaker Julie Wheelan, Wakehurst, Kew Gardens
Evidence shows that children will respect and understand the natural environment more if they experience it on a regular basis.
Gain the confidence and knowledge to engage your pupils, inspire hope and empower action. Simple pick up and go ideas that can make a big difference.
Using your outdoor space for well-being
Speaker Emma Campbell, SOLD(Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
The evidence for improving emotional health through nature is compelling. This workshop will give you some ideas about how you can improve the well-being of your children in your outdoor space.
Cooking on Fire
Speaker Tom Newton, SOLD (Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
This workshop will show you some basic fire lighting skills and safety but will focus on some engaging and delicious cooking activities over an open fire in your school grounds.
This will link to the 'cooking and nutrition' elements of the National Curriculum
Engaging with English in nature
Speaker Vicki Armitage, SOLD (Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
Books don't grow on trees… do they?SOLD is taking stories outside!
This practical outdoor session will concentrate on reading and discussing stories and on sharing new ways of teaching literacy. There will be the opportunity to explore reading & re-telling stories in the outdoors and developing descriptive language for creative writing using natural resources.
Creating nature rich learning environments in your school grounds
Speaker Mary Jackson, Learning through Landscapes
Every school in England can take part in helping to create the National Education Nature Park across the country's school grounds - creating nature-rich sites for children and young people to learn and play in.
In this workshop we will have a go at using some of the practical activities, surveys and recording tools that can get you started on this amazing project.
Outdoor and Adventurous Activity (OAA) in the PE curriculum
Speaker Ben Rayner, SOLD(Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
If you are struggling with delivering the Outdoor and Adventurous Activity (OAA) unit of the PE Curriculum, this workshop will help you.
We will introduce you to using basic problem-solving tasks and orienteering activities to use in your school grounds.
Creating wonderful woodland spaces
Speakers Clare Savage, SOLD(Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
Do you have woodland space in your school grounds that could be used more creatively for learning? This workshop will give you some ideas and inspiration for turning your woodland in to an engaging learning zone.
Wilder Grounds
Speakers SWT, Surrey Wildlife Trust
No matter how big (or small) your outdoor space is, there is always something that can be done to help nature. Join us to find out more about simple projects that will empower students to enhance biodiversity.
We will demonstrate the many links to the curriculum this can have from the obvious link to 'Living things and their Habitats' to maths, literacy and DT.
Sensory Science
Speakers SWT, Surrey Wildlife Trust
Engage your children in science through the use of their senses. We will show you how students can really understand the role of the senses through a broad range of outdoor activities that you will be able to replicate in any school grounds.
Sensory activities can also be used to help students really connect with their surroundings and have links to the science curriculum but also have positive impacts on students' wellbeing.
Numbers in Nature
Speakers SWT, Surrey Wildlife Trust
Use your natural spaces to give numeracy a real-life context and empower learners to apply concepts learnt in the classroom.
From number bonds and fractions to data collection, graphs, shapes and calculations we hope to inspire lots more learning n natural settings. We will also show you how a simple box of natural materials can make it so much easier to take a maths lesson outside.
Curriculum Linked Orienteering
Speaker Josh Jenner
Have you ever considered using orienteering as a tool to teach the curriculum as an alternative teaching strategy?
This workshop will demonstrate how The Outdoor Classroom App supports pupils in learning a wide range of curriculum themes through active outdoor experiences.
Outdoor Learning for Developing Character
Speaker Andy Carley, SOLD(Surrey Outdoor Learning and Development)
How to design and create a powerful and progressive 'teaching for character outdoors' curriculum at your school.
This workshop will focus the key ingredients, resources, activities and skills required to deliver in-house programmes for children of all ages.
Balancing the risks of learning outdoors with the benefits
Speaker Paul Bowen SCC, Surrey County Council
Do you and your colleagues have a healthy and balanced approach to managing risk?
If not, this workshop will show you how to create a culture of learning outdoors safely whilst recognising and valuing the benefits.
Supporting you to develop your learning beyond the classroom
Speaker Anne Hunt, LOtC
This workshop is an opportunity to explore ways to develop a whole school approach to learning beyond the classroom, ensuring it is embedded into your practice and has impact.
The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom offers various ways to support you to develop learning beyond the classroom relevant to your school and students, including the LOtC Mark framework.
Making your school gardens grow
Speaker Victoria Dilley, RHS, Royal Horticultural Society
A hands-on introduction to school gardening, with tips on how to get started, deliver curriculum-linked growing activities in school and support pupil wellbeing. You will also be signposted to some fabulous free school gardening resources!
Whatever the Weather
Speaker Evie Jeffery
This workshop will give you ideas of how to teach your children to observe and record the weather in their school grounds in line with the Geography National Curriculum.
We will show you how to make your own weather station from which children can have a greater awareness and understanding of different weather conditions and seasons.
Crucially, this will enable your children to be better prepared for learning outdoors whatever the weather!
Music, Nature, Technology and Creativity
Speaker Surrey Arts
During this workshop participants will experience how iPads can be used to creatively connect with nature and environment whilst simultaneously developing knowledge and understanding of how to capture sound using technology, and use recordings in a creative compositions.
Participants will learn recording techniques and develop ideas that can be put straight into practice within their settings.