Learning Outside The Classroom
At the Vale of Evesham School we embrace learning opportunities in a wide variety of settings and we aim to offer our students many experiences throughout their time with us.
EYFS
In the Early Years children spend lots of their time learning outside. Children have access to outdoor learning spaces across the day and staff aim to deliver exciting play opportunities both indoors and outdoors at all times. In addition to this our youngest students also access Outdoor Learning sessions at our onsite Outdoor Learning woodland area. Here they can access sand, water and mud play. Our early years outdoor learning is very much child-led and the students love exploring. Adults can help to facilitate skills across all of the prime areas of learning but we also always observe lots of fantastic evidence of the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ in our Outdoor provision.
KS1
As students move in to KS1 they continue to access our Outdoor Learning area on a weekly basis. They may also have access to an outdoor area attached to their classroom for use throughout the week. Students will typically have some opportunities for educational visits in KS1 as well.
Complex learners in KS1 and KS2 also access our Outdoor Learning area onsite for Sensory experiences to support their personalised learning and targets.
Lower KS2
In Lower KS2 our Semi-formal students access our Forest School provision. We visit a local farm in Sedgberrow where we can access a wood. Here we have the opportunity to climb and use tyre swings! A trained Forest School Leader runs these sessions and we follow the Forest School ethos incorporating child led and play based learning, supported risk taking and exploration. We aim to develop students’ social and emotional skills such as their confidence and self-esteem, self-belief and resilience. Students tackle real world problem solving and develop their physical skills tackling a challenging woodland environment with obstacles, trees and ropes courses. We hope that the skills students learn in the Forest make them better learners in the classroom – it is a holistic approach creating resilient, independent and creative learners.
Upper KS2 & KS3
Students in KS3 continue to learn and make progress through the Forest School approach, following the same ethos as outlined above. They progress to using a different site, the Adventure Playground in Evesham. In KS3 Forest School students build on their skills and increase their independence. They continue to enjoy activities such a making and having fires, building dens, cooking and using tools.
Complex learners in KS3 access either Outdoor Learning opportunities onsite or they access offsite opportunities where appropriate / possible. They may visit local woods such as Tiddesley or Oversley or National Trust parks such as Croome.
Outdoor and Adventurous Activities in Upper KS2 through to High School (PE Curriculum)
In the first half of the Autumn term, second half of Spring term and the Summer term the focus is on paddle-sport, occasionally subject to change due to weather or river conditions. Children’s first experience is in the bell-boats, working as a team and learning and improving basic paddle skills. All children are reminded about safety and encouraged to think and act independently when following routines such as putting on buoyancy aids, collecting paddles and getting on and off the boat. Whilst bell-boating, we’ll often consider the environment around us, sometimes pick up litter as well as noting river features and travelling through a lock. As the children progress, many will move into open canoes in pairs or even individual kayaks or stand-up paddle boards.
Over the winter, activities are land-based. Starting with small-scale orienteering activities, children progress to more advanced navigation and map reading skills enabling them to complete longer walks in a range of local environments from fields and meadows to more challenging hills. Additionally, we sometimes learn about shelter building and other camp-craft skills. The experiences and skills that students gain through taking part in OAA gives students confidence and independence skills as well as key life skills such as managing risk.
In KS3 OAA is accessed by both Formal and Semi-formal learners, along with access to Forest School as outlined above. As students move in to High School they access OAA events days.
Years 9-11
Complex and Semi-formal learners in High School continue their learning through the Forest School provision. In High School learners visit woods in the Lenches to apply their skills in a different setting. Through their Forest School sessions the students can evidence some of their work towards the JASS scheme. As mentioned above, High School Formal curriculum students access OAA events days.
6th Form Curriculum
When students reach 6th Form there are some exciting new opportunities on offer. Students can take part in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and the volunteering component of this takes place at the Heart of England Forest. We are really pleased to be working with this fantastic organisation and the bigger project of creating a huge broadleaf woodland for years to come. We are really proud of what our students achieve through these opportunities.
Our 6th form students also access lots of outdoor opportunities across the breadth of their curriculum, including studying Horticulture, Community based learning (including travel training, how to use local facilities and how to access health and dental care). 6th form students may also access offsite learning at Pershore College which includes animal care, horticulture and construction.
| EYFS | KS1 | Lower KS2 | Upper KS2 and KS3 | Years 9-11 | 6th Form | |
| EYFS | Outdoor Learning opportunities – specialist onsite area & patios linked to classrooms | DofE Horticulture Community based learning Pershore college | ||||
| Complex | Outdoor learning -onsite | Outdoor learning – onsite and offsite | Forest School | |||
| Semi-formal curriculum | Outdoor learning -onsite | Forest School | OAA Forest School | Forest School | ||
| Formal Curriculum | OAA Forest School | OAA Events day | ||||
Educational Visits
In addition to the fantastic outdoor opportunities we offer our students on a regular basis, Vale of Evesham School students of all ages have access to a variety of ‘one off’ educational visits to support their learning across the curriculum.
We try to make the most of our local area and community. Older students walk to the local supermarket to buy ingredients for their cookery sessions for example, other students might conduct traffic surveys nearby, or walk to the local church for a visit or a school service. We also visit our local parks, and the library too. Bellboating is another popular activity locally and our students sometimes access this outside of the regular bellboating provision, we also enjoy taking part in the local regattas with other schools.
Students have the opportunity to visit local places of interest such as Sudeley Castle, the GWR railway, or local museums such as Hartlebury, Avoncroft or the Commandery. Students have the opportunity to make the most of our rural area by visiting local farms and discovering our market gardening heritage by visiting local orchards and fruit farms to pick seasonal fruit. Visiting Stratford-upon-Avon is another popular visit for our students as it has so much to offer, from a visit to the butterfly farm in support of our learning in ‘How my world works/Science’, to seeing a show at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theatre to complement our learning in English & Literacy.
We also have educational visits that go further afield to a wide variety of places: the SS Great Britain and the Science museum in Bristol, Cotswold water park, farm park or wildlife park, and the Sea Life Centre or Think Tank in Birmingham. Our PE team also run regular residential trips to take part in the International Tag Rugby tournament which is always a highlight for the students (and staff!) who take part.
We are also really grateful to the local Rotary club who support our students in accessing visits throughout the year, such as a Christmas trip to Smart Trees and a Summer visit to All Things Wild for our younger students and trips to the cinema or bowling for our older students.
We hope that such a wide range of opportunities and experiences gives all our students a lifelong love of the Great Outdoors!
