|
Growing Schools
|
 |
Growing Schools is a government programme which aims to harness the full potential of the outdoor classroom as a teaching and learning resource. Concern about young people becoming distanced from nature has increased in recent years, with many unable to connect the food they see in supermarkets with the land that produces it. |
This, combined with a general lack of interest in food and what constitutes a healthy diet, means many pupils struggle to understand the interdependence between urban and rural environments, and the countryside with the wildlife and people it sustains.
Growing Schools is a government funded programme tasked to address this issue. It aims to encourage, support and inspire all schools (nursery, primary, secondary and special) to use the outdoor classroom, both with and beyond the school grounds, as a context for learning across the curriculum. It focuses in particular on food, farming and the countryside, on ensuring pupils are given first hand experience of the natural world around them and that outdoor learning activities are integrated into every day teaching practices.
Learning outside the classroom |
| Every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances. To make this a reality, a Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto was launched on 29 November 2006. The Manifesto acts as a shared statement of intent for all who see the benefits to young people and want to help bring about this vision of high quality, meaningful learning experiences for all. |
 |
| |
All who support the Manifesto's vision are invited to endorse and champion it by becoming a signatory.
Signatories have agreed that they will work together to:
1. Provide all young people with a wide range of experiences outside the classroom, including extended school activities and one or more residential visits
2. Make a strong case for learning outside the classroom, so there is widespread appreciation of the unique contribution these experiences make to young people’s lives.
3. Offer learning experiences of agreed high quality.
4. Improve training and professional development opportunities for schools and the wider workforce.
5. Better enable schools, local authorities and other key organisations to manage visits safely and efficiently.
6. Provide easy access to information, knowledge, expertise, guidance and resources.
7. Identify ways of engaging parents, carers and the wider community in learning outside the classroom. |
Only then will the Manifesto ‘make a difference’ to the amount and quality of learning outside the classroom.
Other key proposed measures of the Manifesto include:
1. The creation of a new, independent Learning Outside the Classroom Council to bring together providers from the public, private and voluntary sectors, in order to take ownership of and achieve the aims of the Manifesto.
2. The development of an Out and About package to support schools and others with guidance on planning and funding; staff training and development; and risk management including a new family of ‘safety badges’.
3. Learning Outside the Classroom will be part of the revised OFSTED Self Evaluation Form, in order to encourage schools to evaluate and develop their current activities.
The fulfilment of these objectives will ensure that all children and young people have a chance to develop their learning in exciting and fulfilling ways outside the classroom.
Further information |
|
|
|
|
|
