Overview/vision
At Key Stage 3, pupils take part in Active Learning for the majority of one day per week within their tutor group. This takes learning beyond the traditional classroom and gives pupils regular opportunities to engage with the outdoors in a meaningful and positive way.
Active Learning uses outdoor education to develop important life skills such as teamwork, problem solving, resilience, communication, and confidence, to name but a few. Pupils take part in a range of activities in the local environment, including fields, hills, and woodland areas across Gloucestershire. These experiences help pupils build a love of the outdoors while learning to work together, support one another, and take on new challenges.
Activities include, but are not limited to, navigation, den building, fire lighting, outdoor cooking, and wellbeing nature walks. Through these experiences, pupils develop independence and self-esteem, while also building positive relationships with both peers and staff. These strong relationships and shared experiences play an important role in helping pupils feel secure, confident, and ready for the next phase of their education.
Implementation
Within Active Learning sessions, pupils visit a variety of outdoor locations across Gloucestershire, taking advantage of the fields, hills, forests, and waterways that we are so lucky to have on our doorstep. Sessions are led by their teacher and support staff, and are designed to be largely student led, allowing pupils to explore their own interests and make decisions about how they engage with activities. While the programme does not follow a strict week-by-week curriculum, it is underpinned by the development of key skills including teamwork, problem solving, resilience, communication, confidence, independence, self esteem, and the ability to build positive relationships with peers and staff.
How pupils develop these skills will vary from week to week, but activities that support them include:
• Fire making
• Cooking outdoors
• Bushcraft skills such as water purification and whittling
• Den building
• Tree climbing
• Navigation
• Fishing
• Enjoying the outdoors and having fun
To supplement the learning and give pupils new experiences, at the end of every term they take part in a challenging, fun, and rewarding trip. These trips include activities such as climbing, downhill biking, caving, and kayaking or canoeing, providing further opportunities to develop confidence, resilience, teamwork, and independence, and offering new experiences for our pupils.